Page 221 of The Blairville Legacies

I hesitated.

If I found outanything elseabout her that I didn’t know, I would probably have to confront her again. But she would most likely close up and lie to me, as usual…

“Yes, why?”

The professor smiled.

“And so, our paths cross again.” He looked at the fireplace, lost in thought, before drinking from his glass as if he needed it badly, and finally looked at me as if I’d escaped from the zoo.

In the end, he laughed, shook his head, and leaned back.

“Diana Adams has a daughter...”

Curious as to how he knew my mother, I watched the man.

“We were in the same year, your mother and I.” He took a sip of his whiskey, then looked at me again. “She was such an ambitious researcher. Molecular biology.”

He seemed to remember her really well.

“You don’t seem that enthusiastic about science? What was your name again?”

“Bayla,” I helped Alarik out. I didn’t hold it against him because his seminars hadn’t taken place that often.

“I’m more of a literature type,” I admitted shyly.

Alarik looked at me with a friendly smile and nodded. “Then you’ve come to the right place.”

He turned the glass in front of him in his hands, leaning his elbows on the backrest, and rested his leg with his calf on his other knee. With a nod, he pointed to the shelves filled to the ceiling.

“Tell me, what do you like to read?”

Don’t say Jane Austen. Just don’t say it Bayla....

“Jane Austen.”

I gave a shy smile and brushed one of the strands of my shoulder-length hair back behind my ear.

Instead of laughing like the others always did, he stared at me in puzzlement.

“Did I say something wrong?”

I knew I hadn’t saidanythingwrong. Maybe he just thought her books were bad and was disappointed in me.

He was still staring at me.

“You just remind me a lot of someone.”

Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

“I hope these are good memories.”

A soft smile filled his face, then that thoughtfulness again.

“Sometimes it’s the best memories that can make us sad.”

I immediately sensed the pain behind these words.

My question had been too personal. However, Alarik didn’t let it show. Instead, he stood up, placed the glass on the table and walked to his desk, stepping around to the many books.

---