Chapter 7
BBella sat at the table in the smaller room she’d been given for the meeting with the crew, answering work emails on the approved laptop NASA had let her bring.
She’d be talking in more depth about the cream, as well as giving demonstrations for application, since it was unique and had been adapted to use in space.
In addition to the Diana IV crew, the backup crew would be in attendance.
She double-checked she had everything set up, from the actual tubes they’d be using to wet wipes for them to clean up afterward.
She was anxious to hear their thoughts—since they’d be the ones to actually use the product, their feedback meant a lot to her.
Mike, Elena, Margie, and Jack entered the room, along with the others, and took seats around the table.
Wearing their blue flight suits and brown work boots, it was a reminder that these men and women were working, no matter how much they joked around, and Bella couldn’t help but notice how good Jack looked in his.
Jackie was right about the hot-astronaut thing, Bella said to herself.
“Good morning! We’ll be going over the moisturizer today—I’ll be telling you all about the ingredients we’ve chosen for the formula, their function, and then we will follow that with how to use it. If there are no questions at this time, then we’ll dive in.”
“This is Astra Seta. We modified a formula we had in development to make it richer—the texture is probably more balm-like than traditional cream moisturizer. This is because it needed to be highly concentrated, in order to meet NASA size and weight requirements.”
Pausing for a moment as the astronauts all opened the tubes they had in front of them, Bella waited to see if there were any questions before continuing.
“For ingredients, we added high percentages of ascorbic acid, astaxanthin, niacinamide, and Vitamin E. These are the ingredients we hope will provide defense against radiation.”
“Asta what?” asked Mike.
“Astaxanthin,” Bella replied. “It’s a mouthful to say, but it’s an antioxidant that is 6000x more powerful than Vitamin C, although that’s included too.”
“We have a blend of powerful peptides to signal the skin to produce more collagen, and Centella asiatica, also known as Cica, which promotes wound healing—the idea is that if any of you accidentally get a nick or cut while in space, this will help speed up the healing process. There are also green tea and oat extracts to reduce irritation from the suits.”
There really was more to this than just some gunk in a jar, she really knows her stuff and has put a lot of thought into this, Jack thought. He hadn’t thought he’d be impressed by the whole idea of ‘space cream’ but that was changing the more he heard Bella speak.
“We needed this to be both a hydrating and occlusive product, so we have four kinds of hyaluronic acid, with varying molecular weights to cover all the needs, plus glycerin and panthenol. These ingredients draw moisture into the skin. And to seal it all in, the occlusive ingredients are squalane and encapsulated ceramides for barrier support. But the hydrating ingredients and the occlusive ingredients go together like oil and water—because they are—so we had to add stabilizers to keep the formula together and from falling apart.”
After answering a few questions, it was time to apply the product to the skin.
“Please squeeze a small amount out onto your fingertips. I will walk you through the usage instructions. You don’t need more than a ⒈／⒋ inch for this, as we will be applying it to the face only.”
“This looks like diaper rash ointment,” said Elena.
“Diaper rash ointment?” replied Margie.
“It’s good to use on tattoos while they are healing.”
"I haven't seen any tattoos on you Vasquez, where are they?" said Mike.
"No place you'll ever see Rendit," she retorted.
The group burst into laughter, Bella included. She waited for them to settle before continuing.
“What you want to do now is rub your fingers together to emulsify the product. As you rub, you will see the product start to thin out from the heat of your skin.”
Jack wondered if Bella’s skin would be warm to the touch. Somehow, he knew it would be, and it would feel like silk. WTF, Jack, get your head in the game here, pay attention, he thought.
“Here is where the product goes onto the skin differently than a traditional cream - you want to press and pat into your skin as opposed to massaging it in.”
Watching as they applied, Bella noticed that some of them got her instructions right away while others seemed to struggle.
"That's not the correct way — Captain. Or is it, Commander?" Bella asked, catching herself mid-correction.
"It's Captain," Mike said, with the patience of a man who had explained this before.
"Jack is the commander of the mission — that's his role.
But his rank is Captain, O-6, and that's how he's addressed.
Commander is O-5, which would actually be a demotion.
" He said this last part with considerable enjoyment.
"Technically in a NASA context you might hear Commander, but Captain is his rank and that's what counts. "
Bella's face flushed. "I'm so sorry, Captain. I meant no disrespect — I genuinely didn't know."
"Ms. Genovese," Jack said, "you're not military. You wouldn't be expected to know. Both are correct and fine. And Mike—" he gave him a look "—was enjoying that far too much."
"I was just being thorough," Mike said, the picture of innocence.
“Moving on. Ms. Genovese, what is the proper way to put this on?”
