Page 58 of Starrily
“I’ll take pictures with my phone. Jessica said that’ll do.”
Besides running out of excuses, Callie realized she couldn’t get him out of here. He had his plane ticket, and if he wanted to come, he could.
It was fine. Everything was fine. She only had two nights at the telescope, and she’d be busy most of the time. If Simon wanted to go hitchhiking or throw himself off the mountain in one of his extreme sports, so be it.
She would be in the control room, eyes glued to the screen, ignoring his presence and that pesky part of her that kept trying to smile because he was here, and secretly, she wanted his company more than Jessica’s.
“If that’s what you want,” she said, in as neutral a tone as possible, redirected her eyes forward, and put the earphones back in.
Simon smirked, then started a conversation with the woman in the seat next to him.
In San Diego, they rented a car and drove out of the city. Mountains rose ahead and civilization gradually dwindled behind them as the paved road turned into a gravel one. They didn’t talk much—Simon observed Callie’s choice of a car, a sunny yellow Volkswagen Beetle, with a smile but made no remarks about it. He did volunteer to drive, which gave Callie the excuse to keep her eyes away from him and watch the landscape instead. Shrubbery had never been so fascinating before.
After a couple of hours’ drive, they reached the observatory: a white-domed building at the top of a mountain. A smaller adjacent house contained the living quarters for whoever was working with the telescope. The parking area extended into a viewing point with a rustic wooden fence, offering a magnificent vista from the mountain.
“Cozy,” Simon remarked as they left the car and headed to the entrance. Callie punched in the code, and musty darkness greeted them. Lights flickered, illuminating a tiny hallway with white walls and floor and three other doors.
“I’m changing that to claustrophobic,” Simon corrected himself.
“You, afraid of a narrow hallway? Don’t tell me you’ve never squeezed yourself through an underground cave or something.”
“I haven’t. I don’t like squeezing my body into tight places.” Simon walked forward and opened the door to the telescope area. “Now that’s what we’re talking about. Look at this bad baby.”
Callie wanted to admonish him for calling an intricate piece of equipment a “bad baby,” but then she looked past him, and any annoyance dissipated. It was magnificent. Not as large as some other telescopes, but it was beautiful, nonetheless.
“Be careful not to touch anything,” she said when Simon made a few steps into the room. “You don’t want to mess with the calibrations.”
“Got it. Just looking.”
She made her way to the control room. A long work table spread from one side to the other, laden with computers and monitors, some attached to the wall. Post-it notes let her know which settings to leave alone. There was a bobblehead figure of a cartoonish alien, and a poster on the wall sayingBeam me up, Scotty.
“Where is everyone?” Simon hovered at the doorstep.
“There is no one. The Falton Observatory doesn’t have constant personnel on site. The astronomers take their measurements themselves.”
“Hold on.” Simon leaned in the doorway. “It’s just you and me?”
Oh. Right.That wasn’t a problem when she’d thought it would be her and Jessica. She hadn’t considered Simon taking her place.
She moved past him and opened the last door, connected to the smaller building. A couple of countertops with a microwave, a narrow bed pushed to the other wall, and a tiny bathroom hidden behind another door.
Simon’s clothes brushed along her back as he leaned past her to scope the living quarters. “You know what?” he said. “I think I’ll sleep in the car.”
Callie unpacked her bag—a change of clothes, a laptop, and some toiletries—and, over the next few hours, got familiar with the telescope and the control room. As the evening drew near, she switched on the telescope’s camera so it could cool down before she took her test pictures.
“Here you are.” Simon peeked into the room. “Come outside.”
“I still have things …”
“The sky isn’t even dark yet. What else do you need to do?”
Nothing. She only had to wait. So she followed Simon outside.
“Over here.” He led her to the fence. Dry mountains, dotted with green bushes and shrubbery, spread as far as the eye could see, not a building in sight. The oncoming sunset spilled rivers of gold and orange into the green and blue shades of the slopes. It was vast and peaceful and oh-so-beautiful that Callie wished she could stay here forever, frozen together with the receding sun.
They stood in silence, enjoying the view and the fresh mountain air until the sun set and only a strip of orange remained in the darkening sky.
“Time to go take the test pictures,” she said.
