Page 60 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“Sorry.Go on.”
“Livie,” he began, lowering his voice and leaning into her until she raised her eyes and met his.“I’ve only been hanging around here for a few weeks, but I can see how much your father loves you.All of you.That won’t change, no matter who he hooks up with.”
“I know that.”She looked down at the bar.“But everything else will change.”
“Well, yes, I guess so.Maybe that’s a good thing?”
“I don’t do well with change.I mean, look at me.”
He’d been doing his bestnotto look at Livie, since every time he did, his mind unhelpfully wandered down the same path it had a week ago, noticing breasts and lips and skin, and how hot she was when she was puzzling out a difficult problem.But he was tryingveryhard to be a good friend who didnotnotice those kinds of things.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“My only friends are my sisters.”
“Hey, am I imaginary?”
“I look exactly the same as I did at sixteen.”
“Think how handy that’ll be when you’re forty.”
“I’m twenty-five and I still live at home.”
“Just because you’re going to Adams and it’s in Brooklyn.”
“But I didn’t have to,” she said, before quickly cutting herself off.
“What do you mean?Did you have other offers?”
She looked away and shrugged.She was hiding behind her hair again.“Sure.”
He reached out and carefully tucked it behind her ear, until he could see the side of her face.“Like?”
Another shrug.“MIT.Berkeley.McArthur.”
“McArthur has some of the best science programs in the country.”He knew because they’d been courting him along with DeWitt.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the bottles lining the shelves behind the bar.“I know.And they offered me a full tuition waiver, plus a stipend for teaching, and a fellowship.”
That was one hell of an offer, better than the one they’d made him.And while he was reasonably sure Adams had coughed up a decent financial aid package, Adams was no McArthur.Not by a long shot.
“And you saidnoto that?”
“I picked Adams because of Janet.”
Okay, yes, Finch was doing exciting work, but there was something else hiding in Livie’s reasoning, he knew it in his gut.She hadn’t picked Adams just for Finch.Adams was right here in Brooklyn, and McArthur was all the way out in Colorado.He’d bet his best laptop that she’d also picked it because Adams was here, close to home.She’d picked it because she didn’t want to leave.
It had been different for him.He’d been so eager at sixteen to get away from a family that didn’t understand him, from always being compared and found wanting, that he’d have moved to the moon if that’s where the offer took him.And in one way or another, he’d been running away from them ever since.
But Livie’s life was different.Her family was different.There was no judgment here, only love and unconditional acceptance.He couldn’t really blame her.He probably wouldn’t have wanted to run away from that either, if he’d had it.
“Do you ever wish you’d said yes to McArthur?”
She shook her head.“I wanted to work with Janet.Her research is exactly what I want to do.”
“But there might have been great research happening at McArthur, too,” he said carefully.
“What are you saying?”
