Playing Their Parts

Maybe the Dream Sharing was one-sided, he speculated. It was extremely rare, but it did occasionally happen. Maybe he was doomed to live a life of unrequited love, devoted to a female who could never return his feelings.

For a while, he had wavered, wondering if he ought to return to the Mother Ship and put the pain of loss behind him. But he had made a mistake—he’d stayed long enough for his dream longings to turn into true love.

He had been keeping Cassandra at an arm’s length for months, holding onto his heart, grimly aware that once given, it could never be regained. But then came the painful dissolution of her marriage to Keith and it was clear that she needed someone to help her get through it. Her parents lived in another state and didn’t approve of the divorce because of their religion and her little sister was on the other side of the Earth doing an internship in London. Her best friend, Lindsey, was on a cruise with her own husband.

That left Stone. Though he knew it would be difficult to be so near to the female he wanted and could never have, he had gone to her domicile the night after the divorce was final with a bottle of the best Fireflower Juice he could purchase.

Cassandra had let him in and thanked him for coming in a dull, colorless voice that hurt to hear. Stone, for his part, had no idea what to say in such a situation. Divorce was something the Kindred never went through. If you lost a mate in the Kindred culture, it was only by death—never voluntarily.

He had sat with Cassandra on her couch and poured them both a tall glass of the chilled Fireflower Juice, which had the appearance of the Earth beverage milk but the potency of 100 proof alcohol.

After downing a glass, his partner had seemed to unravel right before his eyes.

“It’s my fault,” she said, looking up at Stone with tears in her big, brown eyes. “I didn’t try hard enough to make it work.”

“It seemed to me that you were trying,” he’d said carefully. “You seemed to be, anyway—the times I observed the two of you together. I…” He shook his head helplessly. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say to you, Cassandra. My people don’t get ‘divorced’ from each other. Once mated, we stay together for life.”

“I know.” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “The Kindred are better at everything—from technology to relationships.”

“Our ‘relationship’ might be only friendship, but I still want to know how to comfort you,” Stone had told her. “Please tell me the right things to say and do and I will say and do them.”

For some reason, this made her laugh. It was a sad little sound but there was some genuine humor in it, which lifted Stone’s heart.

“Well, if you’re going to be my supportive girlfriend tonight, you started out right,” she informed him. “Bringing a bottle of alcohol—really strong, good alcohol—is always a great start.”

“I am glad I have started correctly,” Stone told her. “Please help me continue.”

“Well, the next step is to tell me that I’m too good for Keith and that he was a jerk and that I’m beautiful and I’ll find someone better,” Cassandra listed rapidly on her fingers.

“You are too good for him,” Stone said indignantly. “He was a puny, insignificant male unworthy of your love and affection. And, Cassandra…” He leaned closer to her, lifting her chin so that their eyes met. “You are beautiful,” he murmured. “And you will find a male who is worthy of you someday—I know it.”

“Oh…” Her heart had been pounding so loudly Stone could hear it and her pupils suddenly dilated with what appeared to him, at least, to be desire. Her scent changed too—going from muted and dull to devastatingly feminine in an instant. In other words, her body reacted to his—Stone was sure of it.

If he had kissed her then, he might have won her—might have moved past what he had heard the humans call “the zone of friendship” and into a deeper relationship.

But her cell phone had chosen that moment to ring and it had been the Captain, calling them in to investigate a homicide.

The moment had passed and with it the opportunity to be more than Cassandra’s friend and partner. She had been careful about putting distance between them for some time after that evening and had only gradually warmed back up to him.

Stone, for his part, was cautious about what he said and how he acted. Clearly he had crossed the line with Cassandra that evening and since he would rather be in her life than out of it, he had accepted the only thing she offered—friendship. And any time he thought about trying to go further, he remembered the words he’d overheard her saying to Keith—telling him that she could never think of Stone as anything but a friend—and stopped himself.