Space in His Heart (18 page)

“This’ll be
great,” she said quickly, quieting her thoughts.

“Mom keeps our
rooms exactly as they were when we were in high school. I swear she
secretly retreats up here and relives every one of the eighteen
years we lived at home.”

The comment, no
doubt intended for dry humor, struck Jessica’s heart. But when he
opened the door, the room hit her like a sucker punch. “Oh, my.
This is lovely.”

Pale lavender
carpeting, a down-covered sleigh bed, delicate wall coverings.
Museum-quality prints shared wall space with diplomas, awards, and
photos of a young girl’s every imaginable milestone from dance
recitals to prom night.

Drawn to them,
Jessica examined each captured moment. A spunky, blue-eyed brunette
in a soccer uniform, clutching a ball under one arm. A lovely
teenage girl in a pale green dress on the arm of an awkward boy in
a tuxedo. And Deke. A loving big brother with his arm around his
baby sister as she triumphantly waved her diploma.

“Mom loves to
memorialize every minute.” He shrugged with a glance at the walls.
“And, of course, we were involved in just about everything.”

“No need to
apologize. You’re so lucky.” She made no attempt to keep the envy
out of her voice. “I always wanted a life like that, but my dad
never had the time. I—I didn’t even ask.”

“Well, surely
you went to the prom and graduated from college.”

“I did.” She
turned to him, knowing her eyes were damp and her pain was showing.
“But no one recorded it so… so lovingly. And I sure as heck didn’t
play soccer.”

He touched her
cheek, not sensually this time. But gently. Maybe the brotherly
touch he gave Melissa when she had a down moment. If the fortunate
young doctor ever had a down moment.

“Don’t be
jealous. She was a rotten goalie.” Then he kissed her softly on the
cheek. “But you would have looked real good in those shorts.”

She
grinned in spite of her self-pity and punched him lightly on the
arm, aching to move back into the kiss. “Go get some sleep,
Commander. We’re going back
,
even if you have to fly that plane to Florida
tomorrow.”

He left her to
dream of Melissa’s girlhood, but once she climbed into the
welcoming bed, she could only remember his mouth and lips tempting
her in the snow.

* * *

As soon as they
parted at the Orlando airport, Deke headed directly for the OPF.
He’d hated being away that long. But in the two hours he’d been
inside the orbiter, he realized he’d spent nearly every moment
thinking about Jessica.

He carefully
lifted the fuel cell panel and began fingering the wires behind it.
Holding one strand, he stared at the electrical connection for a
good three minutes before he realized how utterly destroyed it was.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Deke ran his finger over
the frayed metal edge and then tore a piece of bright orange tape
from the roll next to him to mark it. Jesus.

He didn’t know
what bothered him more. The fact that someone had missed this one
or the fact that while he looked at it, his mind was far, far away.
In the snow. In the dark.

He laid the
roll of tape in its proper place and scooted out of the orbiter for
a cup of coffee. Lack of sleep, too much travel and a certain spin
doctor was ruining his concentration.

At the coffee
station, Scott Hayes greeted Deke with a quick smile. The guy was
quiet, but usually dead-on in his assessments of the entire
inspection process.

“Have you been
through the wiring behind the fuel cell panel, Scott?”

The
engineer frowned and fingered his thin moustache. “I thought that
whole section was done already. I’m sure I saw
signed
-
off logs in the
PLIC.”

Deke studied
the black ink of the coffee he’d just poured. This was only going
to make his stomach feel worse. He flipped the cup upside down over
the sink. “Maybe you did. But I went in there a few minutes ago and
found another problem.”

“I’ll get the
electrical team to look at it.” Scott shifted from one foot to the
other, looking like he wanted to say something but didn’t know
how.

Deke leaned
against the Formica counter and crossed his arms. “Everything else
okay, Hayes?”

“I was sort of
wondering what you thought of my idea with the engine plugs.”

Damn it, he’d
meant to talk to Scott about the plug rec folder he’d seen on his
desk. But he was more tangled than those wires these days. “What
was it?”

