“Oh, smell the other half, do you?” She giggled and brought the other half out from behind her back. Tank wasted no time, acting like a gentleman as he swiped it from her hand.
Patting his flank, Colt said, “Tank loves his apples, and certainly appreciates the treat.”
“I have another one he can have in the morning before you ride out. We wouldn’t want a big handsome devil like you to starve, would we now?” She stroked the velvety patch of Tank’s nose, thrilled at the way he responded, lowering his head so she could pet him.
“Let’s get you inside.” Colt exited the stall and made sure the bolt locking the gate was secure.
Avery placed a kiss on the front of Tank’s face, just above his nose. “We will be right inside if you need us, sweetie.”
Colt ushered her out of the barn, ensuring the door was latched properly to keep predators out.
Inside the cabin, Avery removed her boots by the door before heading over to the kitchen. She noticed Colt did the same, putting his cowboy boots beside hers and hanging his Stetson up on one of the coat hooks. The kitchen cabinets were the same golden wood color as the rest of the interior of the cabin. In it were a sink, electric stove, and oven. There was a stainless-steel refrigerator that was the most modern appliance next to the flat screen television. The kitchen was stocked with plates, cups, bowls, utensils, a coffeemaker, and pots and pans. Everything one might need on a rustic getaway. Well, everything but food. She was going to need to figure out a way to purchase more groceries, especially now that she was sharing what she had with Colt. Not that she minded. Somehow, even when she did something silly, like lose her wallet, it all worked out in the end.
She pulled out the carton of eggs and one of the two remaining apples. As she whisked the eggs to scramble them, Colt asked, “So what is all this stuff?”
Avery shot him a glance as he studied her equipment in the living room, with some spilling over toward the bedroom. There were ten different telescopes, all with specific variations and additional tools to study the stars. “Telescopes and radio dishes to study visible light, infrared light, and radio waves in space. Then there are the assorted tools that I attach to the telescopes, which is why I have more than one telescope in the bunch. There are the CCD cameras, a number of different filters, photometers and spectrometers. They’re designed to record what is normally not visible to the naked eye. And then there’s the computer equipment I attach to it all. That’s what’s in the sturdy black boxes. They have satellite capability to link up with my home database. That way, if something happens to my equipment, I don’t lose the work I’ve done. I can compare readings. And I have two solar powered generators to help power my computers. They help me work off grid. I haven’t set up my field tent yet or I would have taken all the equipment into that for the duration of the storm.”
She poured the egg batter into the sizzling frying pan, moving about the small kitchen with ease.
“And you, what, study space?”
“I’m an astronomer and astrophysicist. I have a PhD in both fields. I’ve been tracking the trajectory of a comet I discovered a few months ago, studying it from different angles around the globe. But I study all sorts of things in space: comets, asteroids, meteoroids.” She left off that she was here on her search for extraterrestrial life. People tended to look at her funny—even more than usual—when she mentioned it, and she didn’t want to scare the man off just yet.
“That’s rather impressive.”
“You sound shocked… dammit!” She hissed and shook her hand at the flash of pain. She couldn’t seem to go half a day without injuring herself in some fashion.
“Here, let me see.” He approached, crowding her by the stove.
He took her hand, and turned it over for his inspection. There was a tiny stripe of red near her wrist where she’d burned it on the pan. “Doesn’t look too bad. Why don’t you let me finish cooking the eggs, that way you don’t hurt yourself more, and put some ice on that?”
She sighed. “Sure. Have at it.”
There were days she was surprised she made it through in one piece. She was a klutz with a capital K. It was embarrassing.
She moved out of the way, pulled an ice cube from the freezer, and let the cowboy take over cooking. She wrapped one of the dish towels around the ice to hold it in place, and got two plates and forks out. Avery halved the apple they would share and put it on the plates. “I have wine, if you like that sort of thing. I’m not really a beer person, although I can have one in a pinch. I just don’t have any with me.”
“Why am I not surprised? Sure, wine will do.”
Discarding the rest of the ice cube into the sink, she grabbed the chilled bottle of chardonnay, glad she had remembered to put it in the fridge when she arrived last night. And it had a twist off top. It was better that way, otherwise she would end up at urgent care after accidentally stabbing herself with the corkscrew. She had a scar on her left hand from a mishap with one. There weren’t any wine glasses, but the glass tumblers would do in a pinch.
“How long have you been at the cabin?” he asked, transferring the scrambled eggs onto the plates.
“Two days. I lost my wallet that first afternoon, taking a short hike around the cabin to scout the area. I feel horrible that I haven’t gone to the ranch offices and explained, but there’s not much that can be done about it, nor can I ignore the research I need to do here. I doubt they would even believe me.” Not to mention she was mortified by her gaffe, or that because of it, she didn’t even have money for gas to get herself and her vehicle back to Nevada without making a few calls.
“They might be more willing to listen than you imagine. But if your wallet gets found and turned in at the ranch, I will get it back to you,” he said, taking a seat at the table with her.
She shrugged. The wallet was gone. The likelihood of it being found were on a level with discovering Bigfoot’s existence. “I doubt anyone will. It’s likely waterlogged at the bottom of the stream somewhere, but if it is located, that would be nice.”
“Tell me more about this comet you discovered. When did you discover it, and how did that bring you here to Colorado?”
Glad to be off the topic of her blunder, she explained. “Well, it was six months ago, give or take a month. I was on Maunakea in Hawaii at the Keck Observatory—they have the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes—and had been there for almost three months, when this new object appeared in an area of space I was observing. I had the satellite telescopes pointed toward the Andromeda galaxy. Upon first discovery, I had to run through a series of tests, calculations, and validations to delineate and determine what the object was. Once I had determined that it was a comet and not an asteroid, I had to cross check the relevant data with all the known comets, their trajectories, and positions. It’s loads of data collection and equations, determining where the comet is headed. And now I’m tracking it from difference vantage points around the globe.”
She was also cataloging points in the sky where unidentified flying objects had been spotted. Colorado was a hotspot for UFO activity. And she wanted to know why. Her curiosity in the subject matter knew no bounds.
“Were you in Hawaii all this time before you traveled to Colorado?”