Houston, Texas, at The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, on Friday, September 20th, 2030 at 10:30 am

Lucas

I'm almost finished setting everything up when I feel a soft thud on the top of my head. A piece of foam falls off of my shoulder and onto the ground next to me as I turn around. Cooper is laughing as he picks up another piece. I quickly grab the one he threw at me and toss it back, hitting him in the chest. He fakes being knocked over as he tumbles to the ground dramatically.

"Alright you two, finish up," Tran says as he comes over to the space habitat we are working on. "This has to be ready by this afternoon for the test," he adds as he picks up a piece of foam off the ground and tosses it a few times between his hands. "We should really finish putting this thing together," just as he completes his sentence, he turns quickly and chucks the foam at Cooper, who is still lying on the ground.

"Party foul, man, I'm already down!" he rolls a few times until he bumps into the side of the habitat. It's small, mostly made out of metal.

We are blowing it up this afternoon to test out the new materials we've designed. We want to know if they respond appropriately to interior stress. It's one of those days of work where you don't feel like it's work.

A few others come out to the field and join in on the fun. Sometimes it's nice to mess around a little bit. It eases the stress of the job. We also like to play pickleball in one of the testing rooms when we have down time in between projects or if we are waiting on some lab tests to finish up.

"Clarke, Richardson, you guys can have lunch now. We will take over," Tran says as he and Sokolov start putting on their goggles.

I nod at them before purring my gear away and heading back inside with Cooper. He keeps trying to trip me as we walk, and I end up having to just run from him. He grew up with three brothers, so he horses around all the time. I think it's why he and Rachel get along so well. I think about her and wonder how her day is going. There's a hard slap on my back that interrupts my train of thought.

"Hey man! I have an idea bubble!" Cooper says loudly as we make our way to the lunch room. Whenever he has a thought about something, he always calls it an idea bubble. I have no idea where he picked that up, but it wasn't from me or Anne.

"Let's invite Anne and Rach to watch the test!" His expression is that of genuine excitement to share something cool with his wife. I smile at him while his strawberry blonde hair flops around as he nods vigorously at me.

Rachel should also be on her lunch break.

I grab the leftover chow mein from dinner last night out of the fridge and stick it in the microwave. While it's heating up I pull out my phone and give Rachel a call. It rings a few times before I hear a click on the other end.

"Hello?" The sound of her voice instantly makes my chest feel warm.

"Hey, beautiful. How's your day going?" I ask.

"It's going well, thank you. How is your day going?" She sounds sort of distracted.

"We are getting ready to blow something up this afternoon. Cooper had the idea bubble that you and Anne could come watch." Rachel laughs loudly as she hears me making fun of Cooper. He sticks his tongue out at me as he scrapes the food onto two plates.

"That sounds fun! Anne is in!" she exclaims excitedly.

How did she already ask Anne?

"She's at work with me today because her judge has the flu," she adds, reading my mind. I smile, thinking about Rachel showing Anne around the school and meeting her students and coworkers.

I feel a piece of diced carrot hit me in the face. I give Cooper the teacher stare that Rachel taught me, but it doesn't work and he throws another one.

Rachel is much better at it.

"Hey, Lucas, I have a student at my door so I have to go. I'll see you later!" she says forcefully.

Something is definitely bothering her.

"Okay, I'll see you later. I love you," I say as I dodge a piece of broccoli.

"I love you too!" there's a click on the other end as Rachel hangs up.

She sounds like she's in a great mood today, but there was something off behind her voice. Maybe it's because she has Anne at work with her, or, it could be that we slept in the same bed for the first time in nine months last night. I was sad when I had to leave at the crack of dawn with Cooper this morning, knowing I wouldn't be waking up with her.

I hope she saw my note.