Mail Order Mom

Chapter 11

SUSANNA

I found Mara sitting at the giant table in the kitchen. The captain was nowhere around. The jug of Voranian wine stood open in front of her, a goblet clutched in her hand.

“Are you okay?” I came closer and propped my butt against the table.

She took a swig from her goblet. “Where did you go?”

“To take the kids to school.”

“Oh, right. I keep forgetting about the kids...” She slammed the goblet on the table with force. “I’m so fucking bored here. Where is the alien?”

“Who?”

“My husband.” She made a face, looking disgusted by the very sound of that word.

I smiled. “You know we’re on Aldrai now, right? Here, we are the aliens.”

“Whatever.” She waved me off. “So? Is he working the fields or something? Where is his farm, anyway? Is it big?”

For someone who studied the Aldraian lifestyle enough to know about the fish in their baths, Mara remained completely clueless about her own husband. Granted, their marriage was just a sham, but we all were sharing the living space. We should make an effort to get to know each other a bit.

“He doesn’t have a farm,” I said.

She frowned. “Great. He doesn’t even have a farm.”

“He works on the frontier, in the desert. He drives a large piece of machinery, called a crozan—”

“Riiiight,” she drew out the word. “He’s a truck driver...”

“It’s not quite a truck he drives—”

“Whatever,” she cut me off, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

I sat next to her at the table. “Listen, the captain is not a bad person. I enjoyed talking to him yesterday. He’s a good listener and an excellent cook.”

He also might have something to do with the death of his wife, but I decided against telling her that. Stefan assured me those were just rumors. And Mara already held a hefty amount of animosity towards her unsuspecting husband.

“Maybe you could... You know...” I wasn’t sure myself what I wanted her to do. Be a little nicer to the captain? Did I want their marriage to become a little more real? Was it even possible, considering how completely different these two were? They really had no touching points on anything.

“What?” she prompted impatiently. “I’m not sleeping with him, if that’s what you mean.”

That was definitely not what I was getting at.

“You certainly don’t have to do that,” I said.

She yawned again. “If you like him so much, why don’t you sleep with him yourself?”

“That is not what I was talking about. At all.”

“Why not?” She rested her elbow on the table before dropping her head into her hand. “You obviously don’t find him gross. I know you haven’t gotten laid in a while. He probably has his urges, too, like all men do. If you fuck him, at least I won’t have to worry about him barging into my room to demand I fulfill my ‘marital duties’ or some shit like that.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “He would never do that!”

“How do you know? He may be playing hard-to-get with his ‘no-sex’ condition, but he seems very much interested.”

“Does he?”

“Of course he does,” she insisted. “He’s a man, after all. Didn’t you notice how he looked at you last night? I thought you were interested too. Wasn’t that why you made up all that drama with the fish in the tub?”

“I didn’t make it up!” Like I would make a fool of myself on purpose.

She squinted her eyes at me, suspiciously. “Why else would you run naked around him, then?”

“Oh God,” I groaned. “Was that how it looked like last night? Do you think he’d assume I was trying to seduce him or something?” My face turned hot at the thought.

She shrugged. “It’s not a bad move if you want to play that game. I thought for sure you hooked up last night.”

“I... No! We didn’t.” I sucked in a breath, getting up from my seat. “Trust me, I don’t want to play any games.” Either with my feelings or the captain’s.

But was she right? Could he really be feeling something for me?

“Suit yourself.” Mara emptied her goblet then stared inside it, as if hoping to find more wine in it somehow. “If I was even remotely attracted to that alien oaf, I would let him fuck me. What else is there to do in this shithole, anyway? You may as well have some fun.”

I fidgeted with the edge of my blouse. The idea of the captain finding me in any way attractive didn’t feel unappealing. Not at all. Though it probably should feel inappropriate, since he was my employer. Oh, and my legal brother-in-law too.

“He is your husband,” I reminded Mara.

“Oh, please,” Mara groaned. “Stop saying that. I’d be just too happy if you took him off my hands, like I wanted you to all along. Honestly. Where is he, anyway?”

“I didn’t see him this morning, but Stefan said he went to his office.”

“Who’s Stefan?”

Right, she hadn’t met him yet.

“He’s Captain Rax’s nanny.”

“A male nanny?” She scoffed. “Well, that’s even worse than a truck driver.”

Irritation spiked in me at her quick judgment. She reached for the jug to refill her goblet, but I took it away from her. “Why don’t you go for a walk or something?”

“A walk where?” She rolled her eyes. “Is there a shopping mall or at least a coffee shop here?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only been to the school so far.”

She groaned dramatically, then shook the last droplets of white from her goblet on her tongue. “I’m going to die from boredom in this place.”

“Better than from decapitation,” I muttered, taking the jug back to the cold room. Two silver discs on the counter by the grill caught my attention. “What are these?”

“No idea.” She shrugged. “A drone dropped them off a while back.”

I picked up one of the discs. It was the size of a dessert plate, thin but with some weight to it.

“I wonder what it is?” I turned it in my hands.