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you hear something from dispatch,” he replied, though he knew the young man would surely forget about them in the rush.
    Resigned to waiting, he headed off to find Ryan. As he waded into the crowd of pilots in navy-blue uniforms, a petite woman sidled up alongside wearing the same sleek attire. A short bob of blond hair accented the four gold Captain’s stripes on each shoulder of her jumpsuit.
    “Haven’t seen you in a while, big guy,” she said, punching him in the arm. Penny Stratton was fairly new to the company, but her status as a former space shuttle commander had moved her well up the unofficial pecking order. She had quickly earned the respect of the old boy’s club with her piloting skills, iron will, and clean good looks; a combination which threw many would-be competitors off balance.
    And she had always enjoyed a natural rapport with Tom. Though not a former astronaut himself, they had traveled many of the same paths over the years before ending up together here.
    Genuinely glad to see her, his mood lifted a bit. “Lighten up there, Rocky,” he answered, dramatically nursing the spot where she’d landed a punch.
    “Wuss.”
    “Cheap shot. Was that your flight that just blocked in?” he asked.
    “Actually I’m the staff puke in flight control this week,” she replied with a mock salute. The control center kept a line captain around in case a pilot’s perspective was needed for any problem-solving. “Got time for some chow?” she asked. “Just flew dead-head up from home this morning, and you know how airline food is.”
    Tom knew the punch line, but took her bait anyway. “It’s like a jet engine.”
    Penny finished for him. “It sucks and blows.”
    “How’s everything back in Houston, anyway?” he asked with some concern, slightly changing the subject. They were accustomed to socializing in short bursts between talking shop.
    “Life on the opposite side of the clock. You know how it is,” she replied with a cocked eyebrow that said far more than her words let on.
    Tom certainly did know. He sometimes had barely kept his own family together over the years, which wasn’t helped by a pilot’s lifestyle. Gone for days at a stretch, crossing time zones by the fistful, they’d return to their families in a narcoleptic-zombie state. In the end, time could not be denied and took its toll on everyone. “Tell you what. I can catch up to Ryan later. He’s big enough to look after himself, even goes to the bathroom on his own now,” he said with a sly grin.
    “Meet you upstairs, then?”
    …
     
    Tom spotted her in a far corner of the cafeteria, staring out the window while idly turning a cup of black coffee in her hands. Outside, the clouds had broken enough to reveal the sun setting behind the Rockies. Her mind clearly elsewhere, she barely noticed him work through the crowded room and slide into the booth. He sat there quietly for a few moments as she tapped idly at her cup.
    “Sorry,” she sighed, finally acknowledging him. “I’m still sorting out a lot of things in my head. It’s been quite a day, you know?”
    “Actually, I don’t,” he said. “Want to tell me about it?” Penny usually wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
    She gazed down and sipped from her mug. “Not entirely sure I know. Joe’s been real distant lately, and when he’s not he’s just…punchy. On a tripwire. I suppose it’s always been there under the surface since I came here, but it’s really gotten bad in the last few months. I don’t even know how to talk to him anymore.”
    “You guys have been together, what, two years?” Tom asked rhetorically. He’d been at the wedding, after all.
    “What’s your point?”
    “Look, I don’t want to sound like a shrink...” he began tentatively. Penny shot him a skeptical look in response.
    “...but I’m going to anyway,” he continued. “You both came into this widowed.”
    “Dan had been gone a long time,” she protested. “And we both knew