Milky Way Tango - The Belt Stories, #1

Milky Way Tango launches the Belt Stories - a quest motivated by romance in a space opera setting. Jimmy and Sarah, childhood friends, become lovers before leaving for college. But on the Big Date, they encounter a cruel twist of fate resulting in Jimmy's incarceration at the far end of the Belt. For ten years, he will be the sole occupant of a navigational array near the North American nebula. It is a beautiful, explosive, turbulent neighborhood.
However, the annual mortality rate is thirty percent. The likelihood of his surviving the next ten years is close to zero. Sarah is left behind to get on with what remains of her life. She attends a college and tries hard to study. But she must forget Jimmy and the plans they had. That is difficult; for Sarah, all roads lead to Jimmy. For Jimmy, life is simpler - he is determined to survive, which will require all of his will and energy and optimism and resourcefulness.
The story continues in Milky Way Boogie and concludes in Milky Way Gala.