12.2 Baby Party

Spring 1997, Cage residence

Mae was surprised to find Rosa, Francesco's wife, here, too. But it seems she was friends with Delilah's husband.

The world was so small, after all.

She hadn't seen her since... well...

The kiss.

There.

She finally admitted to herself what it was.

She wasn't hurt that Francesco had asked her to leave. After all, they both had moved on with their lives, so why mess up everything again.

But the kiss - had hurt.

"...played everywhere! Really, it is a great song!", Rosa's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Oh my god, I'm ending up like Linda!", Mae thought, horrified.

She tried to pay better attention.

Also she liked Rosa.

"Really? I'm not into rock, so I never heard it!", she said "How is it called again?"

"Whaaat?", Rosa cried out in disbelief.

"No way! You don't know it?", the other girl, Sofia, added.

"It's called 'Blues in May'! It's about when he...", Rosa started to explain with excitement.

But then her face changed suddenly.

"Rosa? You ok?", Mae asked, while Rosa still kept looking forlorn into her alcohol-free Margherita.

The blonde woman gave her a piercing look for a second.

Mae stopped breathing. She really hoped Rosa never had found out about the - kiss.

She didn't want to be the reason Francesco might lose his happiness.

"Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom", Rosa said finally, faking a smile.

Before Mae could keep on brooding of what just happened, Diana appeared.

"Mae, look here, I got it!", she said, cheerfully.

Mae remembered that Diana wanted to show her her daughter, but Diana couldn't find her purse for a while.

The other girl opened her wallet, that had a small window for photos inside.

"Look, this is my little girl! She's one year and four months now!"

"Aww, she's cute!", Mae cried out with excitement. She was - the baby girl on the photo had huge brown eyes and long, dark eyelashes.

"Yes! I always carry her photo in my wallet, like a lucky charm!", Diana said happily.

Mae forgot about kisses and other problems.

On the other side of the room, Frank was glad to see Linda sitting alone, looking like she was again on a different planet. This woman had the funniest ideas in her usually absent mind.

Frank found her to be very entertaining.

"So what is it this time, cell analysis, or confusing boyfriends?", he teased her a bit, sitting down.

"No - just plants", she replied simply.

"What's with them?"

"I finally managed to grow some of the sprouts the lab received from the SRC. But... somehow it is very slow. If I only knew their natural environment..."
"The ones from S384R that Discovery 9 brought?"
Linda nodded.
Frank figured that she must work in the botanical labs of Oasis Springs university.

"I thought they were only sent for analysis", he said. "You planted them?"
"They were so cute..." Linda admitted, looking somehow guilty.
Frank had to laugh.
"I could ask some of the astrogeologists at the SRC if that would help you", he said then.
Linda's face lit up.
Frank was curious when she would notice that this turned out to be not a normal conversation unless you had access to classified science data.