Page 12 of Falling for the Enemy

“Bye, love ya, Peanut.”

“Come in.” I sat forward to straighten out the work on my desk.

Pam walked in. I quietly released an exasperated puff of air. Pam was smart, too smart to be acting like a lovesick teen. She’d come onto me pretty strong one day when we were alone in the lab, and after explaining to her the rules of conduct between staff and students, I put my own plan in place that made sure we were never alone together. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a foolproofplan, but I stayed safely behind my desk and put on my coldest, professional expression.

“Yes, what is it, Pam?”

She sashayed in and stood as close to the front of my desk as she could without actually climbing on top of it. “I don’t like her,” she said curtly. “I mean, what are her credentials, anyhow?”

“Robyn?” I asked.

She snickered. “No, I mean, yes, obviously Robyn has no credentials whatsoever. I’m talking about what’s her name.”

“Associate Professor Lovely. That’s her name and please don’t refer to her as ‘what’s her name’ again.'” My scolding produced a pout. “Professor Lovely is a highly respected scientist. She’s been around the world on scientific expeditions where important discoveries were made. Her credentials are too vast to list, and you will show her respect because she’s earned it.” The words fell out one after the other, and I was as surprised by them as the student standing across from me.

Pam frowned. “You’ve never shown her respect. Just the other day I overheard you telling Professor Makin that she was annoying and should go back to the wilds of Africa.”

I felt plenty of shame about the words. “I was only joking, and you might want to put a check on your habit of listening in on conversations that don’t involve you.”

Pam looked as if she might cry. “I’m only trying to help, Professor Sinclair. None of us want to go on this expedition. I only agreed to go because …” She ended the sentence there. Unfortunately, I knew where it was going.

“Again, I’m a staff member, and you are a student, Pam.”

She smiled flirtatiously. “Until I come back as a staff member. Maybe she’ll be gone by then. I heard rumors that her career here was dangling from a thin thread because she wasn’t a team player.”

“You’re too smart to listen to gossip.” I waved her out. “Off you go.”

She left with a stomp. I sat back with a grunt. Brimley was really going to owe me after this trip. There was another knock on the door. “Go home, Pam!” I called loudly.

The door opened, and Ava popped her head in. I’d been feeling guilty for a good hour about my behavior in the meeting. I had no idea why I’d acted like that. I supposed I just wanted to let her know how badly I didn’t want to go on this trip … as if I hadn’t already made it crystal clear. Admittedly, since Holly had found something to do that was far more fun than a weekend with Dad, the expedition sounded more appealing. It had been a long time since I’d been out in the field.

“What is it, Professor Lovely?” I asked. She stopped halfway to my desk and stared at me as if I’d grown horns.

“You called me Professor Lovely.”

I realized I’d been using her nickname just to irritate her, not really considering how disrespectful it was, something I discovered during my own lecture just moments before.

“Yeah, yeah. An obvious oversight on my part.” She smiled. It was an incredible smile. “Get over yourself, Lovely.”

Ava dropped some papers on my desk. “The information you’ll need for the trip. You were too involved with scrolling through social media to listen, so I thought you’d want to look over them before tomorrow.”

I picked up the papers and looked up at her. “See you tomorrow, Ava.”

She squinted an eye and pointed as she backed toward the door. “Now you’re just gaslighting me.”

“Just called you by your name, or is that not your name?”

She was still keeping an eye on me as she reached back for the door and hurried out. The door shut. I couldn’t stop a laugh.

Chapter Nine

AVA

Isupposed none of us were surprised that Norman was late to the gate. I knew he had a great deal of hesitation about “living in an insect-infested jungle” (his exact words). I worried that he wasn’t going to show at all until Robyn elbowed me. “There he is.”

Robyn, Ian and I had found three seats together while we waited to board. Evan and Milo sat a few seats away sharing a pair of earbuds and watching a video. Pam was on her own, sitting at one of the charging stations, plunking away on her keyboard. She glanced up only to look at Jack. The professor had parked himself far away from the rest of us. He, too, had earbuds in and was listening to something. I couldn’t imagine him listening to music, so I figured it was one of those strident, irritating podcasts where the podcaster had a severe, unfounded opinion about controversial stuff.

Norman was not exactly the picture of fitness, especially considering he was at an age where fitness sort of came naturally. He was struggling with the pack on his shoulders as he stared down at his boarding pass. Robyn and I sucked in a gasp as he nearly collided with one of those small electric cars that transported people from one gate to another. The driverbeeped and nearly sent Norm falling onto his back. I snickered, immediately visualizing him lying there on his pack, his arms and legs flailing as he tried to right himself.

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