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They disembarked long after everyone else, and the staff treated them like celebrities. He had an arm around her shoulders, supporting her - they were both obviously exhausted. His forehead was wrinkled with stress, his hair was a salt-and-pepper grey, more than you’d expect for someone his age. Tall and handsome, he turned all the female heads within sight. The male heads turned too - for her. Despite her exhaustion her eyes shone, her pale skin gleamed, and her smile lit up the building. His head bent down to say something in her ear, and she laughed up at him in reply. Everyone who could see them envied what they had - each other.
Just as they drew level with me, she stretched up and kissed him on the cheek, then took a bag from him and left without a backward glance. I watched her walk to the transport station. She met another woman coming in - tall and dark-haired. They hugged and spoke briefly, then the smaller woman spoke to the console operator, stepped onto the platform and was transported away. The darker woman came up to the man I had been watching and kissed him.
‘I’m glad you’re home,’ she said. ‘Kathryn looks well.’
‘She’s glad to get back to her boys,’ replied the man. ‘And she missed her husband terribly.’
‘I’m glad you two have each other on these ridiculous trips.’
The man scrutinised the woman’s expression carefully. ‘She’s my best friend, Tessa. She has been for so many years.’
She - Tessa - nodded. ‘She loves you.’ She smiled. ‘And you love her.’
‘You’re forgetting something,’ he said. ‘I love you, too.’
Tessa laughed gently and they kissed again before they headed towards the transport station. My flight was called, and in the bustle that followed I lost sight of them. It was only when my shuttle was halfway to New Berlin that I realised who the olive-skinned man and the small, vibrant woman were.