They were still talking after the place had filled up and emptied out again. Abby was surprised at how much she had shared with a man she hardly knew but he was so easy to talk to. He was fun and could make her laugh without having to try. She tried to pay for the dinner but Dan was having none of that and told her it would be a reimbursable expense. She doubted that was the truth but let his male ego do what it had to do.
“Dan, I think it would be better if you drove. I’m not sure I’m the right person at the moment,” she said.
“Well, I’ve had three beers which is way more than normal. I mean I could drive but if we got stopped, we could land in the lock-up and that wouldn’t be good. Why don’t we take a cab back to the University? We can talk a little more, drink some coffee or whatever you have and then we can come back in my car and get yours.”
“Coffee won’t help. The only way to get alcohol out of your system is with time. Nothing else will do it. Cold showers, coffee, and walking are all old wife tales,” she said.
“Then we will just spend some more time together.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
They were sitting on the floor again with their backs against the wall. Abby was humming and Dan was checking his PDA to see what he needed to rearrange tomorrow since it was obvious he was not going to make it back on time for his first appointment.
“Dan.”
“Yeah Abby.”
“May I ask if you are married?”
“You certainly may,” He said.
She just looked at him.
“Oh, you are asking. No, I’m not. I was once a long time ago but it’s hard being in the military. You are always being uprooted and gone for long periods of time.”
“I don’t want the details, I was just wondering. I saw you didn’t have a ring on but men do that when they are out of town sometimes.”
“Really? And women never do that kind of thing?”
“Maybe a few but not like men do.”
“The answer is still no, I am not married. No, I don’t have anyone special at the moment.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Fibber.”
“I might have wondered but I wasn’t going to say it.”
“Sure. Whatever you say Abby. I’m not so shy, what about you? I don’t see a wedding ring on your finger. Do you have someone special you’re seeing?”
“Just my team.”
“Wow. That’s a little kinky,” he said and she hit him on the arm.
“You are weird Dan Fowler.”
“Thank you, thank you very much,” he said in his best Elvis voice.
“You are the consummate worry-wart Brian. How many times are you going to go over that calculation?” Ruth asked.
“As many as it takes to know I haven’t forgotten one single thing.”
“It was that guy on the news wasn’t it? The one going on about it being closer to the sun than the earth.”
“No, that isn’t it.”
“Yes it is. Just admit it,” Ruth said.
“Okay. Maybe a little. I mean we are talking a 200,000 mile difference between what I project and what he projects,” Brian said.
“Yeah and then there is the JPL and their calculations. Look Brian, no one knows for sure what is going to happen. Any small thing could throw everyone’s calculations off. Have you checked with Chili recently to see what they think?”
“Yes. Theirs are closer to mine than either the JPL or that guy on the news.”
“What’s the difference?” Ruth asked.
“35,000 miles.”
“Well that sure isn’t much in astronomical distances.”
“Unless it would happen to hit the Earth,” Brian replied, putting down his calculator and rubbing his eyes.
“Brian, we have all gone over your work. Every one of us is in agreement. Even Doctor Montgomery thinks you are right. This is just going to be one of those things that has to run its course. You have done all you can. Unless some drastic occurrence causes the position of KA5 to radically shift, your calculations are as good as anyone else’s. Better actually,” Ruth told him rubbing the top of his head.
“You have a valid point. Going over this a hundred times isn’t going to make that big a difference. What will make a difference is the position of the moon when it does pass earth.”
“You are borrowing trouble. What are the chances that the moon will be in its path? That’s got to be a million to one,” Ruth said.
“Well so far, no one else has had to account for that. My calculations are the only ones so far that have KA5 going by 236,000 miles from Earth.”
“You are worrying too much. Come on. We are all going for beer and pizza. The boss is off with that hunk so let’s go have some fun for a change,” Ruth said, tugging at his arm.
“What the hell. Why not? What’s the worst that can happen?” he said putting his pencil down.
He loaded his things in his back pack, turned off the lights and they went to join the rest of the team. Ruth was right about one thing. Worrying about it wasn’t going to change the outcome one bit.
It was near midnight when Dan dropped Abby off at her car. They had talked non-stop for the past two and a half hours.
“Are you sure you are okay to drive?” Dan asked standing next to her at her car.
“I’m fine. Really. I’ll make sure I am extra careful,” Abby replied.
“Do you think I should follow you just to be sure?”
She looked at him a minute. This was crazy. She wanted to say ‘yes’ but… but what?
“Abby, I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I meant just follow you and then head to the hotel.”
“No, I wasn’t taking it the wrong way. Listen I really should run. I have a conference call with Chili tomorrow at 7:20 a.m. I need to get at least a few hours of sleep,” she said.
“Okay then. Just be careful.”
“Dan.”
“Yes?”
“It would be okay to maybe kiss me goodnight. Just a little,” she said.
Without another word he reached in and kissed her, holding it just a bit longer than a little.
“Thank you Abby, I wasn’t really sure what to do,” he said.
“Thank you Dan. I had the best time tonight in… heck, I don’t even remember how long.”
“I’ll call you sometime if that’s okay with you,” he said.
“I would like that very much,” Abby said and started the car.
He was still standing there watching as she drove out of the lot. Dan finally got in his car and realized that he hadn’t even made a reservation at a hotel. He had planned on flying back much earlier. He smiled inwardly. That was so unlike him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The next two weeks went by quickly with most of the news and the attention of the entire world focused on KA5. New theories seemed to hit the media every day. Abby was on the news nonstop along with various other ‘experts’ who had made elaborate models to demonstrate just how the world was going to end. CNN ran 24/7 stories about the impact of KA5
So many calls were directed at Abby that she had her secretary tell than that she not interested in talking to the media. Obviously this did not endear her to them and several wrote some rather unflattering articles about her.
“I think you should talk to them,” the University President said.
“Why? You know as well as I do that they are going to take half of what is said out of context. It happened to you just two months ago. You haven’t forgotten that already have you?” Abby responded.