Page 55 of Space Cowgirl: Houston, All Systems Go
My incredulity gets him laughing. “Yeah, I guess it’s hard to see now, but I went to all the fancy private schools my mom insisted on sending me to in the city. Complete with blazer and tie.”
“Wow.” I look him up and down. “Don’t get me wrong, the cowboy thing really does it for me, but yeah, I’d def like to see the stoic Holt West purdied up in his Sunday best sometime.”
“Sheesh, you talk about me like I’m some sort of Rowdy Yates throwback.”
“Rowdy Yates?”
“FromRawhide? The black and white western with Clint Eastwood?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe because I didn’t grow up in the 1950s when everyone gathered ‘round the radio for their nightly entertainment.”
He sputters. “You know I’m younger than you, right?”
“By two years, cowboy. And you’d never know it from the way you talk and act.”
He shakes his head, laughing again. It’s nice making the normally serious Holt West laugh.
“I may not know black and white westerns, but I do know Clint Eastwood.”
“Oh yeah?” He waves at a kid playing tag across the way. “You a big Eastwood fan?”
“Uh, hello?Space Cowboys?” I scoff.
“What’s that?”
I blink at him. “Are you serious?” He frowns back. “You’veneverheard ofSpace Cowboys?”
He shakes his head.
“I’m judging you so hard right now.”
“What? Why?”
“How do you not know the best space movie ever made?”
“I thought that wasApollo 13?”
“Ugh, everyone’s favorite. That was just retelling, although yes, quite an awesome one. But it’s soserious. People discount that NASA is actually a pretty fun place to work. We work hard, but we play hard too.” I lie back, hands behind my head. “Space Cowboys—now that’s a movie that really tells it like it is.”
He stretches out on his side next to me. “Well, you didn’t knowRawhideand that’s a classic.”
“Please. At least my excuse for not knowingRawhidewas that it aired a few centuries ago.Space Cowboysis a badass NASA film about older astronauts getting to go back into space. They filmed a lot on site at JSC. I was still in the Air Force, but being that NASA is government run, which mean low funds for renovations, a lot of those buildings look just the same then as they do now. Sometimes I walk where Clint walked just for shits and giggles.”
He settles on his back, one hand raised to block the sun. “I may not have watchedSpace Cowboys, but I do know one. Though she’s more space cowgirlthan cowboy.” He has the decency to cringe at his own joke.
“Dude. You have dad jokes and you aren’t even a dad.”
“So Rose says.”
We sit in silence for a while, eyes closed, listening to the kids play around us.
“You know, I never really thought about what I’d do if the ranch wasn’t here.” In the distance, TJ throws back his head and laughs. “It’s still where I’m happiest, but just not how I thought.”
My eyes open, only to squint against the sunlight. “What do you mean?”
His eyes are still closed. “Best days are when the kids come.” His mouth pulls down at the corners. “Which makes me feel guilty, ’cause my grandfather worked hard to make the ranch what it is. He had a hard time of it when my dad flaked out after marrying Mom. And even though I know helping these kids is important, I feel guilty taking time off from ranch work.”
I shift to my side, propping myself on my elbow to face him. “But that’s what you have Tucker for, right? Isn’t he, like, your foreman or something?”
