Page 26 of Crocodile Tears
“The coincidence is that I went on a date with someone whose military background makes him hypersensitive to potential threats.”I shake my head at her increasingly elaborate theories.“Calvin isn’t a secret agent.He’s just a guy trying to transition from high-risk work to civilian life.”
“If you say so.”She doesn’t look convinced.“I still think there’s more to him than meets the eye.”
“There’s definitely more to him than meets the eye.The question is whether it’s classified government work or just really comprehensive paranoia.”
She settles back onto the edge of my desk, clearly not finished with her interrogation.“Okay, but what was he like?I mean, aside from the spy stuff and the goose lectures.”
“He actually listened when I talked about my research, asked intelligent questions, and didn’t try to mansplain cellular biology to me.”I smile at the memory.“He told me about some of his security work.Apparently, he once had to evacuate an entire town because of genetically modified animals.”
“See?Spy stuff.”
“Military contractor stuff.There’s a difference.”
“Is there?”Margo grins mischievously.“Did he mention any code names?”
I sigh in exasperation.“His name is Calvin.That’s probably not a code name.”
She grins.“Agent Calvin has a nice ring to it.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’m thorough.What else did you talk about?”
“Disaster movies with terrible science, spicy food tolerance, and the fact that we both have weird professional lives that occasionally interfere with normal social interactions.”I pause, remembering the easy flow of conversation once he stopped talking about waterfowl.“He’s surprisingly easy to talk to when he’s not convinced we’re being surveilled.”
“And the kiss?”
“The kiss was… ” I trail off, searching for adequate words.“Unexpected.Electric.Perfectly timed and completely mistimed simultaneously.”
She practically bounces with excitement.“Explain.”
“He grabbed me and kissed me in the middle of explaining enzyme kinetics because he thought we needed to hide our faces from surveillance.”I touch my lips reflexively.“It should have been awful timing, but somehow, it was perfect.”
“That’s so romantic.”
I shake my head.“That’s so weird.”
“Romantically weird.The best kind.”She grins.“Are you seeing him again?”
“Tomorrow night.Dinner at a restaurant with what he described as ‘appropriate security measures.’”I smile at the memory of his phrasing.“Whatever that means.”
“It means he’s still worried about surveillance.”
“It means he’s still paranoid about surveillance.There’s a difference.”As I say it, I can’t ignore the memory of seeing that black van three times.Could it be I’m hoping Calvin is crazy because I don’t want to think about what it means for me and my work if he isn’t?
We spend the next hour creating increasingly ridiculous scenarios involving Calvin’s hypothetical secret agent career.Margo suggests he might be tracking international conspiracies to weaponize shifter genetics.I counter with the theory that he’s actually hunting rogue scientists, who’ve been experimenting with illegal genetic modifications.
“The Secret Service of Scales,” Margo declares with mock solemnity.
“The Reptilian Intelligence Agency.”
“The Department of Lizard Homeland Security.”
By the time we’ve invented an entire shadow organization dedicated to protecting shifter intellectual property, we’re both laughing hard enough that actual work becomes impossible.
“Okay,” I say finally, wiping tears from my eyes.“Enough spy fantasies.I have real research to finish.”
“But you’re definitely seeing him again?”
