Harmony nodded.“I have.It was on a different drug, but I’ve done the same thing.”
“How many times did you have to do it?”
Harmony snickered.“As many as it took.”
Parker rolled their eyes.“That’s all you’re giving me.”
“Yeah.I’m sorry, but there’s no definitive answer.It might be ten, it might be a hundred.”
“Are you joking?”
Harmony shook her head.“Sorry, Parker.How many samples do you have?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Set up ten of them at once.Then you’re doing the same amount of work, but batching it like that will make it easier on you.The equipment can run five tests at a time, so if you have them all set up, you can do back-to-back tests and be done in half the time.”
“That’s genius.I never thought about that.Thank you, Harmony.”
Harmony smiled.“You’re welcome.Good luck.”
“Thanks.”Parker hurried back into the lab to keep working.
Harmony was happy to go home.To have a night off from the lab.The work they did was important.She loved it.But working in pharmacology was taxing.Few people went into it because it required a lot of education and the payoff wasn’t always high.Most of the money came from grants, and it took years sometimes for their research to be complete.
Harmony’s thesis was nearing completion, which meant she was at the end of her contribution to the project she’d been working on.She hoped to be hired full time after graduation, but her biggest competitor was a decade younger than her, and his parents were friends with Doctor Griffiths.
In all her life, Harmony worked hard and landed on her feet, and she knew this time would be the same, but she hated not finishing something.After her dad died, she inherited his medical debt.She walked away from her undergraduate program to work full time to pay back what he owed.It took her twice as long to finish undergrad and three times as long to finish her Ph.D., but she didn’t give up.Even if her colleagues thought she should have.
At thirty-six, Harmony had sacrificed more than all the others in her program.She didn’t date, she didn’t have a social life, and she didn’t do anything except eat, sleep, and breathe for her program.The only reason she was so close to graduating was because she was offered a position at the college doing research in addition to her required coursework.
When she was done, she would work only one job for the first time in almost half her life.
Harmony was almost to her car when her phone beeped, alerting her to missed messages and calls when she was working.Since no one relied on her, she ignored the messages until she was home.She kicked off her shoes and dropped her sweater over the back of a chair, then released the knot that held her hair out of her face for the day.
She opened her fridge as she unlocked her phone.She tapped the voicemail that came from a local number she didn’t know and was surprised when she hard her name.
“Hello, Ms.Harmony Gibbs.This is Grant Pickens.I am happy to hear you are willing to meet with me so I can thank you properly.I cleared your schedule for Friday morning so you can spend that time with me.I will be waiting for you at nine in the lobby of my building.I look forward to meeting you in person.”
Harmony pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it.Was he serious?He cleared her schedule?What did that even mean?
She played the next message and got her answer.Doctor Griffiths was not thrilled that Grant Pickens had called to request Harmony had the morning off, but he approved the request with the requirement that Harmony make up whatever work she missed.
The next call was from someone wanting to help her with nonexistent tax debt.Harmony rolled her eyes and deleted the message and blocked the number.She didn’t have time for scammers.
Harmony closed the fridge and opened the freezer, remembering what she was doing before she listened to the messages.She grabbed a frozen meal and tossed it into the microwave while she went to change out of her work clothes.
With her half-hot, half-cold, all meh dinner, she curled up on the couch and turned on the TV.She needed to calm her mind before she tried to go to sleep, and a good romantic comedy would do the trick.
Two hours and plenty of laughs later, Harmony jumped in the shower, then fell into bed, wondering what Grant Pickens was going to be like and why he felt the need to manage her time for her.
She would find out soon enough.
Grant Pickens was an asshole.
Harmony cringed when she met the man.He was slick and cocky and acted as though she should be honored to be in his presence.
He asked to meet her for fuck’s sake!
