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“I might have teared up a little,” Olivia admitted. “Penny managed to look exquisitely misty without messing up her eye makeup. It was Caleb who cried like a baby.”
“That’s so sweet.” Brooke got out of the car and locked it before setting out for the biology building.
“It was adorable. I love that guy.”
“Did his parents show up?”
“Yeah. They were kind of weird. Didn’t really talk to anyone much. Penny’s mom tried to draw them out, but they mostly just kept to themselves.”
Brooke nodded at a student she recognized as she walked past the campus coffee shop. “At least they didn’t make a scene or ruin the wedding. I know Penny was worried about them upsetting Caleb.”
“I don’t think anything short of a natural disaster could have ruined that wedding for Caleb. He only had eyes for Penny the whole weekend.”
“That’s awesome. I can’t wait to hear all about it in detail. Do you want to meet for lunch one day this week?”
“Sure. How about Wednesday? The usual place?”
“Sounds good.” Brooke’s paper was due Wednesday, but she planned to have it done the night before so she could send it first thing in the a.m. after one last review. By lunchtime, it would be out of her hands.
“Oh, and hey, Brooke?” Olivia said. “Try not to spend the rest of the day thinking about how much you want to ride Dylan’s bone roller coaster, okay?”
“Oh my god! You’re the worst. I really am hanging up now.”
Olivia was still cackling when Brooke disconnected the call.
“Something’s weird about you today,”Tara said as she watched Brooke set up her laptop on one of the desks in their shared office. “Are you all right?”
Brooke reached up to touch her cheek. Was she still blushing from this morning? Quite possibly. Her skin felt feverish under her fingertips. “I think I might be coming down with something,” she told Tara. “But it’s nothing a little aversion therapy can’t cure.”
Tara rolled her desk chair closer, peering at Brooke. “Are you wearing makeup?”
“Maybe a little.”
Tara’s gaze narrowed. “Interesting.”
“Is it though? Is it interesting?” Brooke tried to ignore Tara as she opened up the paper she needed to finish revising.
“My life’s pretty dull,” Tara said, shrugging as she spun her chair. “So I have to take my entertainment where I can get it.”
“Glad I could spice things up for you.”
Tara stopped spinning and stretched her legs out. She wore battered Doc Martens and loose-fitting men’s jeans. “I do think it’s intriguing that your boy toy is in town this week and you just happen to show up today wearing makeup, which you almost never do.”
“He’s not my—” Brooke couldn’t even bring herself to say the wordsboy toyin relation to Dylan. “He’s just an old friend.”
“So you don’t deny you’re wearing makeup for him.”
“Maybe I’m wearing makeup for myself. Who’s to say?”
Tara snorted. “You just keep telling yourself that, mate. But enough about your boring lack of a sex life. I have goss.”
Brooke glanced over as she tapped the arrow key to scroll through her paper. “Do tell.” She was always up for some juicy departmental gossip, and Tara always seemed to have the scoop.
“It appears that yesterday, our man Professor McNamara caught two undergrads having sex on a lab bench.”
Brooke’s mouth fell open. “Ew. No. Seriously?”
“Seriously unhygienic, is what it is,” Tara agreed. “Do you think they were wearing PPE?”
