“Thank you,” Larissa said. “I had fun tonight.”
“So did I. We can do it again soon, but next time–”
“No tequila,” Larissa finished her sentence as Harlow tucked her into bed.
CHAPTER 7
“Yes, I’ll be there,” she said to her sister on the phone as she put her laptop into her bag.
“What are you doing right now?” Aggie asked.
“Packing my bag. Harlow’s on her way.”
“On her waywhere? Isn’t she staying with you again?”
“Yes, she’s on her way home from work.”
“Home?”
“Yes. Why?”
“It’s not her home, Larissa. It’syourhome.”
“Where she’s staying, so it’s her home, too, for the time being.”
She closed her bag.
“Why are you packing your bag?”
“We’re going to work on the book I told you about.”
“The book? Shouldn’t you be–”
“Yes, I’m aware. Not all of us get our doctorates in no time, Aggie.”
“I worked exclusively on it for years, so it wasn’t in no time. You just keep putting obstacles in your way. Life does that enough for people. You don’t have to add more of your own shit to deal with. It seems there’s now also a book, and there’salwaysHarlow.”
“How is Harlow in my way? She’s constantly nagging me to focus on school.”
“Which, I’m sure, is so easy with her there all the time.”
“It is. She works full-time, Aggie. It’s not like she’s here lying on my couch all day, distracting me. She has a job.”
“I know. I just want you to be done already,” her sister replied. “We had plans, Larissa. You were supposed to work here with me, and not as a Ph.D. candidate.”
“I know. And I will. I just can’t get this book thing out of my head right now. It’s distracting me and preventing me from focusing on my dissertation.”
“How are you taking your paper on the effects of cortisol on love and making it a book, exactly? For the masses, I mean, because a dissertation is already a damn book basically.”
“I’m not. Well, I might. I don’t know. First, I’m interviewing people who are currentlyinlove and asking them to tell me about it; the feelings, the circumstances in their lives around the time they met, things like that. What’s interesting is that a few days ago, we interviewed a really young couple, and they had a lot of issues at first because they were in high school and had to come out. The interview went great, but yesterday, I sent them some follow-up questions specifically focusing on stress, and they sent their answers back already. The stress absolutely impacted their developing–”
“You know that’s not a real study, right? No one would take that seriously. How can you verify their stress hormone levels if you’re dealing with them months or even years later? You–”
“Hey, I’m here. Sorry, I’m a bit late. Traffic,” Harlow said when she walked through the front door. “You ready?”
“Yeah. Say hi to Aggie. She’s giving me a hard time.”
She passed her phone to Harlow.
