“Hey, Jimmy? Can I talk to you for a minute?” George Villiers asked.
Jim Watt, Chief Engineer of the Motilene Mines, looked up from his clipboard and flashed an agreeable smile. “Sure, George. What can I do you for?”
George worried the inside of his lip. “Could we go somewhere private? The control room, maybe?”
Jim nodded, but his affable smile shifted into a look of concern. “Is something wrong?” he asked, leading the way up the stairs.
“No,” George said. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I just need to tell you something.”
Jim swiped his keycard to unlock the door and gestured for George to walk in first. George took the invitation and waited for the door to close behind Jim, shutting them off from the rest of the mine.
“What is it, George?” Jim asked.
Swallowing hard, George took a deep breath before he said his piece. He felt like he was choking on his own heart.
“I… I love you, Jimmy. In a, um, romantic way. I don’t expect you to do anything about it!” George said, waving his hands in front of himself. “I just… I can’t focus on anything and I thought if I told you, then maybe that would fix it and I could keep my mind on my work again.”
Jim stared, thinking over George’s declaration, for entirely too long. George hadn’t dared to hope that Jim would reciprocate his feelings, but being made to know about them might have been asking too much.
Finally, Jim broke the silence.
“You’ve been working very hard. I think it’s been almost six weeks this time? It was bound to get to your head eventually. I’ll put in a request for cover so you can go topside for a bit, get you some fresh air and sunshine.”
George’s heart death-dropped from his throat down to the pit of his stomach.
“Oh. No. No, Jimmy, don’t- don’t do that! Look, forget I said anything, all right? I’m- I’m not dotty, I just- You can’t send me up. There’s no one to cover and we’re understaffed. I can’t go on holiday and leave you in the lurch.”
Jim placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him an easy smile.
“Don’t worry, George. You’re not the first guy this has ever happened to. The caves meddle with your mind. A couple weeks topside with your wife and you’ll be right as rain. It’s not as if we’re getting much done down here anyway.”
George nodded along absently. He knew admitting his feelings wouldn’t be painless, but to have Jim write them off completely as cave delirium was an unbearable outcome that he hadn’t foreseen. But… maybe Jim was right? Maybe this was just cave delirium and after some time up top, he’d be back to normal.
“Come on, George,” Jim said, holding the door open for him. “We’ll finish up today and then you can take a couple weeks to get your head clear.”
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