Read Space in His Heart for Free Online

cities.
    “Convenient for us,” she answered brightly.
“Since the press flocks to Kennedy for launch coverage. By the way,
are you ready for media training this afternoon, Commander?”
    He rolled his eyes and then looked at Stuart.
“Didn’t you warn her I don’t train easily?”
    Stuart chuckled and put a hand on Jessica’s
back. “Don’t pay any attention to him, Jess. His bark is worse than
his bite.”
    “The only bite she’s worried about is a sound
bite,” Deke remarked as they separated.
    Not the only one.
    In her office, Jessica inched the air
conditioner controller down to help eliminate the flush that still
burned her skin after the run-in with Deke. Stuart came back with
coffee and she tried to forget Deke Stockard’s attitude while they
discussed the contents of the press kit and she described some of
the media strategies she had planned. By the time she left for the
NASA TV studio, she had grown even more confident about the
campaign.
    Once she
had a chance to phone her friends at the LA Times , People and Newsweek , not to
mention Entertainment Tonight and some of the syndicated shows, Deke Stockard and NASA
would make a high - impact
entry into the consciousness of America. Whether he wanted to or
not.
    * * *
    “Son of a bitch,” Deke muttered as he stared
at Jeff Clark standing in his office doorway. “Who the hell does he
think he is?”
    “He thinks he’s the person who
single-handedly landed a man on the moon.”
    Deke blew out a disgusted breath. “Funny how
history changes over a few decades. Skip Bowker was one of hundreds
of Apollo engineers.”
    “Yeah, but he’s about the only one left in
NASA today, so he gets to change history. Anyway, you need to worry
about the present.”
    Deke stood up and moved around his desk in
two easy strides, glowering at his friend. “Skip is not having that
meeting without us.”
    Jeff followed as Deke strode out the door
into the hallway of the OPF. “Us? What us? I’m going to Skip’s
meeting. You’ll be playing spin the message with the hottie from
Boston.”
    Deke froze mid-step and slowly turned to
Jeff. “That is exactly what I don’t want to hear,” he said,
pointing a single finger in Jeff’s face to make a point.
    “That she’s a hottie?” Jeff asked, an
innocent smile threatening.
    Deke decided to ignore it. “You’re coming to
this media training session as my backup. You promised, Jeff.”
    “Yeah, I will. But we better have somebody be
our eyes and ears at Skip’s meeting.”
    “I’m going to talk to him,” Deke said. “Is he
at the orbiter?”
    Jeff shrugged and looked at his watch. “It’s
lunchtime. Try the pavilion.”
    Deke strode into the warm November sun and
used the five minutes it took to get to the Headquarters pavilion
to calm his temper and stay focused on what mattered: Skip Bowker
was vague to the point of deception about the inspection
process.
    He saw the familiar gray head buried in a
book, remnants of a brown-bag lunch half-eaten in front of him.
    “Hey, Skip.” Deke sat down on the bench
across from him and waited for the older man to finish chewing and
slowly fold a dog-eared corner of his novel.
    “Deke,” he said with a nod, turning the book
face down. “Thought you were off to the TV studio today.”
    “I may have to change that,” Deke said, “if
I’m going to miss something important in the meeting this
afternoon.”
    “Nope. Just routine review of inspection
logs.”
    Deke clenched his teeth to keep from lashing
out a retort. No matter how old and irrelevant Skip seemed, he
still deserved respect. And he still called the shots in Safety
& Logistics.
    Leaning back, Deke picked an imaginary piece
of lint from his khakis and spoke softly. “Nothing’s routine these
days, Skip. And February thirteenth isn’t too far off.”
    Skip snorted a little. “Don’t you hate when
they pick those unlucky numbers for launch dates?”
    “I’m not superstitious.” Deke knew as well