She took a deep breath. ‘How is Aryssa? I was just about to come and see her.’
He spoke carefully, trying to maintain a hint of the composure that had already slipped. ‘She’s fine. I completed the stitches and she’s in Recovery. She is still upset that she can’t stay on the trial—just like Jonas was.’
Cordelia nodded solemnly. ‘I’ll talk to them both.’
‘Shouldn’t you sit down or something if you didn’t feel well? Maybe you should eat something. Or drink something.’ It was snappy. He knew that. But he also sensed she wasn’t being up front.
She paused for a second. And he knew she was searching for something to say. It made his insides coil. Cordelia didn’t strike him as someone who would be untruthful. And if she wasn’t being untruthful? Then she was definitely hiding something from him.
‘I’m fine,’ she said quickly. ‘I feel better now.’
He couldn’t help himself. ‘So quickly?’
She nodded and picked up some papers from her desk. ‘Yes. Thank you for finishing up the procedure on Aryssa. I appreciate it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.’
She gave him a smile.
And somehow he knew she was resisting the temptation to say, ‘As do you.’
She was second in command at the institute and he’d do well to remember that.
She swept past and strode down the corridor in front of him and he couldn’t help but watch.
What did a woman like Cordelia Greenway have to hide—and why did he care?
SHE’D JUST FINISHED pulling on her pyjamas when her bedroom door opened.
A little mop of blond hair appeared at the edge of the door. ‘Rory? Is something wrong?’
‘Want some milk,’ he murmured.
She looked behind him. Gene wasn’t in the corridor. ‘Where’s your dad?’ she asked.
‘He’s in the shower. But I want some milk.’ Rory walked tentatively into her room, holding a dog-eared book in one hand.
‘Okay.’ She nodded. ‘I can get you some milk.’ She looked at his bare feet. She wasn’t quite sure where his slippers were, and didn’t want to go into Gene’s room to find them. Things had been a little tense for the last few days since the incident at the institute. He’d clearly been annoyed with her when he’d come to speak to her afterwards. She’d tried to make excuses but somehow she knew he hadn’t really believed her.
Gene Du Bois was curious. He didn’t like being fobbed off, and that’s exactly what she’d tried to do.
It felt like they’d spent the last few days purposely avoiding each other and staying out of each other’s way. It was almost like some carefully choreographed dance—but, then, she hadn’t danced since she’d been a teenager and she’d no intention of starting again now.
She lifted Rory up onto her bed. ‘Why don’t you sit here for a minute while I go downstairs and get you some milk?’
‘Okay,’ he said, as he sat on her bed and looked around the room. She almost laughed out loud. Somewhere inside this four-year-old was a little old man waiting to get out. She could see him eyeing the clothes she’d thrown across a chair and her two pairs of shoes lying in one corner of the room.
Thankfully they had plenty of cold milk in the fridge downstairs so she poured some into a mug and carried it back up with her.
She walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed up alongside him, handing him the mug and praying he wouldn’t spill it.
‘I like your pyjamas,’ he said as he took a sip of milk.
Her light jersey nightwear was bright pink and covered in tiny teddies. ‘Thanks very much. I like yours too. Are they space rockets?’
He nodded. ‘And planets. I was going to be an astronaut. But Dad says I might not be able to do that. So I’m going to be the scientist that presses the buttons and sends the shuttle into space.’
Her skin prickled. He was just a little guy but his vocabulary was so good. And his comprehension. But just because he sounded older than he was, it made her a little wary.
‘You know, I think they get thousands of people who apply for every job as an astronaut. It’s tough.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t care. I’d get through.’
He said it with the confidence that only a child could have. She liked that. She wished she still had that herself. The fearlessness. The expectations.
Nowadays, if you could bottle and sell something like that you would be a millionaire.
She lay back on the bed and looked out at the dark night sky. She hadn’t remembered to close the curtains yet. She pointed up at the stars. ‘Don’t you think it might be a bit lonely up there?’
Her heart was giving a few little flutters in her chest. Not because anything was wrong but because somewhere along the line she figured that Gene must have had that general conversation with his little boy about doing certain things and getting certain jobs.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was a tricky disease. The advice frequently said that children and adolescents with HCM should refrain from competitive high-activity sports to prevent the risk of sudden death.
Anyone with the HCM genes would never get on the space programme. Never be a deep-sea diver. Never be able to do certain other jobs. But did Gene really need to tell his kid that now?
She turned to face Rory as he took another sip of milk. ‘But I wouldn’t be lonely up there.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because my mom’s up there.’
Her breath caught somewhere in the back of her throat. From the mouth of babes. She opened her mouth to speak but he kept talking, ‘And I would take my girlfriend with me too. She’s new. I met her today.’
Cordelia’s brain was still dealing with the first statement. But she couldn’t help but smile at the second. ‘You have a girlfriend already? Who is she?’
He looked at Cordelia in surprise. ‘I always have a girlfriend. Her name is Jana.’
Cordelia knew a lot of kids in the nursery and she frantically tried to remember which one was Jana.
‘Blonde hair? Curls?’
Rory gave her a wide smile. ‘That’s her.’
‘You’ve only been at nursery for a week and you’ve got a girlfriend already?’
He wrinkled his nose. ‘Don’t you have a boyfriend?’
She felt herself blushing. ‘No. Not right now.’ She gave a casual wave of her hand. ‘Boys are too much trouble.’ Then she rolled her eyes. ‘And too messy.’
His dark brown eyes looked between her, her untidy pile of clothes, then back at her again. He didn’t even have to say the words out loud.
Cordelia decided it was time for a quick subject change. ‘Do you think your girlfriend wants to be an astronaut?’
Rory took another sip of milk and nodded his head thoughtfully. ‘I’m not sure. Didn’t you want to be an astronaut?’
She loved the way he asked her. As if every person on the planet wanted that job. She shook her head. ‘Nope. I want to explore the pyramids. Or build a pirate ship and paint it red. Whatever came first.’
Something swept over his little face. ‘Is that