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“Your ex isn’t happy with me,” Ed said.
Gordo snorted. “You and me both.” He sat across the table from Ed in a booth at The Outpost. “What isn’t she happy about?”
“You,” Ed said. “Going back to Jamestown.”
“Ah,” Gordo uttered, setting down his bottle. He’d had that conversation with Tracy too. “Yeah.”
“She came to see me at the office. She’s…”
“Pissed,” Gordo finished.
“To put it mildly,” Ed said.
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her it’s done. You’re going back to the moon, and if she doesn’t want to be up there with you, I can find a replacement for her.”
Gordo grimaced. “I bet she didn’t like that.”
“No.” Ed chuckled wryly. “No, she’s not very happy with the whole thing.”
Gordo nodded slowly. “She just doesn’t want to go through the whole ‘astro-couple’ thing again.”
Ed shook his head. “It’s been a decade. She’s proven herself as an astronaut. She doesn’t have anything to worry about.”
“Yeah,” Gordo said quietly, but he wasn’t convinced. He knew how the press liked to spin things.
“Besides,” Ed said. “That whole ‘astro-couple’ thing has nothing to do with why I’m sending you up there.”
Gordo fidgeted with the beer bottle between his hands. “Why are you sending me up there?” He waited a beat and then met Ed’s gaze.
Gordo was a wreck. He knew it. Ed knew it. Tracy knew it. Everyone at NASA knew it. He was depressed, overweight, and, if he were being honest, he probably drank too much. Yet, Ed was adamant about sending Gordo back to the moon.
Ed looked at him for a long moment before finally saying, “Because it’s time.”
“Mm.” Gordo wasn’t sure. In fact, he was thinking quite the opposite. He hadn’t been to space in nearly a decade. To say that the last time hadn’t gone well would be a profound understatement. Gordo had never planned to return to space. But there he was, with another mission, training to head back to Jamestown.
Ed watched him. “What’s on your mind, Gordo?”
Gordo hesitated. “Nothing. Just…”
Ed waited.
Gordo shifted in his seat and fidgeted with his beer bottle. “Tracy seems to think the idea of me returning to the moon is…”
“What?”
“Ridiculous.”
Ed scoffed. “This is coming from your ex who is pissed off, thinking that she’s going to be deemed the ‘astro-wife’ again. You got to take all that with a grain of salt, buddy.”
Gordo hesitated again before saying, “Maybe she’s right.”
“She’s not right,” Ed insisted. “It’s been a decade. You’re just—You’re a little out of practice, that’s all. But that’s what the training is for.”
“Yeah,” Gordo uttered. A part of him hoped Ed was right. But another part of him didn’t want to return to the moon.
“You still know your shit. I have no doubt that you’re going to ace your proficiency. And you’re still a hell of a pilot.”
Gordo nodded slightly, staring down at the table between them.
“Once you start showing up to your training courses on time, you’ll be fine.”
Gordo smiled and met Ed’s gaze. “You heard about that, huh?”
“I hear everything,” Ed said with a knowing grin. “Captain Gordo Stevens showed up late to the training course. Out of uniform.”
Gordo chuckled softly. “Yeah.”
“What happened? You oversleep?”
Gordo smirked. “I guess you didn’t hear it from Dani.” Gordo knew if Dani had been the one to tell Ed about it, that he would have already known the reason why Gordo was late and out of uniform. Not that Gordo thought Dani would rat him out.
Ed gave him a questioning look.
Gordo shook his head, feeling a mild wave of embarrassment wash over him, not unlike when he had had to admit the truth to Dani.
“So, what happened?” Ed prodded.
“I had a little problem with my jumpsuit.”
“What kind of problem?”
Gordo smiled sheepishly down at the table. “I broke the zipper.” He met Ed’s gaze. “Trying to zip it up.”
Ed let out a short chuckle. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Gordo chuckled too. “Like Dani said, it probably just shrank in the dryer.”
Ed smirked. “Right.”
Gordo grinned. “It’s all right, though. Connie hooked me up with a new jumpsuit, so I’ll be back in uniform for the next class.”
“Connie, huh?”
Gordo nodded.
“Did she have some kind of baked good in her office?”
Gordo chuckled. “Maybe.”
Ed smiled, shaking his head. “You thought about getting back in shape yet?”
Gordo grinned. “I’ve thought about it.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have a whole lot of time, and, well…” He trailed off and then offered a teasing grin as he continued. “You’ve got a ways to go, bud.”
Gordo chuckled softly. He knew that was the truth. He had gained a lot of weight. It hadn’t happened all at once. It had crept up on him over the course of several years, until one day, he had stepped on the scale and realized that he had put on more than forty pounds. He had noticed his waist getting thicker and his clothes getting snug. He had noticed his cheeks filling out and the hint of a second chin forming. But it wasn’t until he had stepped on the scale, forty pounds heavier, that he realized he had gained that much.
“I’ll have to dig out the stationary bike from the garage,” Gordo said. “And find my dumbbells and stuff.” It had been a long time since he had exercised regularly. He had once loved it, back in his twenties and thirties, when he was young and fit and confident. Now, it just seemed like a lot of work.
“And maybe lay off the Cheez Balls and Oreos,” Ed suggested with a smirk.
Gordo smiled. Feigning innocence, he said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
Ed rolled his eyes but smiled. “Maybe I need to tell Connie to stop bringing in baked goods.”
“No,” Gordo said quickly. “Don’t do that. She loves bringing them in.”
Ed smirked. “She loves bringing them in because she knows that you will show up wanting some.”
Gordo laughed. “You should really try them sometime. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies.”
“I know she does,” Ed admitted. “Karen got the recipe from her.”
“See?” Gordo said with a smile. “Don’t deprive Connie of doing what she loves, Ed.”
Ed smiled and shook his head. “Just get your ass back in shape, buddy boy, and we won’t have a problem.”
Gordo chuckled. “Yes, sir.”