Lily grins again. “Then I read your work and found it fascinating. So when I saw your post—”
“You’ve read my work?”
“Obviously,” she scoffs. “You didn’t think I came all the way down here just based on the photo, did you? I mean, you’re hot, but there are hot guys in New York. Quite a few actually.”
Am I supposed to say something about her calling me hot? I don’t know.
“Sorry, my work isn’t widely read,” I say. Or understood, for that matter.
She lifts and lowers a shoulder before giving her hair a toss. “Everyone looks at me and sees my mother. Very few people consider that I got her looks and my father’s brain.”
“Sorry,” I say again. Because I had assumed that as well.
“Don’t be. Though, for the record, my mother was no dummy. But my point is I don’t fit in anywhere. Or with anyone. I’m a socialite who hates rich people. And a genius trapped in the body of a game show hostess.” She pauses like I’m supposed to know what she means by that.
I don’t. Instead, feeling like I finally have something useful to contribute to the conversation, I say, “Do you know why I study soil?”
“Okay, weird segue. But I assume it’s because it’s an emerging field of research with wide-reaching implications for food security and for the health of our planet.”
I nod, but add, “Beyond that.”
“Beyond the ability to feed our growing population in an environmentally friendly way? What is there beyond that?”
“All of that is the result of my research, but it’s not what brought me to it. I started studying soil because of how it all fits together. Fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, everyone thought bacteria were the bad guys. These microscopic monsters that destroyed everything. The more we studied, the more we realized it’s not that simple. The bacteria, the protozoa, the fungi... it all works together. Everything has a place and everything has a job. And it’s all unique to a specific location. The species in Arizona are different from the species in Texas which are different from—”
“The species in the Amazon. Which is why you can’t just buy a bag of Miracle Grow with a chemical fertilizer included at Home Depot and expect it to actually help improve the soil in your yard because it doesn’t have the microbial diversity your yard needs.”
“Yes! Exactly!” Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You really are familiar with my work.”
“Duh.”
“Then you know everything in this world has a place. Every creature belongs somewhere. But the fungus that thrives in the desert might not survive in Central Park.”
I half expect that I’ll need to explain the analogy, but I don’t.
Instead, she laughs. “So I’m not a butterfly or a tick. I’m a fungus.”
“You’re an integral part of the ecosystem. You’re just not in the right ecosystem.”
She gives me a thoughtful look. “Are you sure you don’t want to get married?”
“Oh, I do want to get married.” My gaze drifts through the glass doors to seek out Holly. The last time I saw her, she was talking to Clive, but now I can’t find either of them in the crowd. “I’m just not sure how to convince her of that.”
Lily whips around and follows my gaze. “Ooooh . . . is she in there?”
“She was earlier.”
“Then why were you hanging out with me at all? You should have been with her.”
“Because when I asked her to marry me, she said no. Pretty emphatically.”
She gives me a shrewd look. “Okay, break it down for me. Tell me exactly what happened.”
“Why?”
“Well, so I can help, obviously. I mean, clearly me being here has made things worse, so I’m obligated to help fix things. Besides, if you’re not going to sleep with me or marry me, then the least you can do is befriend me. And friends help their friends. Unless you’re just a creepy stalker. In which case I don’t want to help. Are you a creepy stalker?”
“I don’t think I am.”
