Beginner's Luck by Kate Clayborn

Author:Kate Clayborn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-05-10T18:55:03+00:00

Chapter 13

Kit

Monday morning, and no call from Ben, not that I’m waiting around or anything. Not that I kept my ringer on high all day yesterday. Not that I couldn’t stop thinking about how easily Ben put me on that table, about how hard and strong he was all over, about how he tasted like chocolate and kissed like a dream.

Not any of that.

It isn’t that he left me hanging. He’d texted me Sunday morning to let me know he’d be at the salvage yard all day, filling in for his dad, who’d had a rough night of pain. He said he had a call in to the plaster guy, and he’d keep me posted.

But he hadn’t made any reference at all to what had happened, either.

I think of calling him, because I am genuinely a little worried for Henry, who tries so hard to act as if he’s not in any pain at all. But if I call to check on Henry, will that seem like I’m really only calling to check on Ben? And anyways, what is Henry to me other than the owner of a business I’ve been frequenting the last few weeks? Would I be crossing a line?

This kind of thinking—it’s not the way I am, not at all, and I’m frustrated with myself and with Ben, and with everything else that’s been bothering me since Friday. Alex and I shared a mostly silent breakfast on Saturday, except for when he tried to apologize, again, but I was so desperate not to get into it again that I’d put him off. I’d given him a half-hearted tour of the house before he’d headed off to the airport, and in turn he’d asked half-hearted questions as we moved from room to room. But it wasn’t the same, and I feel the pain of our fight as though it’s a bruise on my body. It’s tender and fresh and I’m trying to avoid it with every move I make.

So I’m up early, headed in to work by six, hoping I can get a couple of hours on the microscope before most of the grad students show up. The walk is good for me—it’s going to be another hot day, but right now it’s cool enough that I can move without sweating. The blooms of the crepe myrtle trees that line my street are fat and heavy with dew, and the air is sweet with the smell of cinnamon rolls from the bakery on the corner.

Block by block, I let my mind go to the place where I feel safest, to work and the lab, to where I can untangle problems I know how to fix.

By the time I arrive at my basement office, I’m feeling a bit more myself, and it’s at least an hour and a half before I hear signs of life in other parts of the building. I make progress on scanning a couple of my samples, but soon enough, it becomes a busy

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