Launch by Richard Perth Read Free Book Online Page A

trust will be able to help
thousands of children while we’re gone. We can do more for kids if we leave
than if we stay, and our children will have a brighter future in the 26 th century.”
     “What trust?”
    “Our living trust for our pay and our
investments. Each dollar we invest at six percent will be worth about one
hundred trillion dollars by the time we get back.”
    She took a sip of coffee and looked at him
steadily for almost a minute.
    “You’re ridiculous.”
    “Why?”
    She put her cup in her saucer, and pushed it
away. “You’re talking about having kids and traveling 500 years into the
future, and you haven’t told me you love me or asked me to marry you.”
    “I think I love you.” he said.
    “What do you mean think? Why don’t you know?”
    “I feel like I’ve been crazy in love with you
since we met,” he said. “But love at first sight doesn’t seem reasonable. Then when
I try to understand how I feel, I think of you, and my heart beats faster, and
I can’t think straight.”
    She stood up and said, “Follow me.”
    He followed her to the front door, and she
opened it. “You figure out how you feel and let me know.”
    As he stepped through the door, she said,
“Goodnight David,” closed the door, locked it, and turned off the all-sounds
doorbell.

Chapter
9
     
     
    Hoping David had made a decision, Claire
accepted a date to go flying with him the next Friday.
    In a rented aerobatic airplane with side by side
seating, he did mild aerobatics in the practice area. Then after a slow roll,
he asked if she would like to try it. As Claire made clearing turns to look for
other airplanes, David saw an airplane whose flight path might make take it
near them. While he was distracted, she snap rolled the plane, a much more
violent maneuver than a slow roll.
    She was smiling afterward. With surprise in his
voice he said, “You did that on purpose!”
    Claire laughed in delight. “I love aerobatics.
My mother started teaching me when I was little.”
    David grinned. He snap rolled in the other
direction, and they took turns exploring the aerobatic limits of the plane.
    Afterward, they went to an Italian restaurant.
    As Claire put her napkin in her lap, she said,
“I’ve got a bone to pick with your friend Michael.”
    “Isn’t he your friend too?”
    “Yes,” she said. “But right now you’re his
whipping boy.”
    “What did we do wrong?”
    “My car drives like it’s brand new,” she said.
    He said, “It looks new, too.”
    “But Michael won’t let me pay him. He won’t even
tell me how much it cost. He’s an upside-down deadbeat.”
    David laughed. “I’ll have to tell him that
one.”
    “Don’t you dare!”
    “You could pay him thirty thousand dollars. That’ll
cover it,” David said.
    “How do you know?”
    “Because you would have to pay gift taxes if
it’s over thirty thousand, and he would have told you.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “It’s part of the tax law,” David said. “He had
a new top custom made for my car as a Christmas gift. It fits perfectly and it’s
knife proof.” David shook his head. “I don’t know how he got that for only thirty
thousand dollars, but he did. The quality is superb. I love it.”
    “Thirty thousand is a lot of money.”
    “Don’t worry about it. Thirty thousand dollars
is to Michael what the price of a cup of coffee is to you or me. To him, thank
you is ample repayment.”
    ▼
    As David drove Claire back to her cottage, she
thought about how much she had enjoyed being with him and about how much she
loved him. But he still had not told her he loved her. She knew she could not push
him, but she did plan to pull.
    She put her hands behind her back when he
kissed her goodnight, one of the gentle kisses she loved. Then she smiled and
said, “Good night, David.”
    Claire did not invite him in, and he did not
ask. But his hurt-puppy expression almost broke her heart.
    ▼
    The next day, David called and invited