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Blake peered out from behind his book.
“Technically this would have been the third encounter for the pair. The more appropriate response would have been third time’s the charm.”
“Blake.” The women said together.
“Well, it is.” He quickly returned to reading.
“You mean Cooper’s the only reason you turned down that offer?”
“Of course. Otherwise, I would have been more than willing to help Chare out. He’s been so very kind to me. He defended my book to the academic community—risking his own reputation, I might add—when he didn’t have to. This is actually a small favor he’s asking in return. Except for the presence of Cooper.” She glanced at the time on the computer.
“Shoot, I’m supposed to meet Nan at the Physics Café for coffee. I’m running late.” She powered down her computer and shot up out of her chair. As she rushed to get her keys from the holder by the back door, she called, “Try to behave today, please.”
****
Alex waited to hear the back door shut.
“Come on. Now’s our chance.”
“Our chance to do what?” He looked up from the book.
“To go to the university and get this Chare guy to ask JJ to teach again.”
Blake put down the book. “Weren’t you listening? He’s already asked her to teach again. The lady said no.”
She nodded, pulling him off the couch. “I believe it was one of your distinguished bards who wrote ‘The lady doth protest too much.’ ”
As he got dragged to his feet, he said, “It’s interesting that you should use that particular phrase, because most people quote that wrong. That comes from Hamlet, by the way, and Queen…”
“Blake.”
“What?”
“I don’t care about the history of the quote right now. We need to get JJ teaching at the university so we can get her and Cooper together long enough to know they were made for each other.”
“Are you not listening to me? She’s already—”
“A mere technicality, I assure you.”
“And we’re going to the university and do what?”
She stared him directly in the eyes, as if the answer were right in front of him. “What are we going to do? Well, I haven’t figured that part out yet. But guaranteed we’ll do something.”
As she dragged him through the kitchen, he asked another question.
“I hate to mention this, but we have no vehicle. How are we going to get to the university?”
“But we do have a car. It’s sitting out in the garage. And I’m betting the keys”—she paused, searching the hook where all of JJ’s keys hung in the kitchen—“are right here.”
Triumphantly, she picked out a set of keys.
“How do you know there’s another car in the garage?”
She chuckled.
“What’s so humorous about that question?”
“Nothing but the answer, sweetheart. I saw the car the day you threw me over the deck railing to save me from the fire. The car, I’m betting, is her late husband’s. I don’t suppose he’ll mind much if we use it.”
