Page 33 of The Launch

Jo almost laughs at herself in the bathroom mirror as she washes her hands and checks her mascara for tear streaks. She was being silly and hormonal; she can handle this situation. She’s got a strong, upstanding husband, three amazing kids, and some great new friends. She reaches for a paper towel, drying her hands as she smiles at her reflection confidently.

“Well, I think he’s a hunk,” a woman says to her friend as they walk into the restroom together, ignoring Jo completely. “I think they all are. Have you seen them? I’m going to do everything I can to land me an astronaut.”

The other woman giggles and shoves her friend’s bare arm. “They’re all married, I think.”

The first woman shrugs as she chooses a stall and locks herself inside of it. “Well, if their wives let them hang out at the Black Hole all the time, then they can’t bethatmarried, can they?”

Woman number two has come to stand next to Jo at the sink, and she smiles at Jo distractedly as she pulls a tube of lipstick from her pocketbook and purses her lips in the mirror seductively. She’s chewing gum, and her hair is like a cloud of blonde cotton candy around her head. “I think you gotta watchyourself, Annie. You don’t want some old broad coming to find you at work and starting trouble for you in front of your boss.”

From inside her stall, Annie flushes the toilet and laughs cattily. “Some old broad,” she says with a cackle. “That’s true.”

Jo wants to say something, but she can’t find the right words. She’s always known that Bill is a good-looking guy—and that he’s made even more so by the addition of his flight suit or Air Force uniform—but she’s always let herself believe that other women would respect the bonds of marriage and steer clear of flirting with a man who is clearly spoken for. But hearing these two women makes her think otherwise, and the very idea of younger girls hitting on her husband at the Black Hole makes her stomach lurch.

Actually, it infuriates her. In fact, Jo has some sharp words for these ladies and she’d love nothing more than to let them know that they’re acting in a way that not only tears down other women, but tears themselves down as well. Fortunately, she quickly remembers where and who she is before she even opens her mouth: Jo is no longer just a Midwestern mom, but the wife of an astronaut whose family is in the public eye. So rather than saying the kinds of things that could spark rumors and get spread around, pegging her as a hotheaded, jealous wife, Jo takes a deep breath and straightens her blouse.

Instead of waiting for Annie to emerge so that Jo can at least make meaningful eye contact, she balls up her paper towel and throws it into the trash can, and then walks out of the bathroom with her head held high.

FOURTEEN

bill

“Things alright at home, Booker?”Vance asks, clapping Bill on the shoulder heartily.

Bill has been a bit testy at work of late, and he knows it. He gives Vance a quick, curt smile. “Things are fine, thanks.”

The men are working together on a mathematical problem that’s written across a series of chalkboards that cover the entire wall of a long conference room. They’re debating the issue of the necessary trajectory from Earth to various points in space. Jeanie Florence is there, her hand furiously moving across the board as she works a problem with the tip of her tongue held between her teeth.

“You’ve been looking rough, my friend,” Vance goes on, trading in the broken piece of chalk in his hand for a fresh one from the box on the table. “You look like Jo’s been making you sleep in the backyard or something.”

Involuntarily, Bill’s eyes skate over to Jeanie; she appears not to be listening to the conversation.

“Yeah?” Bill says mildly. He’s trying to extricate himself from this conversation without going into any sort of detail. Talking about his personal life with coworkers is something he simply does not like to do. When it comes to combat zones and outerspace, in Bill’s mind there are more important things to focus on than whether the wife is haranguing you about something, or if the kids are misbehaving. “I’m good. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”

In truth, Bill has been sleeping fine, but he’s under a lot of stress. He’s already asked Arvin North for three days off to make the journey out to Arizona and check on Margaret’s situation, and while North took the whole situation well, it was clear that he would have preferred it if Bill applied his “no personal life at work” policy across the board. He’d waved both hands and shaken his head back and forth as Bill explained the barest outline of the situation in his office.

“Say less,” North said gruffly. “Permission for travel is granted, and we’ll tell the other men that you’re ill and under doctor’s orders to stay away from NASA for seventy-two hours. Deal?”

And of course it was a deal Bill had taken—gladly—but there was still the tension at home surrounding the trip. Just that morning, Jo had taken out her ironing board and started pressing shirts and slacks.

“For the trip to Arizona,” she’d said, not meeting his eye. Bill had taken his lunch and coffee and left with a small salute, because what was there to say to a woman who’d taken hold of something and refused to let go? What could he possibly say to make her less angry with him?

The conference room clears out for coffee break, and Bill stands there, chalky hands on the hips of his gray pants as he unwittingly leaves dust marks all over himself. Jeanie watches him with a wry smile.

“I can tell someone was never kept after school to clean the boards and erasers,” she teases.

“Sorry?” Bill is squinting at an unfinished math problem; the next step is tickling at the back of his brain and he reaches fora discarded piece of chalk as he walks over and starts writing figures and fractions on the board.

“It’s just, you have chalk…everywhere,” Jeanie says, motioning to his shirt and the front of his pants as she breaks into a charming laugh. She puts one hand over her mouth like a schoolgirl giggling at something the teacher has done wrong.

Normally this would put Bill off—being laughed at is not something he’s accustomed to. No one laughs at the Lieutenant Colonel, and no one laughs at their father, unless he’s being intentionally funny. And, come to think of it, nothing he’s done of late has made Jo laugh, or even smile.

He looks at Jeanie for a long moment. She’s young, and without makeup she looks even younger. Today she has a pair of large glasses perched on her nose, and her long, straight hair is tied back in a navy blue ribbon that matches her dress.

“I guess you’re right,” Bill says, giving in to her laughter. “I never did get in much trouble at school. You?”

Jeanie’s smile drops away and she looks surprised. “Me? Oh, no. My dad would never have put up with that. I’m a military brat, and my dad was very strict with us. No messing up at school, no dating, no goofing off.”

Bill respects this. He thinks of himself as more relaxed with his own kids—though his expectations for their behavior and success are still quite high.

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