The Chemistry of Love(78)

She waved her hand, like she was brushing away my niceties. “How did you get into Star Wars?”

“My dad. He loved those movies. What about you?”

“My brother is obsessed,” she said. “I think he even went to Comic Con one year with a Boba Fett helmet on so nobody would recognize him. He will neither confirm nor deny.”

Craig was into Star Wars? I could work with that. That flame of love and attraction I’d always had for him flickered just a bit brighter.

“This conversation is much more my speed,” she said. She had an intense gaze that reminded me of Marco. “Talking about things I enjoy instead of making stupid small talk. Which I always do wrong. Like, I think it’s interesting that Greenland sharks can be over four hundred years old and eat reindeer and polar bears. Apparently that’s not ‘appropriate for company.’” She made air quotes with her fingers.

“I think it’s cool.” I did. Polar bears I could see, but how did they get reindeer? I was about to ask when she leaned forward and spoke.

“Who made you come?” she asked.

Like it had been some kind of punishment. I tried hard not to smile. “I’m here with Marco.”

“Marco?” She blinked at me several times. “You’re here with Marco?”

Why did people keep saying that with such a discouraging amount of shock in their voices?

“Yep!”

“How did that happen?”

She was so blunt that I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Marco rescued me. I was sad, and he helped me. He was so sweet.”

“That sounds very unlike Marco. He cares about two things in life, and girlfriends are never one of those things.”

That didn’t sound at all like the man I’d come to know, and . . . I internally stuttered over the next line. The man I’d what? Admired. I’d been about to say admired. Nothing else. “What two things?”

“His company and me.”

I did smile at her confidence, and it made me like Marco more to know that he adored his little sister so much that she was sure of her place in his life. But I also didn’t want to lie to her. I had the feeling she was the kind of person who would see through it immediately. I reached for my purse. “I want to write down the title of that book on my notes app.” I couldn’t immediately see my phone and had to pull a couple of samples out in order to dig around.

Lindy grabbed one. “What’s this?”

“A lipstick sample I’m currently working on.”

Her eyes lit up. “You’re a cosmetic chemist?”

It surprised me that she was familiar with that term. “I am.”

“I want so much to go into the industry. My dad doesn’t want me to work at Minx, though. He wants me to do something else.”

I found my phone and pulled it out. “Like what?”

“Probably get married to some rich dude.”

“That’s . . .” What was I supposed to say? I was completely on her side, but I didn’t need something I said getting back to her father. He might become part of my life. Especially if he invested in my hypothetical company.

“It’s messed up,” she said for me. “I do have a question for you, though. I’ve noticed with the skin-care products I’ve been using that it seems to be okay to mix AHA and BHA products with hyaluronic acid. Is that true?”

“Yes.” I launched into an explanation as to why they worked together, but it felt like I didn’t need to and she had already done her own research. Few people understood what I did as well as teenage girls on social media. They researched, studied effects over time, analyzed how products interacted with one another, whether the experiment was repeatable, and shared their results.

People who thought science was boring / not part of their lives didn’t realize they were already engaging with it via their skin-and hair-care products.

Lindy asked about my current lipstick, and while I didn’t share any secrets with her, I did give her the basics.

“Can I have one of your samples?” she asked, and I nodded.

“It always helps to have an additional user. You’ll have to let me know what you think.”

“I can’t believe you’re dating Marco.”

“You keep saying that and it might permanently damage my self-esteem,” I said in a teasing way, although it was the truth.

“Usually the girls he goes out with aren’t very bright. You seem like your IQ is higher than your age.”

“The first one who could construct a complete sentence?”

“You have no idea. You’re definitely the first scientist. And a chemist doing interesting experiments? I’m here for it.” She grabbed my phone and added herself as a contact before handing it back to me. “I will definitely follow up with you about the lipstick.”

Her own phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen and then rolled her eyes. “My parental unit is telling me to come take a picture. I have to go.”

“Okay. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.”

She smiled at me and walked away. I noticed her opening the sample and applying the lipstick. I wondered what shade it was. I picked up a knife to look at the shade of my own lips. A neutral rose-ish pink.

I had just placed the knife back when a very tall, thin, and blonde woman appeared in front of me like some kind of apparition. I gasped in surprise.