Page 9 of Love Around the Corner
Yeah, sure he did. Langley wasn’t exactly setting the research world on fire. As far as she knew, he hadn’t published a major piece of research in years. Just endlessly slogging through his interstellar medium work, which nobody cared about anyway. If he ever got around to publishing his research, six other people would have probably beaten him to it.
“Sure thing. Hey, you get your undergrad lab assignment yet?”
“Section two.”
Peter’s face fell. “Fuck. That’s the good section.”
Livie bit back a reply, simply shrugging instead, like that was news to her.
“Finch had better not shaft me with that shitty Friday night slot.”
She kept her eyes on her stack of paper and said nothing, as she suspected that’s exactly what Finch would do. Peter was by far the weakest candidate in their program.
Peter’s big meaty hand suddenly came down on her shoulder and Livie stiffened. “Congrats again on the grant. I know you guys will do great things with it.”
Ugh. He was standing too close, andtouchingher, and just...no.
“Hey, Peter, move. I need to get to my cubby and you’re literally blocking, like, thewholething.” Michiko had once again silently popped up behind Livie.
Peter swung around to glare at her—thankfully removing his hand from Livie’s shoulder in the process. “Satsuma, how many people have told you you’re a pain in the ass?”
“How many have told you that you’re one of the greatest minds working in astronomy today? Because it’s that many. Now move.”
Livie watched in disbelief as Peter—big, huge Peter who didn’t pick up on a single one of Livie’s hints—moved out of tiny Michiko’s way just because she told him to. It was like she had magical powers.
“You chicks all on your periods or something?”
“Yes!” Michiko grinned, her eyes lighting up with glee. “And you know three menstruating women together can form a wicked cabal with the power to rob you of your manhood. Hands over your junk, Peter. Can’t be too careful.”
He looked alarmed for a millisecond before sneering down at Michiko. “Very funny, Satsuma. Whatever, I’m going to get my lab assignment.”
Still scowling, he thundered out of the office.
“Stupid little asshole,” Anita muttered as soon as the door closed behind him, and Michiko burst out laughing.
“What a total dickwad,” Michiko said, clearing out her own cubby. “You should come.”
“What?” When Livie looked up, Michiko pointed to a flyer still clutched in Livie’s hand.
“The departmental potluck next Sunday. You should come. It would be nice to have somebody normal to talk to at one of those things.” Michiko waved over her shoulder as she hurried out of the office. “See you around, Livie.”
Livie stared at the flyer for another moment, imagining clutching a soda, trying to look relaxed while making small talk with strangers. Her stomach roiled at the thought of it. Besides, next Sunday was family dinner day, and she might have just hired a felon to work on the most important project of her academic career. She had plenty on her plate already. She dropped the flyer into the recycling. “See you later, Anita.”
Chapter Five
It was entirely possible that Janet’s meeting with Nick DeSantis would be a disaster. He didn’t exactly match one’s mental image of an expert computer programmer, and his résumé was unorthodox, to say the least. What if Janet asked him where he went to college? What if hetoldher? Janet was hardly going to be impressed by a dropout felon. Well, nearly a felon. His actual legal status was a little unclear. But he was brilliant, and full of enthusiasm about the project, which counted for something. She just hoped it counted enough to convince Janet.
As Janet typed away on her computer, Livie worked through the heaps of papers and books littering her office and checked the time every two minutes, alternately eager for, then dreading, Nick’s arrival.
Nothing of a romantic nature was ever going to happen between them, of course. He was practicallymarried. She just wished she could turn off these inconvenient feelings now that she knew that. It was tremendously frustrating that the first time she ever felt this zing of interest in someone, he turned out to be completely out of reach. But she needed him for this project, so she couldn’t let her inconvenient “zing” get in the way of her work.
As she moved on to reshelving books, she took to checking her phone every minute. It was nearly time. Then it was past time. Because he was late. Lateness made her crazy. Of course, Nick had no regard for laws. Why on earth would he have any regard for punctuality?
After ten minutes, she began a whole new line of worry. What if he never showed? He seemed mercurial, easily engaged and perhaps just as easily disengaged. Sure, he’d seemed completely fascinated by her research when she’d met him, but maybe in the two days since then, some more interesting project had come his way and he’d forgotten all about the awkward grad student with the cool astronomy project. Who cared if he was a genius if he turned out to be a flake she couldn’t rely on?
She’d all but resigned herself to starting her search for a programmer all over again when there was a knock at the office door. She startled and dropped the book she was shelving, yelping in pain when the corner of it hit the top of her foot.
“Oh, dear, have you hurt yourself, Livie?” Janet asked.
