Kittredge, who'd personally selected each member of his crew, had started the ritual. Though they were already working together more than sixty hours a week, he never seemed eager to go home. Emma had thought it was because the recently divorced Kittredge now lived alone and dreaded returning to his empty house. But as she'd come to know him better, she realized these meetings were simply his way of prolonging the adrenaline high of his job. Kittredge lived to fly. For sheer entertainment he read the painfully dry shuttle manuals. He spent every free moment at the controls of one of NASA's T-38s. It was almost as if he resented the force of gravity binding his feet the earth.

He couldn't understand why the rest of his crew might want to go home at the end of the day, and tonight he seemed a little melancholy that just the two of them were sitting at their usual the Fly By Night. Jill Hewitt was at her nephew's piano recital, Andy Mercer was home celebrating his tenth wedding anniversary.

Only Emma and Kittredge had shown up at the appointed hour, and now that they'd finished hashing over the week's sims, there was a long silence between them. The conversation had run out of shop talk and therefore out of steam.

"I'm taking one of the T-38s up to White Sands tomorrow," he said. "You want to join me?"

"Can't. I have an appointment with my lawyer."

"So you and Jack are forging ahead with it?"

She sighed. "The momentum's established. Jack has his lawyer, and I have mine. This divorce has turned into a runaway train."

"It sounds like you're having second thoughts."

Firmly she set down her beer. "I don't have any second thoughts."

"Then why're you still wearing his ring?"

She looked down at the gold wedding band. With sudden ferocity she tried to yank it off, but found it wouldn't budge. After years on her finger, the ring seemed to have molded itself to her flesh, refusing to be dislodged. She cursed and gave another tug, this time pulling so hard the ring scraped off skin as it slid over knuckle. She set the ring down on the table.