Page 21 of The Spark Between Us

Subtle.

Her eyes had such a dreamy, pale blue cast, I had a hard time not staring again. She shook her head. “Nope. Neither. I don’t date. No dates, no kissing. It’s not the right time in my life for that. I have a plan.”

The corner of my mouth hitched up in amusement. “Are you on a fixed calendar? When’s go time?”

Those eyes pinned me like I’d missed out on understanding some law of the universe. “When I’m on tenure track and I’ve checked some career boxes. I like to have a plan. Probably why science suits me.”

“What does science have to do with dating?”

“I just mean science is comforting because it has expected outcomes. I try to plan my life so I know what to do and what to expect. Right now, that’s work, not dating or relationships. No unexpected detours.”

“I get that. I don’t do relationships either.” For entirely different reasons. But hearing her lay out her “plans” only reinforced that I needed to stop gawking and let her pursue her career in peace.

Between my schedule and hers, we’d probably rarely see each other. Six months would fly by, and we’d have another dinner like this before I sent her home to Berkeley. I had plenty of women in my life. There was no sense in getting worked up over her.

She hadn’t moved her cheek from her hand, and for a second, I saw her eyes droop. They shot open, and she jerked to an upright position, frowning. “Wow. I don’t know what happened. I just suddenly got really, really tired.”

“It’s trauma. Mental, physical. Your body went through a lot, even though you’ve been doing your best to pretend it didn’t.”

She nodded slowly. “Personality trait. I like to be in control. So if I don’t like the way something feels, I push it away. I didn’t want to feel like an accident victim, and I really didn’t like the attention, so the easiest thing was to say I was fine and get everyone off my case.”

“But then what? What do you do if there’s really something wrong?”

She shrugged. “I deal with it myself. Without all the drama.” She stifled a yawn.

I signaled our waiter for the bill. “Let’s get you home.”

I could tell she was stiffening up. The wine probably helped in dulling the aches that would settle in later, but I had a feeling she had no idea the pain she was in for.

“How does your body feel right now?” My voice came out in a rumble. Her sleepy eyes widened a little and she tilted her head. “I mean, after the accident. Are you hurting? You probably took a beating.”

She exhaled and shook her head as though she was disappointed with herself. “Yeah, I calculated that at the approximate speed I was going, it was about nine hundred, seventy-five pounds of force on my body at impact where my head hit the headrest plus four-hundred twenty pounds from the detonation of the airbag.” She cringed a little after she said it, then shrugged off her calculation. “You know, give or take.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her modesty. “‘Give or take?’ Something tells me your physics knowledge puts you a lot closer than ‘give or take,’ Damsel.”

She flinched at the nickname, then smiled. “Damsel? Guess I had that coming, since I said you could call me a damsel in distress. But you know I’m not, right?”

“I do. That’s why I like it. So over a thousand pounds of force, eh?”

“Yeah. And that’s a lot.” This woman was smart—there was no question—but it seemed like her high school habit of downplaying was still an active part of the way she interacted with people.

I nodded. “It is. So are you doing okay?”

Her eyelids looked heavy and unfocused. “I’m a little sore, but I’m fine. If I get some sleep, I’ll be back in fighting shape.” She smiled. “Give or take.”

I poured the last of our wine into our glasses. “Finish your wine. It’ll help relax your muscles. And I have some anti-inflammatories you can take before you go to sleep.”

“Sleep...ah, that’s a beautiful word. It might be past my bedtime.” Her sleepy smile caused that dimple to pop. Her opposite cheek smushed into her hand, and the lazy way she stared at me made me want to think there was more to her look than just fatigue.

But I knew that’s all it was. I didn’t need to be a physicist to understand scientific fact. We were roommates. That’s all.

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