"Then he needs to grow up and face reality. Not everyone's got the right stuff."

"You know, I really wish you wouldn't refer to him as some sort of reject."

"Hey, he's the one who resigned."

"What else could he do? He knew he wasn't going to get any flight assignments. If they won't let you fly, there's no point in the corps."

"They grounded him for his own good."

"It was medical guesswork. Having one kidney stone doesn't mean you'll get another."

"Okay, Dr. Watson. You're the physician. Tell me this, would you want Jack on your shuttle crew? Knowing his medical problem?

She paused. "Yes. As a physician, yes, I would. Chances are, Jack would do perfectly fine in space. He has so much to offer I can't imagine why they wouldn't want him up there. I may be divorcing him, but I do respect him."

Kittredge laughed and then drained his beer mug. "You're not exactly objective about this, are you?"

She started to argue the point, then realized she had no defense. Kittredge was right. Where Jack McCallum was concerned, she had never been objective. Outside, in the humid heat of a Houston summer night, she stopped in the Fly By Night's parking lot and glanced up at the sky.

The glare of city lights washed out the stars, but she could still make out comfortingly familiar constellations. Cassiopeia and Andromeda and the Seven Sisters. Every time she looked at them, she remembered what Jack had told her as they'd lain side by side on the grass one summer night, gazing at the stars. The night she had first realized she was in love with him. The heavens are full women, Emma. You belong up there too.

She said, softly, "So do you, Jack." She unlocked her car and slid into the driver's seat. Reaching into her pocket, she fished out the wedding ring. Gazing at it in gloom of her car, she thought of the seven years of marriage it represented. Almost over now.