Handing Jack a wet towelette to wipe his face so they could start again, Bella then squeezed a small amount out of the tube onto her fingers. Rubbing them together, she stepped closer to where Jack was sitting. “May I?” she asked, holding her hands out to him.
“Please be my guest.”
"Pat and press," she said, reaching towards him.
Jack held her eyes with his as she moved her fingers over him, brushing his hair back so she could apply to his forehead.
He went motionless as she drew her finger down his nose — her touch gentle yet somehow firm — then moved onto his cheeks, his chin, before her finger traced the curve above his lip.
She felt the warm steadiness of his breath against her fingertip, and forgot, just for a moment, that anyone else was in the room.
"That smells nice."
“Olives,” Bella blurted out. “Olives.”
“Olives?”
“Yes, the squalane in the formula is made from olives. Castelvetrano olives to be exact. They are from a specific region in Sicily, where my great-grandparents emigrated from. They owned an olive grove there - my family still owns it in fact. They use the olives to make olive oil, but we also use it in our Bella Pelle products exclusively. They are the best olives in the world, with a mild, buttery, and slightly sweet flavor, and the oil we get from them is highly nutrient rich. My Uncle Vito runs the farm now.” Bella was aware she was babbling. She absolutely could not stop.
“Uncle Vito?”
“Yes, my dad’s brother. He’s my godfather too.”
“Your godfather? Is he going to make me an offer I can’t refuse?”
Bella smiled; she loved a good pop culture reference, especially anything having to do with The Godfather, one of her favorite films.
“You really are Italian, aren’t you? Where did those blue eyes come from?”
“Technically I’m Sicilian. And they seem to pop up every other generation; my grandfather had them.”
A discreet cough broke the moment and made them remember the others in the room. Bella realized she’d been gently stroking Jack’s face throughout their conversation. What am I doing?
“Okay, Captain, I think you have it now,” Bella said, wiping off her hands reluctantly, almost as if it would also remove the feel of Jack’s face from her fingertips.
As everyone gathered their things, they thanked Bella and headed out to their next scheduled meeting. Jack stood there longer than he should have, watching her stack the tubes neatly into their box, and tried to remember the last time he'd lingered anywhere.
He was having flashes of feelings he hadn’t felt since Susan, and that made him feel a sense of guilt, almost like he was being unfaithful to her.
Which the rational part of his brain knew made no sense, but there was something about Ms. Genovese.
He shook his head, almost as if to shake away the thoughts.
As he left the room, Mike caught up to him in the hallway, and they walked together.
“Jack, what was that back there? It felt like we were intruding on an intimate moment. Are you hot for Old Lady Genovese? She’s a looker, that’s for sure, although I lean blonde, if you get me,” he said, nudging Jack in the side.
“Leave it, Mike.”
Mike side-eyed Jack as they walked.
“Sure, Jack.”
Later in the day, Jack was in the cafeteria eating lunch and reviewing one of the many mission reports, when he saw Bella standing with a tray in her hands, scanning the room for a table - it was packed - with no luck. Jack stood and waved her over, receiving a grateful smile as she came over.
“Captain. Oh—Commander. Forget it—I’m just going to call you Captain/Commander,” she said with a laugh. “May I join you? I can see you’re reading. I promise I will eat in silence and not disturb you.”
“Of course, and it’s fine—I was actually due a break.
Here, let me help you.” Jack took the tray from her hands, placed it on the table, then held her chair out.
Thanking him, Bella tucked into her Caesar salad with chicken—she was famished.
True to her word, she said nothing, eating happily while taking in the room.
“So. Ms. Genovese - how are you finding NASA? Is it everything you thought it would be?” he asked.
“Absolutely. It’s fascinating and amazing. The work that goes into these missions is extraordinary — and everyone is so dedicated. The attention to detail is mind-boggling, really. But I suppose it must be.”
"It really does — when we're in space every one of us is completely dependent on everyone down here. It’s why the best of the best work here - the brightest brains on the planet.”
Bella returned to her salad while Jack went back to his reports — though he glanced up more than once.
“You’ve got a little bit of something on the side of your face,” he said - leaning across and wiping a small streak of dressing from the corner of her mouth.
Without thinking - completely automatically - he stuck his thumb in his mouth to lick the dressing off and Bella felt her mouth go completely dry at the sight.
She stared at him, then quietly “Thank you. I’m such a slob, ha ha. Well Captain/Commander, thank you for letting me join you.” She stood up, took her tray over to the area by the counter set up for returning dishes, and walked quickly out.
Jack sat there, stunned by his actions. What the hell was I thinking? She probably thinks I'm a complete weirdo. I didn't even think—but her mouth was soft.