Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Josie: I love you, Nilda.
Nilda: I love you, too. Maybe we’ll both be moving on soon. New beginnings don’t always have to come from painful endings.
CHAPTER 29
* * *
The Lake
Josie
Professor job openings near Laurel Lake.
Nine days later, I found myself on Google, typing in words I couldn’t believe I was typing on an early Sunday morning. But after the incredible week Fox and I’d had, I was starting to think about the possibilities. What was keeping me tied to New York now anyway? Six months ago, I would have said my fiancé, Nilda, and my career. But with Noah out of my life and Nilda moving, the only real tether I had was my job. And even that I was no longer certain was right for me. I had a few good friends, but they either worked a lot like me or were starting a family. Even my best friend, Chloe, who still lived near my mom’s house in New Jersey, I didn’t see more than once or twice a year. Sometimes I went out for happy hour with colleagues from work, or a friend from my building, but none of those people kept me anchored to New York.
I sipped my coffee and scrolled through the search results. Halfway down the first page, after an absurd amount of ads for online colleges, was a link to Rehnquist University. They had a pharmacology program, so I clicked and maneuvered to the school’s job openings page. I scrolled to almost the end, stopping when I found an interesting post: Adjunct Professor of Pharmacological Sciences (Tenure Track). Reading the description, the position required candidates to have an MD or PhD, along with three years of research experience. It started in the fall, and there was still almost two weeks until the deadline to apply.
I stared at the screen for a long time. But when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, I promptly shut my laptop. Fox had been in the shower.
He walked over and kissed the top of my head before motioning to my Mac. “Something you don’t want me to see?”
“Uh, no. I was just looking at a job posting.”
Fox walked to the coffeemaker and opened the cabinet above it. He looked over at the mug in my hands. “You need a refill?”
“No, I’m good.”
He went about fixing his coffee, then sat down across from me at the table and raised his mug to his lips. “You’re changing jobs?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. It’s something I’ve been thinking about.”
“Because of what happened?”
“No. Well, not entirely, I guess. I’m good at what I do, and I make a great salary, but I think there are other careers that might be more fulfilling. Ones with less stress, too.”
“Is there something specific you think you’d like better?”
“I’ve always toyed with the idea of teaching, being a professor. I was a TA for organic chemistry in college. It’s a subject most students really struggle with, so they resort to memorization rather than actually learning the subject. I loved when I was able to get students to dive in with me and fall in love with science.”
Fox smirked.
“What?”
“I would’ve tried to fuck you in college, if you were my TA.”
I chuckled. “Anyway, it’s just something I’m thinking about.”
“Where was the position you were looking at?”
Shit. Fox and I had definitely moved into relationship territory, but I wasn’t sure how he’d react to me looking at jobs down here. So I told a little white lie. “I’m not sure. I was mostly looking at the requirements.”
Fox looked at me over his mug as he sipped. From the way his eyes squinted, I got the feeling maybe he’d seen the website. But if he had, he didn’t say so.
A few minutes later, he set his mug in the sink. “I’m going to take a ride over to Lowell’s to pick up some new base moldings. The old ones are shit and don’t go with the new floor.”
Fox had spent his entire Saturday installing new flooring in my kitchen and living room. Well, technically not the entire day since we’d wound up having sex when he was halfway through. But I didn’t want him to spend Sunday working, too. He needed a break.
“You’ve done enough. You need at least one day of rest.”
“Won’t take long. Two or three hours, at most.”
“Alright, but I’m helping, and I’ll take the ride with you.”
“You wanted to take a walk around the lake to look for Daisy. Why don’t you do that while I’m gone getting supplies? It’s gonna be hot today, so you’re better off doing that early.”
I had wanted to look for her. I’d picked up a pair of binoculars earlier in the week and thought she might be near the state park, across the lake, but I wasn’t sure. Opal had told me about a trail on the other side that ran along the water. “You don’t mind?”