“I ran it by
some other folks a while ago, and it got shot down.”

Shot down by
whom? Had he been briefed and missed it, somehow? Was his brain
that fogged by all the PR and this… PR person? “Who saw your
ideas?”

“The inspection
team,” he said. “The idea was… not universally loved.”

“And budget’s
tight.” Deke said to ease the obvious hit to Hayes’s confidence and
his own guilt.

Scott
nodded and
headed out of the
kitchen area. “Yeah. That’s what I’ve been
told.”

Deke stood and
stared at the empty doorway. Had he seen something from Hayes and
just forgotten it? Good God, this was a disaster.

He had to do
something about it.

He had to
do something about
her
.

His
logical mind reviewed the options and discarded each
,
one by one. He couldn’t get rid
of her. He couldn’t avoid her. He couldn’t forget her.

He crunched the
empty Styrofoam cup and pitched it into the trash. There was only
one option left. He had to have her.

* * *

“Hey, Jess.
It’s almost 4:30—don’t we have a conference call?” Stuart stopped
in Jessica’s office door, a stack of files balanced in one hand,
his late afternoon coffee in the other.

“Already?” She
couldn’t believe that only a few hours ago she and Deke had landed
at Orlando and headed independently and directly to the Cape.

She had
spent the afternoon trying to lose herself in work and forget the
magical kiss. But that was impossible, since the man in the
snow
was
her work.
Jessica had called on every compartmentalizing skill she’d ever
learned in management classes. He turned up in every
compartment.

The media’s
lust for bad news was evident on every phone call. They wanted a
disaster. Could the shuttle fly in time? Would Micah make it? Were
the rumors of hydrogen leaks true?

Guilt knocked
at her when she thought of why she’d scheduled the conference call
in the first place. She had wanted some colorful, Hollywood-type
photo releases out there and had asked the West Coast account
people for some ideas to get Deke in front of the paparazzi. But
now she understood why he didn’t want to take the time to travel or
do any more PR stunts. She decided she’d just talk to them and see
what they had. Then let it drop.

The excitement
in Lydia Davis’s voice jumped through the speakerphone as soon as
they connected.

“
We hit
the jackpot for you,” Lydia bubbled. “
Lost Hero
. The Premiere. In Orlando. At Universal. Is this
making sense to you?”

“Isn’t that a
war movie with some big names in it?” Stuart’s face lit up. “I just
read about it. The story’s loosely based on Scott O’Grady, the Air
Force pilot who was shot down in Bosnia and rescued. In fact, Deke
and a couple of our astronauts were still flying fighters at the
time and were involved in the actual rescue.”

“Perfection!”
Lydia cooed. “The premiere is right after Christmas at Universal
Studios in Orlando. The big name is Marc Sebastian, but guess who
plays the feisty and lovely lieutenant he flings with in the
movie?”

Jessica could
practically hear Lydia bursting with her news as they all waited
for her to say a name.

“Sydney Lynn
Lancaster. Now I ask you, Jessica Marlowe, who is more perfect to
escort the gorgeous Ms. L to the premiere than your former fighter
pilot turned astronaut?”

Jessica
squeezed her eyes shut. She’d promised. No more interviews. But, it
was in Orlando, so he didn’t have to travel and it wasn’t exactly a
hardship to spend one evening with a beautiful movie star.

“Sydney Lynn
Lancaster is a media magnet,” she agreed with a look at Stuart.

The event
specialist in L.A. started spewing details. “Universal will have
everyone—E
!
,
Entertainment
Tonight
,
People
, FOX.
This is a black-tie night on a grand scale at the new IMAX theater
and ballroom at Universal Studios. They’re doing all events out
there to push the theme park in Orlando. Face it, on Friday night,
December thirtieth, you guys are in the hot spot.”

Lydia laughed.
“What a couple! Stockard and Lancaster will be in every newspaper
in America the next day. The tabloids will have them engaged by the
middle of January.”

“What did
Sydney say?” Jessica asked. Maybe the Hollywood hottie would say no
and she’d never have to ask Deke to do this.

