I mademyself some toast with peanut butter while I dialed Niko’s number, knowing he would answer even though he was at work. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey? Grammy okay?” He was a bit out of breath.
“She’s fine. Sorry to call you at work, but this is important.” I paused and heard him take a deep breath. Leyla’s voice was muffled, and I was sure I heard a kiss. “Dude, why are you out of breath?Oh.Oh, geez, dude. Aren’t all the offices in there made of glass?” I knew this fact because Niko was always complaining about it.
“What? What are you talking about?” he asked incredulously.
“Don’t get mad atme. You and Leyla are honeymooners, working at the same office. Sneaking a little make-out session is to be expected. Hint, hint. Nod, nod,” I said, hoping to fluster him.
I could almost see his blush. “You’re a freak.”
“Me? You’re the one--.”
“I am not doing…whatever you think I’m doing, you moron. Leyla and I were working on a new delivery system experiment. We were trying to see if a certain peptide would remain bioavailable once it’s suspended in a lipid carrier.” It was clear how excited he was about the subject, and I had to keep from laughing.
“Stimulating information,” I deadpanned. “Maybe youweren’tthe one to call after all. Need some useful info on love stuff from an expert. I wonder what Miles is doing?” I mused.
“Half the time I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mike,” he grumbled. I hopped up onto the kitchen counter. “And are we going to actually talk about you proposing to a virtual stranger in the hospital?”
“We will. Tonight. Check the group text when you stop making out with your wife.”
He scoffed, and I knew I was about a minute away from him blowing up. It was a toss-up whether his grumpy mood was from my teasing or the proposal.
“I promise to talk more about it later, but for now I need to woo Ren!” I said, my voice laced with frustration.
“Let me get this straight. You need to convince the woman you asked to marry you to like you?”
I sighed. “Well, when you put it like that.”
“Talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“I’m crazy about her. And I’m telling you, dude, she feels the same way as I do. She’s just scared. I know God has put us together, so I just need to show her how I feel,” I pleaded.
“Huh, okay. Got it,” he said as if no longer confused. My scientist bestie was now moving into resolution mode.
“Good, glad we’re on the same page now. Hit me with your knowledge,” I said excitedly, ripping a bite of my toast, the peanut butter sticking to the roof of my mouth.
I’d helped him win over Leyla by making him watch a few rom-coms. Now I was hoping he’d learned a thing or two as a new husband. “Did you try watching Hitch again?” he asked.
I snorted. “Nah, she needs more than Will Smith. She thinks she can’t fall in love. Need to bring out the big guns.”
His voice deepened, and the mood shifted from joking to concern. “What if she’s right and she can’t?” Niko had always been a bit blunt, but I’d always accepted this about him and never took it personally. He was speaking in a low tone, but the worry in his voice was loud. I could feel him holding back from asking whether I should go through with this wedding.
I threw the rest of my toast on the counter and wiped my hands on a nearby towel.
“I know she can, or I wouldn’t move forward, Niko. She has the capability to love deeply, but she’s been told not to trust it.”
“I’ll have to trustyouthen.” He took a deep breath, and I knew he wanted to say more, but I moved us back into our previous light banter.
“Yup. So I need to know if you ever found your woo with Leyla? See if you can help me out, give me pointers.”
Niko huffed a laugh. “She married me, didn’t she?”
Well, he had me there.
I took the last sip of my now cool coffee. “So what’d you do? Choose Subscribe and Save when you ordered your woo from Amazon?” I teased. The maniac had actually asked me back then if they sold it. I still don’t know if he was kidding.
“Can youdothat? I didn’t know they offered that option.” And the bantering was back.
