Parsons wouldn’t have to risk catching her alone—their first meeting would be with plenty of onlookers. No risk of awkwardness, at least none they could openly indulge. Not that they’d be indulging in anything at work. He’d been very clear: Nothing must jeopardize their mission here. Parsons for once wasn’t running the meeting; the capsule development team was presenting their latest results. But of course, the team head wasn’t here yet, so Parsons was marking up a draft of a technical manual. So much time wasted waiting for meetings to begin. He ought to work up a more efficient system for ensuring things started on time. Not that this meeting was technically starting late—but he already knew it would. He drew a heavy black line through an utterly inane sentence in the technical manual. Charlie wasn’t here yet, either. She would be—the capsule had several computers, so the deputy director of computing ought to be here. Deputy director. Such an idiotic distinction, because God forbid she be given the title she deserved.
