Fabes:He’s been writing a response for five ducking minutes.
Dad:Haha. Ducking cute.
Mom:Millie, are you there? Alfred is waiting for a ducking answer.
Chapter 2
Finn
What the hell was I doing?
My phone screen fades to black, erasing the background image of my nieces, because I’ve been staring at it for so long. I’m sure I meant to do something productive. Was I going to answer an email? Check in with Gabriella?
I press the button on the side of my phone to reveal the image of Avery and Eloise again, grinning at each other while ice cream drips down their chins.
The view of them is way better than the one that surrounds me.
Every seat in the conference room is full of chattering people, except for the empty one beside me. No one has dared to take it. They’re all avoiding me like the plague.
This meeting could’ve been handled in a mass email, and I’m sure my irritation is written blatantly across my face.
A rush of air glides against the back of my neck, trailed by a familiar vanilla-and-lemon scent.
The chair to my right slides away from the table, and Millie Oaks drops into it with a huff. Her auburn hair dances as she jerks her seat forward, placing a notebook covered in insects and a sparkly orange pen down on the table.
I shove my phone back in my pocket.
Millie smooths her dress and opens the notebook, keeping her chin tipped up like she’s determined not to look my way. Her fingers flow over a clean sheet of paper as she writes the date at the top, followed by a heading in swirly, precise handwriting.
It appears she found a sweater to cover the coffee stain. Admittedly, I feel bad about the spill. I was probably standing too close, but my curiosity was piqued when she and Eleanor were talking about a man being charming and grumpy. By the time I figured out they were talking about a book, I had taken a step back, but it wasn’t far enough to avoid her collision of chaos.
I glance back at her notebook, where she has drawn two small ladybugs on the side. Then she moves her pencil to the very bottom of the page and smoothly writes,
Eyes on your own paper, Grumpy Spock.
A scoff bursts out of me before I can stop it. That feels like a dig after I told her I wasn’t aStar Trekfan. I preferred the Kylo Ren comparison.
Her pink lips curve in a satisfied grin before she grabs her notebook and angles her chair away from me.
The door swings open, and Sharon, the museum director, and Reva, the education specialist, step through.
“Good morning, everyone. Are we ready to get started?” Sharon lays a binder down on the table and slides on the glasses that hang around her neck. Her short gray bob swings around her face as she waves to everyone until her eyes land on Millie. “Oh, most of you probably know, but this is Millie from entomology.”
Millie shifts in her seat and grins around the room in greeting.
“She’s joining us since Calvin is off relishing his retirement in Costa Rica.” A few murmurs of envy filter through the room.
Millie turns and settles her notebook in front of her on the table. She has doodled small flowers to cover the words she wrote for me, and for some reason, disappointment settles in my chest.
“Okay. First order of business is our annual summer camp next week. I’m going to let Reva start with that.” Sharon leans back in her chair, letting Reva take the lead.
“I hope you all are feeling ready for our little scientists to come visit.” She folds her hands in front of her with an excited grin. “As you know, kids will be here Monday through Friday, visiting different departments in the museum. You should all have a copy of the detailed schedule in your inbox, but I brought printed ones to talk about today.” She passes the stack of schedules to her right.
I take a paper and hand the rest of the stack to Millie. When she tries to grab them, her soft fingertips graze the back of my hand, and she flinches so much that she drops the papers, sending them fanning out across the table.
Reva continues as I help Millie gather them back into a pile, barely containing the grumble threatening to vibrate through me. “We have a few crossovers happening, as you can see on the schedule. Engineering and astronomy are going to build rockets together, and entomology and local ecology are taking a field trip. Hopefully, you’ve met up with those other departments to make specific plans.”
I tune Reva out a little, distracted by the wavy hair falling out of Millie’s braid and the bones in her left hand shifting smoothly as she writes.
