Part 6
I radio Vallery to let her know the
Semper Fi is heading back. Then the four of us follow
Ellington, Maclin, and Conlan across the commons to the doorway
leading through the abandoned hulk of the ship to the airlock where
we first entered. “You have to watch it when you’re docking,” Dylan
tells Parker as we walk. Both Parker and Shanley wear plastic
ponchos that crinkle with each step, and Dylan keeps a hand on the
small of my back, rubbing gently now and then. I’m glad we’re
behind everyone else, so no one sees that touch.
An ache opens in my chest and I want to be
dressed in one of those ponchos, I want to be on the Semper
Fi and heading back to the carrier—I want to be able to sleep
with my lover tonight. I want his hands and lips to erase the
wrongness and doubt th
