Page 48 of Love and Gravity
“Um, hello, them blowing up the bonfire, for one. I should have been there making sure it went smoothly. But I…well, I wasn’t.”
“No, because you were with me,” he reminded her and reached forward to attempt to catch her hand, but Grace was beyond noticing and kept chattering on, hands desperately clutching her coffee cup.
“I know better than to leave them like that, and then, well, then I was basically Patton when it came to discipline. Brought the party mood right down. That’s not what I wanted to have happen at all.”
“Eh, they deserved it.” Anton lifted a shoulder. “You can’t be held accountable for what they choose to do though. They are adults, remember?”
“Yes, but they aremy adults,” she countered. “And besides, they are so science-addled and barely exist outside the walls of the lab, so can they really be held accountable for being such wild cards?” She gestured around her with one hand and huffed out a laugh. “I’m pretty well adjusted and this is one of the first times I’ve really been out in the city. I didn’t even notice it until we were driving here. How do you think they’re all holding up with no yard time?”
Anton snorted. “Yard time? We really do have to get you out more, and the rest of the team. That much work isn’t good.”
“You work that much,” she pointed out.
“Yes, but I’ve also been here before, and besides, I did my fair amount of cavorting. I’m good with some long hours in the lab,” he reminded her. “They need a life, and they can do it without you wearing yourself out.”
Grace looked dubious, but said nothing and sipped at her coffee. If what Anton said was true, then would they need her? That was her bit, her contribution to Lou being a science icon.She wrangled.She ensured they ate, drank, refrained from blowing up things, and kept their talk of shrink rays purely theoretical.
What happened if the labs managed to run just fine without her, even with Mindy standing in?
What did that mean for her place in the labs if her job could be performed by a stand-in, and all on a day when decaf had been dispersed, for heaven’s sake? Grace picked up her phone and checked her messages. While she told herself she did it just out of habit, a very large part of her hoped there might be a message or two from Lou declaring a state of emergency and begging her to return, but there were none. She frowned at her empty inbox when Anton reached out and touched her hand.
“What’s with the long face?” he asked, fingers gentle on the inside of her wrist.
“Nothing, nothing.” She smiled and pushed her hair away from her face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-” She gestured to her phone with a grimace. “I’m not usually like this. I’m being rude. I shouldn’t be on my phone.”
“They’ll be fine. I promise. I wouldn’t have brought Mindy in if she couldn’t handle it. You have nothing to worry about. I promise.”
That was the problem.
Grace sucked in a fortifying breath. “I know you’re right. Of course they will be fine. I’m so happy to just be out relaxing,” she lied with a too-bright smile as she jammed her phone into her bag. Just then their waiter arrived, and she forced all thoughts of a lab running smoothly without her out of her head. She was on a date with Anton—a brunch no less, complete with a beautiful backdrop, quality coffee, and the promise of breakfast carbs—but somehow her mind was twenty minutes away across the city and in her labs, wondering if Elisha had passed out yet or if Lou had managed to sneak anything past Mindy.
What was her ever-lovin’ problem?
Maybe everything was just a touch too perfect? Was that what was making her twitchy? She knew it was, without even having to really think about it, which was just insane. She should be rejoicing and offering a sacrifice to celebrate the fact that she hadn’t been called back to the office.
Blowing out a sigh, she fiddled with her coffee cup and raised her eyes to see Anton giving her an assessing look. It seemed like he could see right through her façade of calm, like he and his stupidly pretty brown eyes could see exactly what was in Grace’s mind.
Crap.Right.
She was supposed to be on a brunch date with her shiny new boyfriend, not moping like a prepubescent teen. Shifting her eyes to the side, she scrambled to pull their brunch back on track and away from the edge of the rails it threatened to go careening straight off of.
“So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?” she tried.
He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I had planned on keeping you away from the labs, but I’m seeing now that might not be such a good idea,” he said, and Grace’s stomach dropped.
So much for pulling brunch back from the edge.
“What do you mean, not a good idea? I, ah, I think it’s a great idea,” she said with a nervous laugh.
Anton steepled his hands and leaned back in his chair. “You’re worried about what’s going on back there,” he said. Drat this man and his ability to see right into her soul. Who knew his gorgeous brown eyes were for more than casting bedroom looks? She was going to have to remember that Anton was a lot more perceptive than he appeared, but Grace guessed she should have known he would be. He was a scientist. Finding patterns and analyzing information was his bread and butter.
Compared to the cosmos, she wasn’t so hard to read. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to throw him off the scent all the same.
She waved a hand breezily. “No, no. I promise, I’m not,” she lied. But when she saw Anton raise one perfect eyebrow at her she knew the jig was up. “Okay, look, what I mean to say is that…okay,I am,but it’s just that-”
“Mindy has it under control. I promise.”
“But there’s a lot to do, and Lou’s been faking her naps, which means not good things.”