She cleared her throat “And because we’ve done our jobs to the satisfaction of our superiors, we’ve got some time for ourselves. Which I want to spend with you.”
Ran lifted their knotted hands and kissed the woman’s knuckles. “Wanda,” he murmured, “look, it wouldn’t . . .”
“Look at me, Ran,” she insisted.
He met her eyes. “I’ve known my share of women—” he said.
“Yes, I’ve noticed that,” Wanda said drily.
“—but they didn’t mean anything, any more than I did to them. I—”
“Are you really that naive?” Wanda asked. “That they were just having a bit of fun, because you were?”
Ran shrugged angrily. “Look, that’s my business. What’s your business is that you—for pity’s sake, Wanda, you’re a friend of mine. And I don’t fuck my friends.”
“Then who does that leave, Ran?” she responded softly.
He straightened as though he’d been slapped. “Wanda,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
She shook her head. “You can’t control that,” she said. “You’re hurting people now with what you do. And you’re smart, so you know that, whether you admit it or not And you’re right, it’s none of my business, except—”
She squeezed fiercely at his hand. “Except that it doesn’t have to be like that. You care about people or you wouldn’t be so upset about what happened on, t-to Nevasa City. You can care about a person too, Ran.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t bet on that,” he said.
“I am betting on it, Ran,” she replied. She got to her feet and drew him with her. “Come on,” she added. “It’s an hour by ferry to Bluewater Bay, and that’s longer than I want to wait.”
Ran slipped his hand around her waist as they walked out of the lounge. “I’m not much of a hand for fishing,” he said in a neutral voice.
Wanda laughed. “To be really honest,” she said, “I wasn’t planning to rent fishing tackle.”
The stewards, completing the post-landing check of the Carthage Salon, could hear the officers’ laughter carol all the way down the corridor to the Embarkation Hall.
THE END