I’m glad I married you.She hugged his words to her chest as a shield against her insecurities.If he’s glad, maybe he’ll want to continue the marriage?
She told herself she needed to be patient, just take their marriage one day at a time, let the relationship develop naturally, like Darmaine had suggested. They had a whole year to decide what they wanted to do. And if they’d progressed this much in a week, imagine what might unfold twelve months from now.
As a couple, they had developed a routine—work during the day, dinner with their friends afterward, then snuggling and talking at night.
Today brought a break in their routine. Marshall had to deliver a load of tables to a neighboring village, requiring him to leave at first light. They didn’t know how far away it was, how long it would take, or if he’d be back for dinner. He could possibly be gone overnight. She wished she’d had the courage to kiss him goodbye.
She’d begun to hope they could progress from friends, to friends with benefits. He got aroused during their snuggle sessions, but he didn’t act on it, so she didn’t either, the fear of rejection holding her back. He was a man of action. If he’d wanted to kiss her, he would have.
“They’re here!” Darmaine called out. Her boss picked up an armload of blankets. “Get those bolts,” she said. Besides furniture, Artisan’s Loft would be delivering linens to Fair Shake.
Amity grabbed three rolls of horniger fabric and one ofpolax, a cloth woven from plant material. They didn’t use a lot of polax because turning the plant into fabric was extremely labor- intensive. After harvesting, the plant had to be retted or soaked in water until the stem rotted so the fiber could be extracted. Then it had to be dried. Next, the polax was scutched, the fibers beaten with a heavy stick and hackled with combs to remove unwanted residual plant material. Finally, the achieved hairlike strands were spun into yarn and then woven. There was onevillage that harvested and prepped polax. Amity was glad they hadn’t been assigned to that village. She had no desire to work as a field hand.
She went outside to find Marshall opening the rear gate on the conveyance. The wagon held five tables. It was hardly light yet.
“Hi,” she said.He hasn’t left, and already I miss him.
He smiled. “Long time no see.” It had been just a couple of hours since they’d breakfasted together. He stowed her bolts of fabric in the wagon bed and relieved Darmaine of her burden. She went inside for another load.
“Any idea how long you’ll be gone?” Amity asked.
“Barring any breakdowns, he’ll be back by dinnertime,” said a squat, bowlegged alien. His face was so wrinkled, his eyes could barely see out of the folds. A vibrant green mohawk ran down his head and nape like a mane.
“Oh, good!” she said.
“This is my foreman—Chartreuse. My wife, Amity,” Marshall introduced them.
“Nice to meet you.”
“This is the last of it!” Her boss returned with two more blankets.
“Darmaine, this is my…husband, Marshall.” It felt strange to introduce her spouse; she’d never done that before.
“Very pleased to meet you,” her boss said, her gaze shifting to Amity. “I think you should go with him to Fair Shake. He’ll need help unloading.”
“There will be people there to help unload,” Chartreuse said.
“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.” Antennae twitching, Darmaine glowered at the foreman.
“I would like the help,” Marshall said.
“I’m not paying her wages out of my budget,” Chartreuse said.
“I’ll cover it,” Darmaine said.
Chartreuse shrugged. “No hair off my head, then. Go ahead.”
“Thank you!” Amity gave her boss a quick hug.
“How do I get to Fair Shake?” Marshall asked his boss.
“Well, there are two ways. You can ride out that way.” Chartreuse pointed toward the rising star. “When you no longer see Artisan’s Loft behind you, keep going for about thirty kilometers until you come to the forked tree. Veer right. If you run into the asteroid crater—and I advise you not to do that—you’ve gone too far. You missed the tree turnoff. Go back and make the turn. With the wagon loaded, you’ll have to go around the rocky hill instead of up and over, but once you’ve done that, continue on for, oh twenty kilometers. You should see Fair Shake. If you don’t, you did something wrong.” He paused. “The other way is to use the nav system in the conveyance.”
Marshall muttered a curse.
Amity smothered a laugh with her hand. A glance at Darmaine showed she was trying not to laugh, too.
“We’d better get going.” Marshall opened the passenger door to the cab, and she climbed in. He bounded around the vehicle.
