Page 59 of Love in the Lab
“It wasn’t my idea, and I don’t plan on getting another,” I glare almost accusingly in his direction.
He holds up his hands. “I wasn’t going to ask you to. What’s it mean?”
“The first initials of my and my sisters’ first names: Molly, Nicole, Olivia. We all went and got the same one together after Olivia turned eighteen. A little against my will.”
“I like it.” He grins. “It looks hot.”
I chuckle, but my face warms. I’m still getting used to the idea of someone, especially someone as handsome as Jonathan, thinkingI’mhot.
In the late afternoon, the power blinks on in Jonathan’s apartment. As the fan starts spinning, and the appliances beep in the kitchen, I leap from the couch to boot up my university laptop.
Jonathan chuckles. “Give it a minute, Carrots. The router has to reconnect first.”
I carry the laptop back to the couch and sit, snuggling into Jonathan’s side. He loops an arm around my shoulders.
Finally, I’m able to get online and log in to our lab’s servers where the data from the gliders should be relayed. There’s nothing newer than yesterday morning and nothing at all from the three gliders we programmed to cross paths with Hernando.
I slump back against Jonathan’s arm. I can’t believe it. All of that for nothing? I risked my life, and Jonathan’s for that matter, for nothing?
Peering at the screen, Jonathan leans his head against mine. “Do you want to hear my long list of possible explanations?” he asks.
“It doesn’t matter because the explanation at the top of the list is that the gliders all got damaged in the storm, and we have no data.” This was supposed to be a big break for my research and a huge bump for my career—and Jonathan’s.
“Okay, Gloomy McDoomy.Or, the gliders haven’t resurfaced yet. Or they did resurface, but the shore station still hasn’t powered back up enough to receive the transmission. Or—”
I groan, throwing my head back against the couch cushion. “I get it, Mr. Sunshine.”
He chuckles, his lips tickling the skin on my exposed neck as he nuzzles closer. “Patience. Give it some time. Nothing’s for sure yet.”
“I hate waiting,” I mutter.
My phone pings with an incoming text, so I distract myself with my phone. “It’s another text from my building manager,” I tell Jonathan. “Electricity’s back up at my place, too.”
My phone pings again, at the same time Jonathan’s makes a chiming noise. It’s a group text from Dr. Gantt.
Dr. Gantt:
Anyone who is still in town, please meet at the lab tomorrow morning at ten for a team meeting to debrief after the storm. Anyone who evacuated, please travel home safely, and we’ll see you next week.
Jonathan’s phone chimes again. He squints at the screen. “Dr. Gantt wants me to check in with the marina in the morning before the meeting to make sure our equipment there is in good condition.”
“Like call them? Or—”
“No, she wants me to go in person.” Now it’s his turn to groan. “Do you know how early I’ll have to wake up to get to Slidell and back before the meeting at ten?”
“Okay, message received. Beaker and I will get out of your hair.” I try to sit up, but Jonathan keeps his arms in place, holding me down. “Don’t you need to drive us home now?”
“Noooo,” he pouts, sticking out his bottom lip and clutching me tighter.
I giggle. “We’ll see each other at the lab tomorrow.”
His eyes spark. “I can’t dothisat the lab.” He leans in and captures my mouth with his.
After a while, I break away. “I really should get home.”
Jonathan exaggerates a sigh. “Fine. Let me grab my keys.”
I make it to the lab by 9:45 the next morning. Like in Jonathan’s neighborhood, the extent of the damage in downtown New Orleans seems to be downed tree branches. On my walk to the lab, I see a few shingles loose on buildings with older roofs in the area. I caught Dennis Jackson’s broadcast this morning summing up Hurricane Hernando. It ended up making landfallas a weak Category 1, with sustained winds at eighty miles per hour. Dennis explained that because Hernando sped up so much, the damage was minimal. It didn’t stick around long enough to cause flooding issues or wind damage, and even storm surge wasn’t an issue. We were all pretty fortunate.
