“I can turn him into an impotent evil stepfather in my redneck fairy tales, but honestly,I kinda don’t think they’ll sell well enough to really get any satisfaction out of smearing his name. I really need to get a better day job.”
“He can’t go to Germany with me,” Kaci whispered.
“Would it help if I come?”
“Can you land an airplane if the pilots die and the engines fall off?”
“No, but I’m good with chocolate, Xanax, and buying overpriced airport water bottles. I’ll even let you read one of the fairy tales I’m working on. You mightwantthe plane to go down to save you before it’s over.”
“Hush your tongue.” Kaci shivered.
Tara squeezed harder. “You have important things to do in your lifetime, Kaci. The world needs you. This conference in Germany is just the start. When you’re ninety-eight years old, the world will be a better place because of what you’ve done andbecause of what you’ve taught your students to do. God won’t let you die on that plane or any other plane. Understand?”
She didn’t, but she nodded into Tara’s shoulder again anyway.
She had to get on that plane.
With or without Lance.
Tara was right. Shehadto go to Germany.
For herself. For her profession. For the world.
But professional accolades, job satisfaction, and her pride all felt hollow tonight.
Because for the first time since she’d switched majors at eighteen years old, there was something she cared about more than she cared about physics.
And he didn’t care back.
19
After her lecture Monday afternoon, Kaci made a trip to the chemistry building. She’d posted flyers in the student center, in the humanities and mathematics and business studies buildings, and now, she was entering enemy territory.
Not that she was here to pick a fight, even if a fight might’ve soothed that unsettled, off-kilter part of her soul that had been aching since Friday night.
Fighting with Ron wouldn’t solve anything. So she stapled her flyer to the bulletin board inside the double glass doors, then turned to go.
And ran smack into the first man who’d sether on the path to realizing just how much she needed more girlfriends who understood.
Ron slid a glance at the bulletin board, and the tendon in his neck tightened. “Seriously, Kaci?”
She’d known she’d be baiting the beast by posting flyers for the Officers’ Ex-Wives Club in his building, but she hadn’t expected him to see her do it. But the truth was, James Robert College had a good number of nontraditional students. She didn’t see many in the Physics Department, but they were there. With the base so close by, many of those nontraditional students were former military wives, like Tara, going back to school after years of unsteady work experience due to frequent moves and the unwillingness of employers to take a chance on someone who might not be around more than a few years.
“Chancellor-approved,” she said to Ron with a nod toward her flyer. “Have a nice day.”
She started to step around him, but he blocked her way. “I’m not an officer anymore Kaci. You can stay here. I can stay here. We can stay here together.”
“We’re nottogether, Ron. We never were. You never loved me enough to ask me what I wanted out of life, and frankly, I never did you the same courtesy.”
“Okay. What do you want? What can I do?”
“You canlisten. And you can accept what I’m saying. And what I’m saying is that I’ve moved on, and you need to do the same.”
He pointed to the flyer. “Like this? This is how you’re moving on?”
“That ain’t about you. It’s about me.” And Lance. Her heart flopped over in her chest. This wasdefinitelyabout getting over Lance.
“Bullshit,” Ron said.
