Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
“Me?” He glances at the direction of the front office, hidden from our desks by a long hall.
“Please,” I say, my stomach tight. “She will not want to see me—”
Before I can finish my statement, a head pops around the corner and I see Naomi’s dark hair and her expressive eyes. She searches the room and then her gaze lands on me. To my horror and yearning, she gets a determined look upon her face and strides toward me.
I can do this, I tell myself. I can be professional. She needs assistance, nothing more. She is seeking me out as a friend, someone that might be able to help her out with whatever she needs. Perhaps it’s farm issues…
But as she approaches, I can see her eyes are red, her lashes spiky. Naomi has been crying.
Oh no. Oh no. I wasn’t enough for her. I realize why she’s here now. She is here to berate me and point out that my seed was not enough to make her pregnant. That she has wasted her credits. “Naomi,” I breathe as she marches toward me. “I’m so sorry. I wish I had been enough for you.”
She walks right up to me, defiance in her eyes. Her chin lifts and she looks me up and down. “I just want you to know that you walked out on a good thing.”
I am…confused.
“I’m a good woman, and I’m not saying I’m the smartest or prettiest—”
“But you are,” I blurt, unable to stay silent.
“—but I’m clever enough to make some credits and run my farm and make a profit.” She crosses her arms over her chest, scowling up at me. “So you lost out. That’s all I’m saying.” She gives a hurt sniff. “So screw you.”
“I am indeed screwed,” I agree, though I don’t know what it means entirely. Just that she is miserable and I understand. She blames me for the failure. “I will be leaving the planet so you no longer have to face me and my failure. I wish to make this as easy as possible for you, Naomi. You have my sincerest apologies, and please know that the nights we spent together were the happiest of my life.” I want to reach for her hand, but I’m not certain that would be allowed, so I just bow slightly. “But I will accede to your wishes.”
Naomi blinks up at me, her brows furrowed. “What the heck are you talking about?”
“I am sorry I was not able to make you pregnant,” I say in a low voice, determined not to let the too-curious Sinath overhear. “I have failed you, but I wish for you to know that our time together was very enjoyable for me.”
Her head tilts, and she gives me an odd look.
Perhaps enjoyable is not a strong enough word? “It was everything to me,” I confess. “In my time with you, I have never been happier. I will cherish those memories forever.”
Her lips purse, and I wonder for a moment if she is going to spit upon me. “You know what? I don’t get you,” she finally says. “I keep telling myself to give you understanding, that we’re from alien cultures and that maybe there’s some sort of custom I’m unaware of, but this is just taking the cake.”
Taking the cake? Taking it where? I glance around, but I see no cakes, just the muffins that Lucy made earlier. Snatching one up, I offer it to Naomi.
“Can you please be serious? I didn’t come here to be mocked.”
I’m shocked she would think that. “I would never make fun of you. Never.”
She pauses, and there must be something in my voice that makes her believe me.
Sensing an opportunity, I continue. “I know I did not please you with my efforts, and I am sincerely sorry. I wish I could have done more for you, I truly do. You are…” I hesitate and then decide to blurt it out, because it doesn’t matter. I am leaving, after all. “You are perfect, Naomi, and I am honored that you chose me.”
Her mouth wobbles and her glare becomes fiercer. “You say that, but then you ghosted me.” At my confused look, she pinches the bridge of her small (charming) nose. “Right. Let me try again. You left and never called me back. Never showed up again. You just vanished.”
“I have been here the entire time,” I tell her, confused. “I cannot abandon my post.”
“Yes, but you left me,” she emphasizes. “You brought me flowers and wooed me and then just—” She flicks a hand in the air. “Vanished. What am I supposed to think?”
With dawning understanding, I reply, “I thought if you wished to see me again, you would contact me. That perhaps I was forcing my attentions upon you and I should back off.”
“You don’t back off after flowers,” she protests, giving me a strange look. “You don’t back off after making me breakfast! You call me! You pick up your data pad and send me a note, or you comm me. You let me know what’s going on in your head, Ainar, because what am I supposed to think?”