The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(94)

I gritted my teeth. “I’m so fucking pissed right now.”

“It’s okay.” She rubbed my arm. “Please don’t stress.”

I wanted so freaking badly to prove to Lala that I could be there for her. But how could I let my band down after we’d worked for years to get to this place? It was literally the opportunity of a lifetime.

My gut told me if I thought I could seriously pursue this music career and be the kind of man who’s good for Lala, I was probably kidding myself.





CHAPTER 26


Lala



“And our next subject evaluation will occur in sixty days. If you look at the last page of your presentation, you’ll find a schedule of all of the various checkpoints, including hormone-level testing, cognitive assessment, and overall health evaluations.” I paused and looked at the five members of the National Institute of Health grant-compliance team. All of the faces were new except for Dr. Reston, who had been part of the team that had approved the funding for my research grant. “Does anyone have any questions?”

They all shook their heads and looked at each other. Dr. Reston smiled. “Not surprising. Normally when I listen to a proposal, I have a laundry list of questions when the presenter is done. I didn’t have a single one when Laney pitched her study to us. She’s incredibly thorough.” Dr. Reston closed the binder on the table in front of her. “I’m going to make it a challenge to myself to think of a few questions you haven’t already answered next time we meet.”

I smiled. “I’m always available by email or phone if you think of any after the fact.”

Everyone got up. It was already after four o’clock, so one by one, each of the members of the team said their goodbyes, except for Dr. Reston. She helped me clean up the coffee cups and papers scattered around the conference room. After, she extended a hand back toward the chairs where we’d been sitting. “Do you have a minute, Laney?”

“Sure, of course.”

We took seats across from each other.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

And here I’d thought things had gone well. “Yes. I’m sorry. Was my presentation not good?” I shook my head. “I knew I should’ve included a better introduction and spoken about the norepinephrine research that recently concluded in Germany.”

Dr. Reston raised her hands. “Your presentation was more than sufficient. In fact, I wish every grantee put as much effort into their summaries as you do. Many researchers get the science, but PowerPoint is scarier to them than quantum physics.”

My shoulders relaxed a little. “Oh, okay.”

She tilted her head. “Perhaps I should’ve clarified that I wasn’t referring to your work. I was asking more on a personal level. You seem… I’m not sure what it is exactly, but you seem different than the last few times we’ve met. I thought maybe there was something going on, perhaps here at the facility or something personal bothering you? You’re a little less peppy than usual, and it looks like you might be getting less sleep. I’m not asking in an official capacity; I just wanted to check in woman to woman. We STEM ladies need to be there for each other as more than just coworkers, and I know you took some personal days a few weeks ago.”

“Oh.” I shook my head. “That’s very kind of you, Dr. Reston.”

“It’s Barbara, please.”

I nodded. “That’s very kind of you, Barbara. I didn’t realize I was so easy to read. But you’re right, I haven’t been sleeping that great. I took some time off because my mom had some health issues. She had a heart blockage and needed to have open-heart surgery, which was pretty scary. My mom and I are particularly close. We lost my only brother eight years ago, and we were each other’s support system.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. I would imagine that left you two with a special bond. Does she live here in the City?”

“No, she’s back in Philly with my dad. That’s why I took some days off, to be at the hospital.”

Barbara nodded. “That’s hard. My parents lived on the west coast when my dad got sick. We lost him to cancer a few years back. It was difficult not to be there all the time while he was going through his treatments. But I hope I didn’t insult you by saying I could tell you weren’t sleeping. You look just as beautiful as ever; your eyes just don’t have the sparkle they normally do.”

She didn’t know the half of it, since I hadn’t mentioned to anyone here that I’d broken off my engagement and started sleeping with a guy I’d had a crush on for twenty years, who was probably all wrong for me. Not to mention, who could sleep when Holden left me hot and bothered every night because of his current no-sex policy.

“I really appreciate you taking the time to check on me,” I said. “But I promise, nothing that’s going on with me personally will distract me from getting my research done.”

Barbara smiled. “I really have no worries about that, Laney. But you have my number. Call me anytime if you need to talk, about work or personal stuff. We scientists look at things differently than a lot of people, so it’s nice to have a friend who doesn’t think you’ve lost it when you break out a Venn diagram to overanalyze every little thing.”

I laughed. “I appreciate that. It’s very kind of you.”