Page 5 of Catching Fire

She absolutely could not blow up the lab today. She had a date with Kalan tonight.

Her lips pulled into a self-satisfied smile as she grabbed another liquid off of the shelf and a small vial of a pale blue powder. Getting tenure was contingent upon her lab work. And her moving to Redemption had been contingent upon her ability to find a home she could afford to convert into lab space and stock with chemicals so that she could do most of her lab work at home.

Already, that wasn’t working out for her.

Luckily, most of her work was polymer based. In the worst case scenario, it would overflow her beakers or test tubes and she'd have to clean the counter. She hoped she’d be able to get back soon, to working from the home lab she’d paid so much for.

Two hours later, she had three pages of notes in her lab book. The mixture had gotten hotter than she expected. Not dangerously so, but it still meant she would have to change her formulas. At least she was done for the day.

She cleaned all her beakers and the counters until everything sparkled. A clean lab worked, the slightest speck could cause problems. When that was finished, she checked her watch and headed down the hall.

If she grabbed her bag and got out before traffic hit, she would make it back to Redemption with plenty of time to get ready. Picking up her pace, she headed down the hall and veered to miss the man coming around the corner.

He looked at her a little oddly, but then headed into the open office on her left.Merde. She checked the name on the sign. “Dr. Gilman?”

“Hmmm?” He’d been facing the desk, picking up the coffee mug, but he turned at her voice.

“I’m Dr. Marchand.” She shifted her bag and held out her right hand. “I just moved into the lab next to yours.” In the hallway where all the tenured professors had labs. “I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone since I missed the meeting. I was stuck in an elevator for some time that morning.”

“Oh.” He finally shook her hand back. A clammy feeling traced up her arm and she let go quickly. Chemists were not generally known for their warmth.

“I won’t take any more of your time.” She backed out of his office and picked up her pace again, though this time she was more careful at the corner.

Putting the key into the lock, she opened her office and picked up a stack of papers from her desk. On top sat a cut strip of plain white paper that said Hello in blocky letters. She did not have time for student notes.

But how did it get here? The office was locked, so maybe she’d brought it in with something earlier. Shoving the whole stack of papers down into her bag, she locked everything and headed out to the parking garage.

She hadn’t quite made it out before traffic and now she was running a bit late. Should she call Kalan and cancel?

Maybe.

She didn’t have time to date. She had a position at the university that needed even more of her time this year. Her house payment was at the upper edge of what she could afford. If the toilet clogged, she was simply going to have to use a different bathroom until she could scrape up enough money to pay for repairs. If the roof leaked, then she was in real trouble.

Her heart raced at the thought. Being a new homeowner was both exhilarating and petrifying. Seline reminded herself that she’d had the place inspected and it was solid. The roof wasn’t going to fall in or leak or blow away.

By the time she pulled into her own driveway, she was worked up. She’d not cancelled her date—even busy women deserved some fun! Besides, when would she find a guy like Kalan again? She would go on this date if it killed her.

She practically bounced along the stones to the back porch and put her key in the lock. Did it turn too easily?

Chapter Four

Kalan was nervous.

So nervous that he’d mis-buttoned the front of his shirt and wound up looking as twitchy as he was. He was still looking in the mirror, feeling like an idiot.

Why was he so nervous?It was just a first date. He had done this hundreds of times—or at least too many times.

With a sigh, he undid the buttons and tried again. Clearly, he couldn’t be trusted to properly button himself without watching in the mirror.

He wondered if his twitchiness was because Seline was Maggie's friend. If things went wrong, he could wind up in hot water. The better possibility was that he wasn't just going on a regular first date.

This one felt special for a reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Despite her adorable surliness, Seline Marchand had been enchanting. He’d heard about her from Maggie—friendly, funny, fun, thoughtful—but Maggie hadn’t warned him that something about her friend would give him a visceral reaction.

There was also the possibility that this was the first time in a long time where he'd really felt that kind of spark. He didn't need three or four dates to know if he liked her. He did.

Kalan also ascribed to the old adage ofif you want to know who someone really is, put them in front of a slow computer. A falling elevator on a day when she was already late for her first big meeting probably qualified. Despite being surly, and apologizing for being at her worst, Seline had been nothing of the sort.

She'd been alternately irritated, petrified, and bored, but also captivating and hopeful, and offered him that shy grin thanking him simply for being there.

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