“Drink?” He said. “Anything you like.”

The bartender swept his hand along the line of bottles. “We don’t have a lot but there’s enough to clear out the re-entry blues.”

“Scotch on the rocks,” she said.

Six months on this rock, she thought, and I had to run into *this* guy?

The bartender set her drink down. She grabbed it and took a sip. Synth Scotch. Better than nothing.

“I know this is awkward,” he said. “But my guys are in a different cavern than you are. We shouldn’t meet that often.”

She nodded, the Syth booze taking hold. “I appreciate that.”

The two sat staring at the monitor watching Earth news, taking sips of their drinks now and then.

The feeling between them had once been very different. A long time ago, when they were supposed to marry.

She put the memory out of her mind. As did he. Strictly business is how things would be.