Page 17 of Mutual Discord

A smile stretched my mouth although my stomach dropped. “That’s so nice of you, Maria. The team is going to be so excited.”

The older woman dipped her head. “Well, we’re always happy to share them with you.” Maria’s dark eyes slid to Alex and her pupils expanded. “Lo siento por interumpir.”

“No worries,” I murmured, turning to dig my phone out of my purse so I could pay. “How much for the box?”

Maria waved her hand and stepped away. “They’re on the house. Nosotras te apreciamos.”

“That was really nice of her,” Alex said, after Maria returned to the counter. “You must come here frequently if they know you by name and give you free product.”

I held up my palms. “Guilty. Like I said, I live close by, which means I can stop by anytime. And the staff is really great, as you can tell.”

Alex held my eyes for a moment and then quietly asked, “Why didn’t you tell her you were no longer working in the office?”

Oh. “I don’t know,” I whispered honestly.

“You know you have nothing to be embarrassed about, right?”

“Don’t I?” I blurted out before I could think better of it. Alex’s gentle expression irritated me as much as it comforted. “I was let go from my job, and am now unemployed—”

“But you’re not unemployed,” he said, arching a brow.

I scowled. “You know what I mean.”

“I do, but it’s not as clear-cut as you’re making it out to be.” Alex ran a hand along his scruffy jaw as he looked at me. “Yes, you lost your traditional job, but you’re creating income. Considering your follower count and the numbers you get on your videos, I imagine you’re doing decently well.”

Pressing my lips together, I looked away.

“There’s nothing wrong with making content online, Sofia. I mean, Caitlin does it—”

“She doesn’t just do it, she excels at it. Caitlin Wolf is almost a household name.” I rubbed my temple. “Caitlin is in a completely different league than I am.”

In so many ways. My best friend was truly exceptional. I was just a nobody making videos online because I got laid off from my job.

Alex studied me, and I did my best to ignore the assessing light in his dark eyes. “I don’t believe that for a moment.”

The sound of my chair scraping against the tile floor echoed through the space as I jumped to my feet. Several customers looked in our direction, but I ignored them. Turning to Alex, I said, as calmly as I could, “Hey, I have to go. Thanks for meeting me. Let me know if you want to go exploring sometime.”

Without waiting for him to reply, I grabbed my bag, leaving the box of pastries for Alex, and slipped out of the panadería as if the building were on fire.

But it wasn’t the building—more like my chest.

Chapter Six

I didn’t hear from Alex for four days, and I appreciated the reprieve. We may have chatted online, but in-person interactions were still new to us. Finding our footing in our new friendship would be touch-and-go, and after the disastrous ending to our coffee date, I needed some time to lick my wounds.

So I threw myself into research for my next Matilda video. I was trying to choose between scripts I’d written about author Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz or poet Aemilia Bassano when my phone lit up with a text.

Alex: Have you ever heard of Alice Ball?

I frowned. Alice Ball? Clicking open the spreadsheet I kept with an ongoing list of female scientists, authors, entrepreneurs, and intrepid women of their time, I scanned through the names, not spying Alice Ball. I told him as much in my return text.

Alex: She was a chemist who worked in Hawai‘i with leprosy patients.

Sofia: Oh. I know people infected with leprosy were often sent to Hawai’i, where they were segregated from the rest of the population.

Alex: Exactly. Well, Alice Ball was a Black woman who discovered a treatment for leprosy using ethyl ester, called the Ball Method. However, for a long time it was called the Dean Method, after another chemist took over her work when she died young in what they think was a lab accident. Dean never credited her in any of his papers.

Sofia: Of course he didn’t.