The Astronaut's Wife by Robert Tine Read Free Book Online Page B

alter his life— and by extension her own—forever.
Spencer took a deep breath and suddenly looked
a little weary, as if he was not quite up to the task
of explaining his reasons to her. “I’m done up
there, Jillian,” he said. “I’m finished with up there.
I think I’ve just about had enough.”
“What will you do?” she asked. She could not
imagine her husband doing anything but being involved in aviation.
Spencer smiled. “Believe it or not I got an offer, a job offer. Out of the blue, as it were. “
“From who?” Jillian asked.
“An aerospace firm,” Spencer answered. “It’s an executive position. And it pays a lot of money, Jillian, bucket loads of money.” Being an astronaut did not pay anything close to a single bucket load of money and there were a lot of things they had done without over the years. But neither of the Armacosts were particularly interested in getting a lot of money. It was usually the furthest thing from Spencer’s mind.
“We don’t care about money, Spencer,” Jillian said. “We’ve always gotten by.”
“Well, maybe we should start caring about it,” he countered. “There’s something to be said for having a savings account. Or so I’m told. I wouldn’t know firsthand.” He flashed her a smile. “Come on, Jill. Let’s live a little.”
“I have no objection to living a little, Spencer . . . But what do you know about being an executive? You are and always have been a flyer. I can’t see you flying a desk.”
“That’s the beauty part,” be said with another smile. “I don’t have to actually be an executive . . . And as for flying a desk, after a few years that’s exactly what I’ll be doing around here. No one flies shuffle missions till the bitter end, you know.”
“That’s years off. Alex Streck didn’t command his first mission till he was ten years older than you
are now,” said Jillian hotly. “You’ve got years of flying left in you. “
“Sounds like you want me to go up there and take another crack at getting myself killed,” he said. “I’m sure it could be arranged.” He laughed when he said it, but she could sense that there was real hurt behind his words.
Jillian immediately felt like a complete heel and enfolded her husband in her arms. “You know that’s not what I want. I want you to do what you want to do, Spencer . . . But why is this aerospace company hiring you? And why now?”
Spencer held her at arm’s length and looked at her as if she was a little crazy. “I guess you don’t read the papers, do you, dear? You are married to a true American hero. The President said so. So this company got to thinking that it might look nice to have the name of a true American hero on the letterhead.”
“And you’d go for that? For bucket loads of money?” This did not sound like her husband at all.
“Beats working,” he said with a grin. “Beats getting blown up in outer space . . .“ The grin left his face. “There is something I have to tellyou...”
“Oh boy,” said Jillian. “I don’t like the sound of this. Something nasty is headed this way.”
“Nothing all that nasty,” Spencer replied evenly. “Just New York City. The corporate headquarters . . . they’re located up in New York City.”
Now that really blindsided Jillian, a fact that took
her completely by surprise. “You’re kidding!” she said. “You always said you hate New York City. What was it you always said: too many people living like that, it just isn’t human.”
Spencer sighed. “Things change. Now I want people. I want a lot of people. I wanted to be surrounded by people. Millions and millions of people.”
Jillian could not believe what she was hearing. “But, Spencer, think about it,” she protested. “We’ve made a life here, Spencer. Our friends are here, not to mention a job I love . . . everything. This was our life and we were happy with it until—”
Spencer looked away. He wasn’t smiling or joking now. He raised his eyes