“Afraid!” Mandy snapped. “I’m not afraid! Simply because I understand the risks involved does not mean that I’m afraid.”
Humphries puffed out an exasperated breath. “Then you’re using the mission as an excuse to keep your distance from me, is that it?”
“No!” Amanda said. “That’s not it at all. I simply…” Her voice trailed off into silence.
“Then what’s wrong?” Humphries asked. “What’s the problem? Is it me?”
She stared down at the table for a long, miserable, silent moment. Pancho thought she saw tears glistening in Mandy’s eyes. The expression on Humphries’s face was somewhere between bafflement and anger.
“Martin, please,” Amanda said at last. “We’ve only known each other for a few weeks. You’re a very wonderful man in many ways, but I’m not ready for a meaningful relationship. Not now. Not with this mission coming up. Perhaps afterward, when I return, perhaps then.”
Humphries pulled in a deep breath. It seemed obvious to Pancho that he was trying to control his temper.
“I’m not a patient man,” he said, his voice low. “I’m not accustomed to waiting.”
No, Pancho thought. What you’re accustomed to is taking your women up to your bedroom and videoing the whole thing for playback. And then VR games.
“Please bear with me, Martin,” Amanda whispered, her voice husky with tears. “Please.”
If he tries to get rough with Mandy, Pancho told herself, I’ll kick his balls into next week. She wished she’d brought Elly, but the stealth suit was too confining for the snake; she’d left Elly back at her quarters.
Humphries snapped the jewelry case shut with a click that sounded like a gunshot.
“All right,” he said tightly. “I’ll wait. I wish I’d never started this fusion business.”
Amanda made a sad smile. “But then we’d never have met, would we?”
He conceded the point with a hopeless shrug, then got up and led Amanda to the front door of the house.
“Will I see you again?” he asked as he opened the door for her.
“It might be best if we don’t, Martin. Not until after I return.”
He nodded, grim-faced. Then he grasped both her wrists and said, “I love you, Amanda. I really do.”
“I know,” she said, and kissed him swiftly, lightly, on the cheek.
She hurried down the walk away from him so quickly that Pancho almost didn’t make it through the door before Humphries slammed it shut.