“You’re plenty smart enough to understand.” I rest my chin on her shoulder, gesturing to the screen. “See these patterns? They should indicate standard mineral formation under specific pressures. But these anomalies here?—”
“Wait.” She leans forward, pizza forgotten. “Are those time stamps correct?”
I blink. “What?”
“The readings. They’re happening faster than they should, right? Like, if the minerals were forming naturally?”She tilts her head, studying the data. “Remember that paper you made me read last week about crystallization rates? Wouldn’t that mean...”
“Holy shit.” I straighten up, nearly dumping her off my lap. “The pressure isn’t causing the formations. The formations are affecting the pressure.”
“Which means...”
“Which means there could be active geological processes we haven’t accounted for.” I start typing frantically. “If the mineral growth is happening this fast, it could indicate current subsurface activity, not just historical formations. Tara, this is?—”
“Breakthrough worthy?” She grins, clearly pleased with herself.
“How did you—” I stop typing, staring at her. “You actually read that paper?”
“Of course, I did. You were excited about it.” She shrugs like it’s nothing. “Plus, the implications for potential microbial environments were fascinating. Even if some of the chemistry went over my head. Life on other planets though? Pretty cool stuff.”
I cup her face in my hands, making her look at me. “You’re actually brilliant, you know that?”
“I know.” She steals a quick kiss. “But it’s nice to hear you say it. Now eat your pizza before it gets cold. Some of us have work soon.”
“Stay?” The word slips out before I can stop it. “Just for a bit longer? I want to run these new calculations and you clearly understand this better than you let on and?—”
“Alfie Spencer,” she cuts me off, eyes sparkling, “are you saying you want my company?”
“I’m saying I work better with you here.”
Her expression softens. “Smooth talker.” But she’s already settling back against me, reaching for her pizza. “Okay, explain these pressure readings to me again. And this time, don’t dumb it down.”
I tell myself it’s nothing.
That this is just comfort. Familiarity.
But when she leans in, too close, too easy, my pulse betrays me.
I press a kiss to her temple, unable to help myself.
“Well,” I start, pointing to the screen, “it all comes down to the relationship between pressure and time...”
Tara leftfor work a couple of hours ago and I’m leaving the lab with a little time to go home and shower before I stay up trying to beat Butterboi69 at Chess before I go to pick up Tara from work.
I check my phone as I click my car keys and chuckle. Sliding into the seat, I join the conversation. Troy has sent a selfie of him Kayaking on a lake, he’s grinning at the camera and flipping us off.
UMS LADS
Troy
Missing our weekend lake sessions boys
These kids are great but they're not as fun to dunk as Ethan
Ethan
HEY
I won’t come if you keep dunking me
