Page 83 of The Scientist

He tilted his head. “No?”

“Nope,” I answered, shaking my head. “I figured the KGB had special training in hand-eye coordination.”

His grin stretched even wider across his face as he started to laugh from deep within his chest. The sound reverberated in my ears and in my heart.

I had to tell him. Tonight.

“Lex, come look at this.” One of the guys was calling him over from the living room to look at something on his phone. He shot me a sidelong glance before he walked away, a small grin lingering on his lips. I chewed on my lip nervously as I headed toward the kitchen to pour myself another drink. I was going to need the liquid courage if I was ever going to tell him.

The sharp fear of rejection was something that was front and center in my mind. The more crippling fear, though, was the possibility that our friendship might be ruined once I confessed. If he didn’t feel the same, then things might never go back to the way they were if he started to feel uncomfortable around me. Stuart came in as I was mulling it all over.

“I’m happy you came,” he said. No joking, no teasing, just genuine kindness.

“Thanks, so am I.”

“And I’m glad your mom was able to get into the trial,” he added.

I smiled. “Thanks to Lex.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he already knew, but he tried to play dumb. “What do you mean?”

“It’s okay,” I told him. “The nurse at the cancer center let it slip that some famous researcher got the trial expanded. I used my considerable powers of deductive reasoning and figured out who it was.”

He gave me a half-smile. “He told me not to say anything. He didn’t want you to know.”

Lex had told me as much the night I cried in his arms. He wouldn’t even talk to me about it, seeming uncomfortable whenever I attempted to tell him how grateful I was. He refused to even acknowledge the role he played in helping her get into the trial anytime I brought it up.

“I know,” I said. “Did he have to go through a lot of trouble?” I’d been wondering if it was as simple as the nurse made it seem. When I asked Lex about it, he brushed me off, telling me not to worry about it before changing the subject.

“Not really. The company sponsoring the trial was happy to get a big name like Lex’s attached to it.” He looked away as he said it, so I had a hunch there was more.

“Is that it? He just had to let them use his name?”

He shrugged. “Pretty much.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he sighed. “I mean there’s alittleextra paperwork that’s needed.”

“How much is a little extra, exactly?” I asked.

“It’s no big deal.”

“Stuart,” I pressed.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“He doesn’t have time for dinner most evenings. I hate to think of him taking on any more of a workload when he can barely keep up with what he has on his plate now.”

“He’s fine. We’re all helping.”

My eyes widened with surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he came to all of us and asked if we would help.”

“The whole team?”

“Yes. He said this project was really important to him and asked if we would help take some of it on. He never asks us for anything, so everyone said yes right away. No one even questioned it. I’m the only one who knew it was for your mom.”

I started to tear up immediately. “Thank you, Stuart,” I managed to choke out.