Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Good morning!” Corrine called out in her usual cheerful voice. Today, however, she handed me a cup from Starbucks.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously.
Her eyes met mine with a silent message that told me something was going on.
“Coffee for all my favorite scientists,” she said in a tone that didn’t match the look on her face. “Grande white chocolate mocha, right? With whipped cream.”
“Good for my taste buds, less so for my figure,” I murmured, taking a sip and watching her over the rim of the cup.
“I just thought we could all use a little treat, so I ran out.”
“Uh-huh.” I gazed over at Dr. Matello’s office, where he and Ellen seemed to be deep in conversation. “What’s that about?”
“No idea, but I figured we could at least be armed with caffeine. Just in case. They’ve been in there since seven thirty this morning.”
“I don’t even need to be here today,” I murmured.
Whatever was going on in there probably didn’t have anything to do with me, but even if it did, I couldn’t control it. All I could control was what I was doing, which was the data I was helping Ellen gather and writing my dissertation.
I would have loved to tell Ellen to fuck off, but that would be a betrayal of my PI. Dr. Matello was counting on me to help Ellen with her analysis so she could move ahead to the next phase of her work, but my original thought was that I’d be done with all that once I got married. Since that hadn’t happened, I’d somehow gotten sucked back in and it was becoming problematic. I was in the process of trying to get grant money for what I was going to work on next because I couldn’t rely on my parents financially forever. I didn’t have a postdoctoral job lined up yet, so that had to be my next priority.
On top of that, I’d really begun to enjoy coaching at the rink. I loved science, and that was going to be my future, but it didn’t mean I had to be one-dimensional. I could also love hockey and donate my time coaching kids who didn’t have the opportunities I’d had. It felt like the right thing to do at this stage of my life.
My phone rang and I was surprised to see Hadley Kirby’s name on the screen. She was married to the Mavericks’ team captain, Wes, and I’d met her a handful of times but didn’t know her that well.
“Hello?”
“Jolie? Hi, this is Hadley Kirby.”
“Hi, Hadley.”
“Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Sure.”
“I was talking with Boone and he said you’d volunteered to help out with Joey on the team’s next road trip. I thought it might be both fun and useful for everyone if we got together to come up with a schedule. That way, us ladies who are going to be doing most of the work will have a chance to get organized, the kids can have a playdate, and we can hang out.”
“That sounds great,” I said. “I’m still in grad school, so I spend a lot of time at my lab, but I can be flexible if you give me warning.”
“I was thinking Saturday around eleven. The guys leave Friday, so Joey will already be here.”
“I’ll be there,” I said warmly. “Thanks for reaching out.”
“Thanks for volunteering to help.”
“Of course. Anything I can do.”
“Then I’ll see you Saturday.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
I disconnected and took another sip of the coffee. If I was really quick, maybe I could toss my coat on the back of my chair, lock up my purse, and escape to the library with my laptop. I could hide deep in the stacks surrounded by aged and yellowed bound journals, maybe find a dusty, shadowy corner and work in peace. Ellen would never think to look for me there and if I made some headway, I’d be able to focus on Joey over the weekend instead of writing. Feeling better about the rest of the week, I took a quick look around, grabbed my laptop, and slipped out the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Boone
Joey used both hands to pick up the giant slice of cheese pizza on his plate, biting off the end before setting it down and giving me a serious look.
“When will my mom be back?”
“Not for a while, bud. She’s working on something important. Remember when we talked about it before she had to leave?”
He looked down at his plate. “I want her to come back.”
Damn. In the past couple of days, I’d discovered that being a full-time uncle was tough. Joey was a good kid who didn’t ask for much, but I had to feed or entertain him every waking minute of the day. An intern from the front office had hung out with him at the arena while I was at practice, and Hadley had put herself in charge of scheduling his care when I was traveling. I was grateful for the help but still overwhelmed by my new responsibility.