Free The Jovian Run: Sol Space Book One by James Wilks Page A

confrontation with the Doris Day the afternoon off to wind down. That meant that John had to cover Dinah’s shift in the ReC until the planned family dinner that night.
                  “I was supposed to be, but Dinah insisted on finishing out her shift once Jabir cleared her for duty. You know how she is.” He closed the door behind him and took off his jacket, securing it to the wall with a fastener strap. He took a beverage from its secured plastic ring in the small refrigeration unit built into the wall and sat down at the table across from his wife. “Besides, I wanted to catch up with you.” Something in his voice told her that the conversation would not be cheery.
                  Charis glanced over at her daughter. “Gwen, honey, would you mind going into your room and looking at your book there?”
                  Gwen looked up, her legs bent at the knee, her feet scissoring back and forth. “Why?”
                  “Mom and Dad need to have a little time to talk.” When Gwen didn’t move, she stood up and gestured in a herding motion with her hands towards the back of the room and Gwen’s space beyond. “Come on. Just give us a little bit of time and we can watch a video together before dinner, how’s that?” John looked on and smiled.
                  “Fiiiine,” Gwen grudgingly agreed, standing up and frowning her deepest frown. She stalked towards the door, doing her very best to look as though her mother had just kicked her out of an orphanage and into a blizzard. They heard both the doors to the bathroom and to Gwen’s room close a little too loudly, and then their daughter was safely ensconced and they could speak.
                  Charis sat down at the table again and, hoping to keep the tone light, said, “What’s on your mind, oh husband o’ mine?”
                  “Well, first, are you okay? I mean, I know I asked you earlier, but it’s been a few hours now, and that was a really tense situation. Are you okay?” John’s brow wrinkled with concern as he looked at her.
                  She sighed deeply before answering, not in frustration, but to center herself. “Yes, I’m okay. It doesn’t feel quite real, you know? That’s not the first time we’ve been through something like that. Not the second either, I guess. But I feel all right.” She laughed a bit. “It was really tense for a bit there. I thought they were really going to kill Dinah.” She sighed again. “Thank you for your concern. Really, I appreciate it.”
                  John nodded, his lips pursed a bit. He had shaved that morning, and though his beard growth was starting to show on his cheeks, not one of the short dark hairs on his head was astray. Just as handsome, Charis thought, as on the day they met. She worried sometimes that the extra few kilograms she had put on when she carried Gwen, the lines that had formed on her face, from age, the pressures of her job, or the joys of motherhood she knew not which, would trouble him. He seemed to her not to age at all, but he had never shown any indication of looking elsewhere or being any less attracted to her. Just as good a man, she thought, as on the day they met.
                  “Of course,” he said. “Of course.” He let a few seconds of silence pass, and then added, “How much danger do you think we were in?”
                  Realization dawned on her. “Ah. This again.”
                  “Look,” he continued hastily, “I’m not saying that we should talk about getting off the ship again. We talked about all that and we decided to stay. I just… I don’t know. I just wanted to see how you felt.”
                  A slightly sardonic look crossed her face. “About?”
                  He leaned forward in his chair and his voice gained an edge. “About raising a child