Betty sighed and leaned toward me and I moved my arm out of the way to make room. The skin of her shoulder was smooth to my hand, and cool the way the evening air was cool.
"It's been fun, Tom, hasn't it?" I knew she meant the last three years and not just the last three minutes.
"Lots of work and lots of fun," I agreed. "That's why space work gets in your blood, I think. It's fun even when it's hardest. My hitch in the Girdle even seems like fun now that it's over."
"I can see how planet work must be a thrill, even if I haven't ever been beyond the moon. I will be though—I'm going out with my uncle's Vesta expedition in a couple of weeks, you know."
I hadn't known. I knew she had been talking about it, but I had hoped Ed Day would have sense enough to say no. I wasn't altogether selfish about it. I did want her closer in, nearer where I would be, but a big part of the reason was that the asteroid belt was the Edge, and the Edge has always been a rough place for women, even when it was at the moon.
I started to tell her this, but she interrupted. "How did you make out with Translunar? The man must have had a lot to say to keep you this long."
"I get the money all right. And a job."
"A good one?"
"Six thousand."