“Brady,” Lewis cuts in, exasperated.
I’m so lost. “Um? Groveled?”
Her gaze flicks to Lewis, then back to me. “I mean for that paper he published? The one he left you out of?”
Lewis’s hand tightens around mine again.
“Oh yeah, right. He did. Um, grovel big-time.” I force my cheeks to hold on to the smile and change the subject. If we start talking about that paper, there’s no way I’ll be able to pretend to be in love with Lewis now. “So, uh, what do you do now?”
What I really want to ask is: What does she mean,finallymake it up to me?
It’s not like I need to be reminded of what he did four years ago, but both of their reactions confuse me. That Brady knows and so bluntly talks about it and that Lewis stares back at me with what I can only interpret as a painful expression.
“After graduating, I took a bit of a different path, research-wise,” Brady supplies. “I’m working on early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s now.”
I rifle through my mental file on Lewis, wondering where the hell thatsame labthey were both in is based. We only got in touch once we were postdocs, so I’m not sure where in the world they first met. He was in Oxford when we first started emailing, and then he switched to the Berlin School of Mind and Brain two years after. But where did he live before?
A girlfriend should know that, right?
I can’t place her accent, but her sentences sound like they’re questions—Australian maybe? Hang on, did Lewis do his PhD in Australia?
“That’s interesting,” I say. “Did you move… elsewhere for your postdoc then?”
“No, still in the same place,” she tells me, unhelpfully.
I nod and push my thumb into Lewis’s palm until he finally catches on. “Brady fell in love with Vancouver from the moment she moved there.”
She laughs. “Says the one who went for a weeklong hike to say goodbye to the area before moving to Oxford.”
He grins at her. “England is nice and all, but the hikes don’t compare.”
“Seems like you share a love for the outdoors then.” Vivienne glides into our loose circle like a pro. She presses a glass bottle of soda into Brady’s empty hands and throws a measuring gaze at Lewis’s and my drinks. We’ve advanced into the next level of our fake dating test way too soon. A good friend of Lewis’sandVivienne all at once?
I take a sip of my wine. Despite my hard attempt at confidence, the rim clanks painfully against my teeth. “We surely do.”
“Do you have any outdoor adventures planned while you’re here?” Vivienne asks.
I consider adapting the two-week-long trip to the Pacific Northwest that I’ll embark on with Karo after the Sawyer’s. But it’s too risky. Vancouver is on our route, and Brady would likely want to see Lewis if we stopped by.
The silence stretches.
How can we be so ill-prepared? I’m considering walking up to Columbia tomorrow and demanding that they take back my PhD, because I’m so many levels of stupid. Analytic thinking, strategic planning, my ass.
“A friend of mine has a cabin upstate,” Lewis answers eventually. “It’s not the wild outdoors, but it’s a nice reprieve from the city. I was thinking we’d spend the weekend there. It was meant to be a surprise,” he adds as a last thought, probably to excuse his long silence.
Brady “Awww”s.
“It’ll be a nice change of scenery,” I note.
Both of their expressions shift into a frown.
Crap. I should probably react to this romantic surprise, shouldn’t I?
“Omigod!”I exclaim with a pitch I didn’t know my voice could venture into. “We’re going to a cabin?” I lay my hand on Lewis’s chest and do my best to lovingly gaze into his eyes. They flash in amusement.
“That sounds lovely,” Vivienne says, but Brady tilts her head, like she’s contemplating how to extricate Lewis from my arms. “How did the two of you meet?”
“It’s a funny story…” I falter as Jacob casually steps up to Vivienne and sneaks his arm around her shoulder, then swirls the amber liquid in his glass. Whiskey, no doubt. We’ve advanced to the boss fight, but it’s much too soon. I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid Jacob completely, seeing that we’re at his house, but I didn’t expect him to come hang out with us. Between his curious gaze, Brady’s probing questions, andVivienne, who I still can’t read, my teeth clench so tightly I should probably pencil in a dentist appointment for when I get back.
