Quoted By:
Jean had always been proactive, loud and forward. Not much had changed since engineering school, and unexpectedly made for a good team. You each were complimentary opposites, two sides of the same coin. To his gusto, you offered temperament. To your analytical mind, he gave execution. An easy relationship that could’ve had one over the other, but you were both equals in each other’s eyes. The thought of one subordinating to the other was never in mind.
But it had been so tempting on that day. It fell to you to console Caroline. She was an emotional wreck, bawling and sobbing into your shoulder as her son and husband laid in the hospital, dying or otherwise mangled and unresponsive. And damn you, but it was so tempting. The faint scent of shampoo and fabric softener that gently wafted from her clothes and hair, and the warmth of her body contouring perfectly against your own…
“…he shouldn’t feel guilty,” you say bitterly, banishing that memory out of the front of your mind. “Wouldn’t do any of us any good, least of all you and Caroline if he signed the dotted line.”
Not that he would fetch much. Missing a leg and most of his left hand, a solitary thumb and fancy new digits notwithstanding, there isn’t much a cripple could pull in. And as sick as the thought makes you, Caroline wouldn’t either. There isn’t much money that anyone could squeeze from out of a desperate seamstress. Even if she put her talents to weaving in and out of brothels or the Temple of Ishtar instead of looms or spinning wheels.
That kind of money would never come close to paying for Tom’s treatment. Only someone with your standing and certifications could have ever hoped to make an offer to the Founding Families. Not that too many were willing to help since you couldn’t pay everything up front. Stolze was the only one who let you work the rest of the difference and pay in installments.
“…you still didn’t answer,” protests Tom.
But that isn’t the billion-ducat question.
The three of you had maintained a happy status quo for years. Unspoken, but very well established. She had plenty of propositions and date invitations, turning them all down without fail. Neither you or Jean had any flings or other significant relationships, not for a lack of trying on either part. The years spent in all of your respective programs had been the best part of your lives. Friends content to bask and enjoy each other’s company, even if you secretly wished for something more.
But everything had changed with two letters: one of acceptance, and one of rejection. You had to leave, but by the time you returned from a year of intense training, the status quo had been irrevocably broken.
Did Jean Barbet, your best and only friend in the Belt, if not the entire Flooded World, know about how much you loved Caroline Godwin…
…and that even with that knowledge, made a move on her out of spite when you got into the PUEXO Program, and he didn’t?
(cont.)
