Page 4 of Digging Up Love
A bone had turned up on someone’s land? Odd. He went back to his laptop, opened it, and clicked through to his university email.
“Just glad that old fool didn’t darken my doorway today,” said Tre. “What’s he got for you? An extra freshman course this fall? Night class? Wait, don’t tell me. A tour for prospective students. Shoot, brother, what is it?”
Barely registering his friend’s questions, Quentin was captivated by the contents of the attachment he’d just opened. His hand drifted to his mouth as he looked at a huge bone sticking out from the side of a pit dug in a grassy field. Mammoth was his first guess, or mastodon.
Definitely not a dinosaur, not in Illinois. No dinosaurs had ever been discovered in the entire state, owing to a lack of Mesozoic rock. He clicked and squinted closer at the enlarged photo.Maybe ...but no. It couldn’t be. No way. And Lawrence didn’t think so, either, or he wouldn’t have pawned this off on him, right?
“Whose dig is that, Q?” Tre had appeared over his shoulder.
“Quit breathing down my neck, man!” Quentin shot out an elbow reflexively and covered his neck where Tre’s warm, Funyun-scentedbreath had hit it. “It’s no one’s dig. Someone from western Illinois called in a find. Apparently this is in their backyard.”
Tre squatted down next to him and peered at the screen. He lifted a meaty finger to the image. “Do you see those layers of shale, just above the clay there? You don’t think ...”
“A dinosaur? No way, man. No way. Right?” Against his better judgment, Quentin’s interest was piqued. Dinosaurs used to roam Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio; of that there was no debate. But glaciers had obliterated any trace.
Although ... Quentin snapped his fingers and spun toward Tre, knocking his friend off balance with his knees. “Remember how I told you about that hadrosaur find in Missouri? From the forties? They’re still excavating the site, finding theropod teeth, claws ...”
Tre dusted off his hands where he’d caught himself on the tile. He nodded, bushy brows tugging together. “This photo was taken in the western part of the state, you said? If it’s near the Baylis Formation, there’s a chance. A small one. But don’t get your hopes up, Q.” Still, he came back to stand behind him, and both men scrutinized the image in silence.
Without permission, Quentin’s mind raced. A dinosaur in Illinois? Unprecedented. And a huge boost to his career if they could excavate. A chance to get his father off his case, prove paleo was a legitimate career choice.
Thoughts reeling, he leaned back, forgetting as always the springs were broken. The chair dipped low, and he threw out his arms and legs for balance like a turtle flipped onto its shell. His knees bumped the underside of the desk and knocked a picture frame facedown.
“Watch it!” Tre scooted out of range this time, covering his crotch. “Are you trying to sabotage my chances for a Tre Junior?” He edged around the desk, overcautious. “Not that I would mind a free vasectomy, come to think of it.” He smirked. “But Radhika would probably have my useless balls cut off out of spite.”
“Jeez, man. Enough with your balls,” said Quentin. “And your reproductive life in general, just—”
“Interrupting something, am I?”
Both men flinched. A ghost of cigarette smoke drifted into the room, and Quentin fought back a sneeze. He could almost see it framing Dr.Yates in a sinister halo.
Their department chair eyed Tre with faint disgust. “Edwards,” he said with a dismissive nod. Then his pale-blue eyes drilled into Quentin’s. “Forgot to mention, Harris, although this should go without saying—if this claim does turn out to be anything, do not discuss it with anyone besides the homeowner. We don’t need a circus down there. Understood?”
At a nod from Quentin, Lawrence backed out. Mouth twisted into a frown, he shut the door with a sarcastic flourish.
Tre collapsed into the chair again, head in his hands. He peered out through his fingers. “How does he do it?”
“You mean how does he reduce humanity to dust?” Quentin resisted the urge to fling a pencil at the now-closed door. “I’ll let you know when I find out. In the meantime, I need to go talk to Bridget about a favor.”
Tre perked up. “Ooo-ooh—”
Quentin cut his friend’s childish chant short. “Don’t start with me.”
“Okay, but it’s been more than ayear, man. Mercedes found someone new months ago.”
A new boyfriend?Quentin righted the picture frame to reveal his twin nieces wearing matching pajamas and not-quite-identical smiles in front of a fireplace on what should’ve been his and Mercedes’s second Christmas as a family ...
“Radhika’s still her friend on Facebook,” said Tre, tugging at his wiry goatee with a wince. “Ridiculous, I know. But she says it’s purely for intel purposes.” He continued, softer. “I know you loved her. But there are other women out there. Good women.Betterwomen.”
Quentin kept his mouth shut, but Tre pushed on. “Mercedes wasn’t your future—she was your fallback. The safe option.”
Where was this coming from? A four-year relationship culminating in an almost-wedding seemed like the real deal to him, but who was he to argue? Only his life, after all.
But as usual, Tre plowed on, heedless of his friend’s reaction. “When’s the last time you went out on a date? Or said hi to a female outside work?”
Wow, really?“Sorry not all of us are willing to get married in Vegas on a whim.”
“I didn’t go through with that and you know it, so you can stop bringing it up.” Tre shifted in the chair. “Also, Radhika and I are celebrating three years this June, in case you’d forgotten.”
