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“Who is this?” he asked, then cracked his head on the edge of the table cli back out and added, “Dammit!”
“Monica,” the voice on the other end said “Monica Stuart? Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Sort of busy right now, Monica,” Holden said Chip rolled his eyes Holden flipped hi him another drink Probably as punishment for the insult
“I understand,” Monica said “But I have soet together? Dinner, a drink, anything?”
“I’m afraid I’m on Tycho Station for the foreseeable future, Monica The Roci is getting a full refit right now So —”
“Oh, I know I’m on Tycho too That’s why I called”
“Right,” Holden said “Of course you are”
“Is tonight good?”
Chip put the drink on a tray, and a waiter from the restaurant out front popped in to carry it away Chip saw hi at it and ht of what the restaurant laughably called lasagna and enough of Chip’s “aritas” to kill the aftertaste felt like slow death
The truth was, he was bored and lonely Monica Stuart was a journalist and had serious proble She always had an ulteriorno would kill an evening in a way that wasn’t exactly like every other evening since Naoreat Not Italian”
They ate salrown in tanks on the station It was outrageously expensive, but being paid for by Monica’s expense account Holden indulged hi
Monica ate sparingly, with s up the rice one kernel at a tied some too, since Holden had last seen her in person Unlike Fred, the extra years looked good on her, adding a sense of experience and gravitas to her video-star looks
They’d started the evening talking about little things: how the ship repairs were going, what had happened to the tea was a new thing, where Alex and A more than he meant to He didn’t dislike Monica, but she wasn’t someone he particularly trusted either But she knew hiood food, he was hungry to talk to someone he actually sort of knew
“So there’s this weird thing,” she said, then dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a napkin
“Weirder than eating raw fish on a space station with one of the solar system’s most famous reporters?”