“Hopefully it’ll be good,” Danielle says modestly as she carries a steaming pan of lasagna to the table.
The dinner is very good. There’s a Caesar salad to go with the garlic rolls and lasagna, and it’s one of the best meals I’ve eaten in a long time.
“So, Nina,” I say, in an effort at politeness. “Drew mentioned you study fish?”
“That’s right,” she says, swallowing a bite of her garlic roll. “Do you have a science background at all?”
“Not at all,” I admit. “You’ll have to give me the simplified version.”
“No problem,” Nina says, before launching into a highly technical description of her current project. As best I can tell, she’s assessing the effects of chemicals on fish reproduction in Lake Ontario.
“I think you need to go a little simpler than that, sweetie,” Peter puts in. “I’m afraid you lost me there.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she exclaims. “I guess I’m just so used to talking to other scientists that I forgot.” She turns to Drew. “You know what that’s like, right, Drew?”
“I guess so,” Drew says.
Nina nods, but it’s clear she was expecting more sympathy from her fellow scientist. She launches back into her explanation of her fish project, but doesn’t cut back on the jargon.
“And the p-value for the two datasets was 0.06!” she says. “So frustrating, and I think the trial was underpowered. If I had more time, I’d repeat it with a bigger sample size, but at this point, I just want this PhD to be done.”
“You’ve worked really hard, sweetie,” Peter says. “We’re proud of you.”
Danielle turns to me. “So, Alexandra,” she says. “I think we need to hear the rest of your story. How did you and Drew finally get together?”
She keeps coming back to this, like she’s trying to make it clear to Nina that Drew and I are an item.
I swallow a bite of lasagna and wipe my mouth with my napkin. “He challenged me to a tennis match,” I explain. “And he was pretty persistent, so I agreed.”
“Who won?” Peter asks.
“Alexandra did,” Drew says. There’s a soft look in his eyes, almost like he’s proud of me. “She’s a spectacular tennis player.”
“You didn’t stand a chance, huh?” Peter says. I can tell he assumes Drew let me win.
“She plays a great game,” Drew says, but to my relief, he doesn’t elaborate on my tennis history. “I’m hoping she’ll give me a rematch sometime.”
“If you’re very nice to me, I might consider it,” I say with a grin.
“And are you still working as Drew’s assistant?” Nina asks.
“Oh, no,” Drew says. “Alexandra reports to Heather Larkin, the Director of Surgical Services. She was helping me out for a while, but now that we’re in a relationship, she’s just working for Heather. I miss seeing her during the day, obviously, but overall, it’s definitely worth it.”
Wow. He’s laying it on so thick, I’m amazed none of the Tates have burst out laughing. But Peter and Danielle seem to be eating it up.
“Aw, I’m so happy for you two,” Danielle says. “You’re clearly perfect for each other, it’s so nice to see.” She giggles a little. “If I’d been thinking, I wouldn’t have cooked such a garlicky dinner.”
“Well, we’re not vampires,” I quip. “And if we both have garlic breath there won’t be an issue, right Honeybun?”
Drew’s eyes widen, and for a second he looks like he’s going to choke on his bite of lasagna. I’m not sure if it’s the idea of kissing me with garlic breath, or just of kissing me, period.
Or maybe it was the name Honeybun that did him in.
Fortunately, he collects himself quickly. “Right,” he says. “No issue.”
“Honeybun,” Danielle repeats thoughtfully. “That’s cute. What about you, Drew? Do you have a pet name for Alexandra?”
Everyone stares at Drew, who doesn’t reply right away. I’m about to jump in and answer for him when he finally speaks.
