Miri had those things, or at least Corrie believed she did.
WWCMD?
Get out of this bathroom. Stand tall. And be a badass.
I can do those things…I can be a badass.
I can puff up my chest—sort of.
I can get out of this bathroom!
She swung open the door, ready to take charge, and was immediately confronted by Dr. Quinn.
“Take your time, why don’t you?” he snapped.
Her instinct to apologize started to kick in whenWWCMDrang through her head.
“I didn’t realize there was a time limit on bathroom privileges,” Miri quipped back.
Her voice quaked a bit as her heart pounded, unused to speaking with such authority.Twice in one day and it’s not even nine a.m.!
“Excuse me? You can’t talk to me that way.”
“But you can lurk outside of the bathroom, banging on the door like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, instead of giving me privacy?” Miri said, folding her arms.
His brow furrowed as he sneered. “I don’t like your insinuation.”
“And I don’t appreciate yours. Now, I want to be partners here—” she said, trying to relax her tone, but Dr. Quinn interrupted her.
“You call this being partners? Completely changing the itinerary without even consulting me?”
“I tried calling and I stopped by your room—twice—to give you a heads-up, but you didn’t answer.”
“So you went ahead and did your own thing anyway? Some partnership.”
Now Miri was the one furrowing her brow. “I’m sorry…but weren’t you the one dismissing me last night so you could ‘talk work,’ ” she said, using air quotes, “with Rafa?”
“You mean when I interrupted your flirting?”
Miri gulped. Shoot.
“We weren’t—”
“Oh, you weren’t? Because it looked to me like you andRafawere getting pretty cozy.” Suddenly, his face softened, as if something clicked in his head. “Look, Miriam, I get it,” he said, calmly. “You’re young. He’s attractive. Sometimes these things happen on digs. I mean, look what happened with Dr. Mejía and Dr. Matthews.”
Miri blinked several times. Was he reading her WWCMD mind? “I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s not what this is.” And Miri didn’t like Dr. Quinn’sinsinuation, as if Corrie and Ford were just a couple of horny teens who couldn’t differentiate between work and play.
Dr. Quinn sighed. “I know you haven’t been doing this long. What’s it been? Two? Three years?”
“Four.”
“See? You’re still practically a baby archaeologist,” he said, like he needed to coddle her.
Miri gritted her teeth, biting back her anger.
“I’m sorry,” he continued, “I don’t mean to upset you. It’s just that I know you’re inexperienced, and sometimes that leads to our minds focusing elsewhere. I understand if you’re enamored by him. There’s no rule against fraternization between the two of you, after all. But if you’re going to be distracted and making irrational decisions simply with an intent to impress him, it might be better if you let me do the decision-making.”
“Nothing is going on between me and Rafa,” Miri said.And even if there was, it would be none of your damn business.“Besides, I’m not here to create a scandal. Corrie trusted me to lead this expedition, and that’s what I intend to do.”
