Part 39 (1/2)
Alex did manage to get a little bit of sleep, maybe thirty minutes by the time the alarm sounded. Just enough that she was completely dragging as they set off. Daniel was more alert, so he took the first s.h.i.+ft and she reclined the pa.s.senger seat as far back as it would go. The seats were much more comfortable, the suspension smoother, and it was easier to doze. The dogs seemed happy in the back, as if they appreciated the new ride, too.
She was herself again by the time they got to the dog-boarding facility north of Atlanta. It was after nine thirty; they were running a little behind, thanks to some construction delays on I-65.
Daniel stayed with the car as she carried Lola into the front office. It was a casual place, homey, with lots of fenced acres lining the road in. The dogs that ran alongside the car as they pa.s.sed looked happy and healthy. Of course, Lola wouldn't be running anywhere for a while.
The man behind the desk was all sympathy as Alex came in. He obviously had linked her to the reservation before she introduced herself as Ms. Wells. She followed patiently as he showed her the s.p.a.cious kennel Lola would occupy and explained the visiting vet's schedule. She thanked him and paid him for a month in advance, then gave Lola one last hug. As Kevin had promised, the man never commented on Lola's injury in a specific way, and he didn't mention Alex's face. Twenty minutes later, she and Daniel were back on the road. Alex was glad it was her turn to drive. She needed something to concentrate on so she wouldn't think about leaving Lola behind.
She thought Daniel would crash, but he was still bright-eyed and in a talkative mood. Or maybe he could see how she was trying to fight off the sadness and wanted to help. Knowing him, that was probably it.
”You know almost everything about me from that stupid file,” he complained. ”But there's so much I don't know about you.”
”I've actually told you most of it. When my life wasn't bizarre, it was pretty boring.”
”Tell me something embarra.s.sing about you in high school.”
”Everything about me was embarra.s.sing in high school. I was a huge nerd.”
”Sounds s.e.xy.”
”Oh, really? My mother cut my hair at home and I had the most outrageous bangs the nineties had ever seen.”
”Please tell me there's a picture.”
”You wish. When my mother died, I burned all the incriminating stuff.”
”Who was your first boyfriend?”
Alex laughed. ”Roger Markowitz. He took me to senior prom. I had the most totally awesome puffy sleeves on my dress. Electric blue, naturally. Roger tried to slip me the tongue in the limo on the way to the ballroom, but he was so nervous that he threw up on me. I spent the whole dance in the ladies' room trying to clean up. I broke up with him that night. One might describe it as an epic romance.”
”What a tearjerker!”
”I know. Romeo and Juliet had nothing on us.”
Daniel laughed. ”Who was your first serious relations.h.i.+p?”
”Serious? Wow. Hmm, I don't know if anyone would qualify besides Bradley. First year of med school at Columbia.”
”You went to Columbia med?” he asked.
”I was a very brainy nerd.”
”I'm impressed. Back to Bradley.”
”Do you want to hear something really and truly embarra.s.sing?”
”Very much.”
”The reason I was first attracted to him...” She paused. ”Maybe I shouldn't admit this.”
”It's too late to turn back. You have to tell me now.”
She took a deep breath. ”Okay, fine. He looked like Egon. You know, from Ghostbusters? Just exactly like that, bouffant hair, round gla.s.ses, everything.”
Daniel worked to keep a straight face. ”Irresistible.”
”You have no idea. So hot.”
”How long were you together?”
”Through that first summer. Then I won a scholars.h.i.+p in my second year. We both applied, and he thought he was a shoo-in. He didn't take it well when I, as he put it, took it from him. He went in and demanded to see our scores. Something I noticed multiple times throughout my wild and crazy romantic period: lots of guys don't like girls to be smarter than they are.”
”That must have really limited your dating pool.”
”Right down to zero.”
”Well, rest a.s.sured, I've never had a problem with a woman who is smarter than me. I wouldn't want to limit my pool by that much. I think that kind of childishness usually goes away when men grow up.”
”I'll have to take your word for it. I never dated anyone outside of school. I didn't get to explore the adult stage of the human male. Well, till now.”
”Never?” he asked, shocked.
”I was recruited while I was still in school. I told you what it was like after that.”
”But... you must have met people outside of work. You got vacation time, didn't you?”
She smiled. ”Not very often. And it was hard for me to talk to people outside of the lab. Everything was cla.s.sified. I was cla.s.sified. I couldn't be myself in any way or talk about any part of my real life with a person on the outside. It was too hard being some imaginary character. I preferred isolation. It embarra.s.sed me to try to play a role. Ironic, isn't it? Now I have a new name every other week.”
He put his hand on her knee. ”I'm sorry. It sounds horrible.”
”Yeah. It frequently was. That's why I'm so backward when it comes to interpersonal relations. But on the plus side, I got to do some really cutting-edge work with monoclonal antibodies-I'm talking about sci-fi stuff here, the kind of thing people don't believe exists. And I had essentially no limits on my practical research. I got everything I wanted in the lab. My budget was amazing. I'm responsible for a larger chunk of the national debt than you know.”
He laughed.
”So was your ex-wife smarter than you are?” she asked.
He hesitated for a moment. ”It doesn't bother you to talk about her?”
”Why would it? You didn't get jealous over the eternal flame I will always carry for Roger Markowitz.”
”Good point. Well, Lainey was very bright in her own way. Not book-smart, but clever, shrewd. When we met, she was so... vivid. She wasn't like other women I'd dated, easygoing girls who were content with easygoing me. Lainey always wanted more-from every aspect of life. She was a little... contrary. In the beginning, I thought she just had very firm opinions and wasn't afraid to disagree. I loved that about her. But then, over time... well, she wasn't really opinionated, she just loved the drama. She would argue if you told her the sun rises in the east. It was always exciting, at least.”
”Ah, so you're an adrenaline junkie. This all starts to make sense now.”
”What makes sense?”
”Your attraction to me.”
He stared at her, blinking owlishly the way he did when he was surprised.