“I blamed you for all of our problems, but I never took responsibility for my own shortcomings. It would mean a great deal to me if you would come to one of my sessions with me.”
The world had gone and turned itself inside out, and it was making Kaci’s stomachdo the same. “I’m taking a break from men right now.”
“All I’m asking for is an hour.” He spread his hands, a plea the Ron Kelly she knew never would’ve made. But she couldn’t tell if the hard set to his lips was a determination to put in what it took to get her back, or an order that she do what the great Colonel Kelly dictated. “It would be good for both of us.”
“Time’s up. Lovely to see you, Dr. Kelly. Don’t let that door hit you on the tuckus on your way out.”
“Kaci—”
“And don’t go pulling those prick stunts you did at the Academy with pop quizzes for material you haven’t covered. Kids are here to learn, not have heart attacks.”
“The real world doesn’t hand out lollipops for second best and weak efforts.”
Dear sweet Jehoshaphat, she’d marriedthat. “Y’all have a good day. I got work to do.”
His jaw clamped shut, and he stood and reached for the door. “Think about it, Kaci.”
She’d think about it.
She’d think about it as long as it took her to think the wordno.
She hadn’t been unhappy in her marriage, but she’d been no more or less unhappy since her divorce. To her way of thinking, that said something about their relationship.
And she didn’t entirely trust that his motives were purely personal.
He’d gotten his own bit of attention for a paper he’d written in corollary to the paper she’d written that had gotten her invited to Stuttgart, and she didn’t much like the idea of him riding her coattails on his way to getting tenure first because he was a man and she was a woman.
In this day and age, gender shouldn’tmatter, but in academia, especially scientific academia, Kaci’s male counterparts still refused to consider that women could be just as brilliant as men prided themselves on being. One of her fellow physics professors had suggested to the dean that he go to Germany in her place to present her research. Because the conference was too close to the holidays andeveryone knows women are busy then.
The patriarchal baloney was one of the biggest reasons no one could ever know she was terrified to fly.
She had to find a way to get on that airplane without hyperventilating.
Somehow.
Someway.
She’d do it, dang it. She had to.
The door slammed shut behind Ron. A moment later, a tentative knock sounded, and the mail delivery girl peeked in. “You gotmail, Dr. Boudreaux.” She held three envelopes out in her chunky fingers, her sweet smile and bright eyes chasing away all the bad juju Ron had left in the office.
“Thank you, sugar.” Kaci slipped the girl a fun-size Milky Way, then closed her office door and settled back at her desk to inspect her mail.
One envelope fromThe Atom Report, another from the University of Stuttgart, and one from…
Oh, lordy.
One from the 946th Airlift Squadron on Gellings Air Force Base.
At the thought of Captain Irritating, her belly did another flip.
One thing Ron had going for him—he was safe. He had his moments of being a pompous ass, but he’d never made her nerves twist and swirl like a tornado in her chest.
She grabbed her phone and hit Tara’snumber.
“Franco or Blake?”
She blinked at the phone. “Pardon?”
