Space (Laws of Physics #2)(10)

“Yes. But only in the snow.” I didn’t mention that the other main attraction was the snow itself.

Hushed, gently falling snow was the closest I would get to the quiet of space without visiting a sensory deprivation chamber. I’d tried that once and had something like a panic attack after two minutes. The walls had been too close, claustrophobic. It had felt oppressive, suffocating.

But I’d grown a bit preoccupied with the concept of complete silence, a recent occurrence after testifying before Congress on climate change last summer. There’d been subsequent interviews on cable news outlets during the fall and everyone had been so loud. Why did reporters shout on TV? Didn’t they know viewers could turn the volume up if needed?

Stressful.

Summary: The quiet isolation of the mountains, cut off from the world by distance and snow, felt like the only place I could draw a complete breath these days. Whenever I had free time, I went to Aspen.

“So noted.” Poe reached forward again, arranging the snow globe on the desk so that the front of the little model cabin within faced me. “Does the cabin actually look like this?”

“Not exactly.” My attention flickered to the rustic little log structure encased in water and glass, a memento I’d picked up on my previous return trip from Aspen. “And I don’t think ‘cabin’ is really the right word for it. It’s more like a—”

“Mansion?” he asked dryly, making me smile.

“Uh, lodge?”

“A mansion lodge?” His voice was still dry, likely because he knew he was right. All of my parents’ properties were mansion-like.

But I didn’t like to admit it, not even to myself. I suggested instead, “A small estate.”

“A huge estate compound mansion lodge? Something like that?”

I laughed. “It’s not like that.”

It was totally like that.

“Really? How many bedrooms does it have?”

“Um . . .” I moved my eyes up and to the right, counting silently. “Twenty?”

He made a choking sound and I looked at him just as he’d placed his hand flat on his sternum, like the number upset his delicate sensibilities. “Twenty?”

His expression was priceless. I laughed again.

“You could sleep in a different room every night, and still not sleep in them all.”

My cellphone, face down on the desk, started to buzz. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you live your life like the princess in that story, where the bed is never right.”

“You mean Goldilocks? She wasn’t a princess. And I don’t like cereal, not even oatmeal.” Glancing at the phone, I saw it was Allyn.

“No. The other story, the one with the pea.” He sounded oddly stern.

I swiped my thumb across the screen, whispering just before I brought the phone to my ear. “Don’t be ludicrous.”

He quickly whispered back, “Ludicrous is awesome, everyone wants to be him.”

I gave Poe a glare that was ruined by a traitorous smile, and suffused my voice with friendliness as I answered the phone. “Allyn! Hey! Are you all packed? Is there a problem with the itinerary?”

“No, everything is great! I’m just calling to let you know I’m on my way to the airport and I’m SO EXCITED!” She yelled this last part necessitating that I hold the phone away from my ear.

Poe chuckled, shaking his head at Allyn’s exuberance. They’d met a few times and got along wonderfully, almost better than she and I did.

His gaze was warm as it settled on the cell in my hand. It was also full of mischief. “Tell Allyn I say hi,” he whispered loudly, clearly hoping she would hear him.

“Wait. Is that Poe?” Allyn asked. “Did you convince him to come?”

He shook his head, but he smiled. “I’m not going.”

“Did you hear that?” I asked Allyn, not returning his grin. “He said he’s not going because he doesn’t like all-expense paid trips to Aspen.”

“But if y’all were going to Hawaii . . .” he sucked in a breath between his teeth, moving his head back and forth in a considering motion, making me laugh again. Even though Poe was from Tennessee, he had almost no accent. However, the occasional y’all did slip out from time to time.

Allyn asked, “Do your parents have a place in Hawaii?”

“No! I mean, yes. But we’re not going to Hawaii. We’re going to Aspen to drink hot beverages while wrapping ourselves in warm blankets, avoiding people, luxuriating in silence, and that’s that.” Once again I tried to glare at Poe. Once again I ultimately failed.

He stood. “I’m just saying, if you wanted me to come, you’d go to Hawaii. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Next time go to Hawaii!” Allyn urged. “And tell him we’re holding him to his promise.”

Poe captured my gaze, one of his eyebrows raised in a slight challenge, his lips faintly curved. I felt my stomach flutter.

Another topic we never broached: the possibility that—if we gave it a good try, and if I’d ever get myself together and move on from the impossibility of Abram—there might be something worth exploring between me and Poe.

Unthinkingly, I touched the outside of my front pocket again, my finger tracing the outline of the folded envelope. Move on, Mona. How many times had I told myself that? The X-axis was now approaching infinity.