Page 39 of The Scientist
“And whose fault is that?” I accused.
“Billy Pham’s.”
I smirked at him and rolled my eyes, but my attention quickly shifted to a tall, bearded man approaching us. He was dressed in dark jeans and a black Henley, the sleeves pushed up to reveal an array of tattoos on his forearms.
He was smiling with his gaze focused on Lex.
Lex turned to see what I was looking at before his face broke out into a wide grin.
“Merrick?” His tone was full of surprise.
“Strovinski!” he responded, laughing as the two embraced. Did the whole town of Stanford know who Lex was?
“What are you doing here?” Lex asked.
“I’m living in San Francisco now. There was talk of some world-renowned neurobiologist who came to work at Stanford. I knew it could only be one person, so I thought I’d look you up,” he said. “What have you been up to, man?”
“Working.”
He shook his head. “Same old Lex.” That’s when he noticed Stuart and I standing there.
“Introduce me to your friends,” he said with his eyes locked on me.
“This is my roommate and coworker, Stuart Benowitz,” Lex said, and they shook hands.
Lex's eyes then turned to me reluctantly. “And this is Hadley Olivier, a music composition professor here at Stanford and our neighbor.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said politely, shaking his hand. He was even taller than I first thought. At least six-foot-four, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was definitely good looking, and he knew it.
“Merrick Callahan,” he introduced himself. “Lex and I grew up together.”
“Is that so?” I grinned mischievously at Lex. “I bet you have some pretty embarrassing stories then.”
“You bet I do. Maybe we can get together sometime, and I’ll tell you about the time Lex found out it was ‘a blessing in disguise’ and not ‘a blessing in the skies’ in front of the whole fifthgrade class.”
Merrick laughed, and Lex rolled his eyes, smiling.
“You have plans, Merrick?” Lex asked. “Can you stay for dinner?”
“I’d love to... Hadley, will you be joining us?” he asked with that confident smile.
“No, I think you two need some time to catch up. Maybe another time. Thanks again, guys,” I said, waving and walking toward my house.
“Later, Betty,” Stuart called after me.
A flush crept its way up my neck when I made it to the foot of my porch. I dared a glance over my shoulder, instinctively knowing what I’d find. Lex’s steady gaze was following me up the steps of my porch, all the way into my home.
Chapter 10
Imet Lionel and Sarah for coffee Monday morning before our classes that day. Lionel had texted that he wanted to meet to tell us a crazy story that just couldn’t wait until later. We ordered our coffees and sat down before Lionel launched into the tale.
“So, I go to meet up with this guy Saturday night that I’ve been chatting with for almost a month onThe LuPone Zone”—which was apparently a dating app for die-hard Patti LuPone fans—“and he seemed perfect. We love all things musical theatre, we detest Lea Michele, and we both listed brunching as our favorite hobby.”
“Clearly soul-mate level status,” Sarah said, sarcasm front and center. “Continue.”
“Anyway,” he said, giving her the side eye. “He messaged me to say he had made it to Café JoJo’s and was sitting in the corner booth. I arrived fashionably late, only to walk in and see a student from my Sound Engineering class—sixthrow, great biceps—sitting in said corner booth.”
“What?” I gasped.