“
We’re
talking to her
people
.
We’ve sent Stockard’s press kit and some video from the Leno
appearance. We’ll see if they bite.”

After they
signed off, Jessica stared at Stuart. “Think he’ll go for it?” she
asked.

Stuart’s face
twisted in mock surprise. “Are you kidding? What red-blooded
American male would say no? Let’s call him.”

“No, no.”
Jessica shook her head emphatically. “Let’s wait to see what Sydney
Lynn says.”

Sydney Lynn was
a perfect choice. A steamy, sexy blonde with a drop-dead body and a
face the camera adored. Every man was bound to react like Stuart at
the thought of a date with her. Every man but the one who hated PR
stunts. The phone interrupted her thoughts.

“
Hello,
gorgeous,” Jo Miller rasped in her best fake
Streisand accent.

Jessica tucked
her feet under her for a chat. “Hey, Jo. Wait till you hear what we
just cooked up.”

Stuart took his
notebook and stood up. “I sense girl talk starting. Think I’ll go
look up Sydney Lynn’s website.”

Jessica smiled
and waved him out.

“Well, save it
for later,” Jo told her, her voice suddenly serious. “I have news,
Jess. Bad news. You sitting down?”

Jessica tucked
the phone into her ear to brace herself for whatever Jo was about
to deliver. “Now what?”

“Have you
talked to Tony about the Emerging Technologies plan yet?”

Jessica closed
her eyes, wanting to forget the whole conversation she’d had with
Carla Drake. “He blew me off and I haven’t had a chance to call
him. I was hoping it would go away.”

“It’s not going
away. Rita just slipped me a copy of a draft org chart that Carla
sent down to Tony for review.”

The fact that
Rita Ross, her loyal secretary, was working for Carla while she was
in Florida cut a jealous edge into Jess. “What did it say?”

“She wants to
formally announce your new position as head of Emerging
Technologies. And hers as General Manager. She got the promotion,
Jess.”

A white light
popped in her head and the old throbbing in her temples started
immediately. “I’ll call Tony. And I’ll be there in a week, Jo. I’m
going to fight her on this. I will not be shuffled off to no-name
accounts and stripped of everything I worked for. There’s no
reason.”

“
The
Today
s
how was a
reason. Not that he didn’t pull it off, but you know she’s saying
it should never have happened.”

“
Damn it,
Jo!” Jessica fought to control her temper. “
She
knew about the rumor—I told you they called before
the interview and she deliberately let me get
crucified.”

“Just watch
your back. She might want you gone altogether. And, puhleeze, don’t
give into any hormonal urges with the rocket man. She’s already
suggested no woman could keep her panties on around him. Even St.
Jessica.”

Snow kisses
.
“Jo. Really. I’m not stupid.”

“I know that,
but I have no desire to work in Regurgitating Technologies, so
ignore what I said before and be a good girl.”

Jessica closed
her eyes. “Always.”

“Listen, are we
on for a Christmas celebration? I have something that is no less
than extraordinary for you this year.”

Jessica reached
for her calendar. “I’ll be there all week. I’ll need you more than
ever, honey. I’m counting the days.”

* * *

“Good
afternoon, Commander Stockard.” The attractive receptionist in the
lobby of the Press Facility Building smiled brightly as Deke
entered the waiting area. “It’s always a pleasure to see our newest
star in here,” she added with a flip of frosted blond hair.

He nodded
in response. He sure didn’t like being anyone’s star, but at least
his presence at the press facility required no explanation.
Since
he
certainly
didn’t know why he was there when he had so much to do before
leaving for Houston.

He fought a
smile. Aw, hell. He knew why.

Because it felt
like a lot more than six hours since he last saw Jessica.

His
rubber-soled shoes made no noise on the linoleum floor as he
approached the corridor of Public Affairs offices. A few feet from
her door, he heard the music of her laughter in a one-sided
conversation. He slowed his step, taking a moment to savor the
sound and not wanting to rudely interrupt again.

Then he
heard the endearment.
Honey
.