Chapter 7 – What Finally Changed Things
The shift came during a late-night work session, six months into Jack’s tenure, the two of them alone in the lab working through a deadline crunch that had kept most of the team gone for hours already.
“Can I ask you something that’s not about the propulsion system,” Willow said, setting down her tablet with a directness that suggested she’d been building toward the question for some time.
“Go ahead,” Jack said, something in her tone making his own pulse quicken slightly despite his effort to remain professionally composed.
“Do you think this — whatever’s been building between us for the last six months — is actually something, or am I imagining a connection that’s really just good professional chemistry?” Willow asked, her usual technical directness applied, this time, to a considerably more personal question.
Jack considered the question honestly, six months of careful professional restraint finally giving way to an answer he’d been avoiding articulating even to himself. “I don’t think you’re imagining it,” he said. “I’ve just been too cautious to actually say so, given everything else riding on this job for me.”
“I’ve been equally cautious, for what it’s worth,” Willow admitted, a small, genuine smile forming. “Maybe we could both be a little less cautious, going forward, and see what happens.”
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