“Corrie, I didn’t ask you to come here because of your tits. I wanted you here because you’re the smartest person I know.”
She paused, letting the atmosphere in the tent reset.
“Do you mean that?” she asked, quietly. She wasn’t looking for feigned compliments. She truly wanted to know—did he... did he respect her?
“Of course I do. Honestly, Corrie, the only reason I did well in school is because I had you as my competition, always keeping me on my toes. I had to work a hell of a lot harder because of you. It was kind of annoying, to be honest,” he said, finishing with humor in his tone.
“And yet you still came out on top,” she said, looking away, “And no one recognizes that I was right behind you. People genuinely act surprised when I tell them I have a PhD. Do you know how insulting that is?”
It was one of the main reasons Corrie didn’t like going on dates with new people. When she did, she often didn’t tell them what she did for a living. The surprised looks and claims thatYou don’t look like a doctorhad gotten old long ago. Besides, they didn’t need to know about her career if all they were going to do was grab a drink and bang.
“I’m sure plenty of people recognize how brilliant you are.”
“Really? Then why wasn’t I selected as lead for this dig? I mean, no offense, Ford, but this is my life’s work. I’ve written articles and papers on it. Hell, it was the subject of my dissertation, the dissertationyou’reusing as a guide.”
Ford wrinkled his brow, as if uncomfortable with her comments. She hadn’t intended to make him feel bad. But he’d asked why she didn’t like receiving help, and this was the answer.
Because deep down, she knew she’d never earn the same respect as someone without a pair of double Ds. Not in this industry. And, unfortunately, not in many others, either.
“And so earlier today,” she continued, “when you made those comments about being in charge, it hit me hard. I was actually starting to think that maybe you weren’t the asshole I’d thought you were, but when you said that? Well, I changed my mind.”
Ford winced and rubbed his face. “Corrie... I’m really sorry about that. It was a shitty thing to say and the minute I did, I regretted it. I was pissed about that not being the spot and pissed at myself for making the impulsive decision to come all the way here for nothing, wasting our time. Then you said we needed to tell Jon and Memo I was wrong. Between that and you pointing out that in the three months we’ve been here, I haven’t taken the time to get to know anyone, well, it felt like you were egging me on again. Which, after I started thinking that maybeyouweren’t so bad, kind of hurt. So I pulled a dick move. But I’m sorry. I know I’m not better, smarter, or more qualified than you. I’m where I’m at right now, and you’re not, simply because I dated the right woman at the right time. That’s it.”
Wow. Maybe shewaswrong about Ford. Again.
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Well, it’s the truth. And you know how hard it is for me to admit when I’m wrong.”
“So what you’re saying is all I had to do was date Addison andI’dbe a professor at Yale leading high-profile digs all over the world?” She waggled her brows and he laughed, lowering and shaking his head.
“Honestly, you would have been the better fit for her.”
Corrie’s curiosity piqued. “Oh yeah? Is she into ladies?”
“First of all, Corrie, you’re no lady,” he joked. “But no. She... I... I wasn’t exciting enough for her.”
Exciting enough?Well, this just got a helluva lot more interesting.
Their conversation had made its way full circle. Corrie stared at Ford as if saying,Explain, and he groaned, lying backon the ground. She lay next to him on her side, propping her head up in her hand. Waiting for more.
“Do tell, Dr. Matthews,” Corrie said. “You can’t lead with that and then leave me hanging.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to tell you this,” he said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.
“What happened?”
He let out a long sigh, then finally started talking. “I honestly don’t know when things started going the wrong direction with her. Things were good, or at least Ithoughtthey were. I mean, I was gone a lot, but as the daughter of Dr. Crawley, it wasn’t anything new to her. But then my dad died when I was on a dig, so I ended up coming home early without telling her. I was so upset about my dad, I thought that if I could surprise Addison, her excitement to see me would make everything better. And she was surprised to see me all right—I walked in on her masturbating with a dildo.”
Corrie fought to keep her face straight.Well...thiswas unexpected.
“What happened after that?”
“Well, first she screamed and threw the dildo at me because she thought I was an intruder. Gave me a black eye, in fact.”
Corrie snickered.
“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny,” he said, unable to keep himself from chuckling.
