I had to face Ryan when I got home. He was not happy—his exact words were: “You didn’t think to fucking ask me before handing my firstborn over to Glezos?” He’d get over it. I still needed to contact that attorney and tell her to drop the case. Later, though. First, I allowed myself to feel the victory. ‘Cause, yeah, it was a victory.
My cigarette ash fell onto the defunct 280 engine as I heard footsteps behind me. I expected a customer later—Mx. Mottershead with a noisy atmo-skipper, and I turned to tease them about being early only to see Myka. She stood at the threshold of my garage like she’d done the day we first met—when she’d offered everything Cadinoff had to offer.
Now her hands were shoved into her pockets, and her expression was uncertain. “Hey.”
I didn’t know the etiquette for talking to the woman you had feelings for whose contract you just paid off by giving up your life’s work. I covered by wiping my hands on a rag. Mechanic trick.
“Hey, I didn’t buy you.” Okay, that was a weird thing to blurt out. “I mean, I didn’t pay your debt to ‘get’ you or anything.” To be fair, this was a weird conversation to have. “You can do whatever you want. You’re not beholden to me.”
I’d expected Myka would disappear for greener pastures, somewhere with puppies. Yeah, it’d be great if she didn’t, but I’d blown it at Halcyore’s. Wasn’t any coming back from that.
Or at least, I’d thought there wasn’t any come back from that.
She nodded, only half-listening while idly assessing the state of my garage. “I don’t have anywhere to go, actually.”
I wiped my hands again. “Family?”
“None to speak of anymore.” Her heels were out of place on this dirty floor. “I’m supposed to give these clothes back to them once I get something else to wear.”
“They want your clothes?”
“And I don’t have any money.” She smoothed a wrinkle on her suit jacket. “I guess I thought I could borrow some clothes from you?”
They were taking the fucking clothes off her back? And then ditching her on the street with no money! “I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d cast you out like that.”
“It’s okay.”
“No! No, that shit isn’t okay.” Nothing these corporations did was okay. My victory turned to regret. I hadn’t thought this through. What had I sent her into?
She stepped into the garage. “I don’t mind being here with you.” She bit her bottom lip. “If you don’t mind me being here.”
When had she gotten so close? I could reach out and touch her more easily than I could touch that damn 280. She glowed with the setting sun behind her, tantalizing.
“You’re not mad about Halcyore’s?” My voice was rougher than I’d like.
“I was. But I got over it yesterday.”
“What happened yesterday?”
“The woman I’ve fancied for over a year did a crazy and, honestly, stupid thing to loose me from my employer. It’s hard to stay mad after that.”
I had so many questions, I didn’t know where to start. Her brown eyes were scared and pleading, but also happy and hopeful, all at the same time. A big mix of expectations and fears that matched my own emotional mix.
I grabbed a question at random. “Where did you learn to sing like that?”
She brightened with a laugh. “My dad worked at the on-site daycare. I helped him when I was younger. You learn real quick how to keep kids entertained.”
“Oh.” She had a dad. Why hadn’t I thought about Myka having a dad? I knew so little about her.
I must’ve tensed up because she pulled a data tab from her pocket and held it out. “Before I left, I copied over the Cadinoff files on you and on me. So you could see what I knew about you and you could see more about me. They’re abbreviated—I was rushing, but it gives the essentials.” She looked down when I grabbed the tab. “It’s only fair.”
“Not sure how I feel about rifling through files like that.”
“Then you don’t have to. Just, if you want.” She rocked on her feet with a lingering uncertainty. “So it’s okay if I stay here? For a little while. Until I can find a job.”
I hadn’t actually answered her on that, had I? “Yeah. Yeah, as long as you need. I’m the reason you’re out of a home, so least I can do.”
We were like two kids at a school dance. I cringed even as I couldn’t snap out of the nerves that gripped me.
“Oh!” Myka rummaged through another pocket in the lining of her jacket. When she found what she was looking for she presented it with a broad smile.
Dusty and unassuming, yet shining like a treasure, she offered the alternate cabling that would fix that damned Solar Forward 280.
“This is the part, right?”
Seeing that stupid, obsolete part sparked the biggest feeling explosion I’d ever experienced. Bigger than when Ryan had run through active fire to save me. The realization that by giving up my life’s work I’d gotten so much more than I gave. Glezos didn’t even know how much I’d gotten the better in that trade.
‘Cause I gave up a design, but I got this beautiful woman who would stop to think of the stupidest, the most trivial thing in the world while being cut loose from the employer that had managed her life to that point. For me.
The alternate cabling clanged to the floor as I swept Myka up for a kiss. No need for handcuffs this time. There was no way I’d let her go.
* * * *
Six months later
I was at that “freeform doodling” stage of inspiration. It’s further along than the “disregard hygiene and camp out on the sofa watching
