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“Got my master’s at twenty-one.”
“No shit.” My eyes widened.
Inside though, my mind was reeling. Smart didn’t even begin to appropriately describe him. Holden was a god-damn genius. By the time I was twenty-one, I was broken andhomeless. For the first time.
“What do you do?” No doubt, he went into a field where he could put those brain cells to good use. “Wait, let me guess, Mr. Smarty-pants.” I said it playfully, although there may have been a hint of green underscoring the words.
“This could be fun.” A self-satisfied smile spread from cheek to cheek.
“Hmm… how about…” My finger tapped my dry bottom lip in desperate need of a lip gloss swipe, but since I was without, I gave them a quick lick. “A teacher? You’re going to be aprofessor?”
The grin deepened and showed perfectly straight teeth. Someone had good dental coverage. “Not even in the same field. And nothing I’d ever pursue.”
“Really? Interesting.” I perused a mental catalog of university classes, my brain mostly empty because having never explored the remote possibilities of a post-secondary education, I wasn’t sure what there were for options besides the obvious. “Doctor?”
He shook his head, and relief washed over me. Had he been in the field, our conversations would cease. Immediately. I’d seen enough shrinks and emergency room doctors to distrust most medical professionals.
“Lawyer?” Can you get a master’s in law? When he gave me a negative, I tapped my lip again and tried my best to look cute and in deep thought. I even tipped my head to the side for good measure. “Engineer?”
“Now you’re getting closer, but I’ll help you out since it takes most people a long time to guess.”
Did he need to be so egotistical?
“Astrophysics.”
“Astrophysics?” It sounded ultra-nerdy, andtotally up his alley. “Like rocket scientist shit?”
“Without the shit.” But he laughed regardless, and his voice sped as he spoke. “I’ve been studying astronomy since I was a child, but it evolved into a deeper study of the long wavelengths emitted from pulsars. I was working as part of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics team and just over a year ago, we detected a Fast Radio Burst from a galactic magnetar.”
My eyes widened as he spoke in foreign terms. Most of what he just said went rightover my head. Too many big words for dumb ole me.
“There I go again. Spewing out randomness. Let me explain it in layman’s terms.”
“It’s all good.” There was no need to be talked down to, as much as it was great to see someone so excited for theirfield of work. In my job, there was nothing exciting about serving food and being yelled at because someone’s eggs were over easy instead of sunny side up.
“Do you know what ARO is?”
“Should I?” I twisted a little, putting my back toward the window.
“Probably not, most don’t.” He shrugged like it was no bid deal; that he’d dealt with this kind of thing all the time. “It’s the Algonquin Radio Observatory?”
I shook my head.
“Six hours north of Toronto?”
“I pretty much only know Toronto. You want great takeout, I’m your gal. You asking where things are outside the GTO, you’ve lost me.”
The only tourist information I could provide was the location of Canada’s Wonderland, not that I ever went. Whatever the ARO was, I knew zilch about it. But it was great to see him practically jumping up and down in his seat with enthusiasm.
“Fair enough.” He inhaled and relaxed his shoulders. “Anyway, after ARO, I got accepted for a prestigious placement at the observatory on the island to expand on my research, but it’s just temporary. My big plan is to go to JPL in the next two years.”
I didn’t know what any of that was, but evident from the large smile stretching out, it was a big deal to him. Bigger than big. “Do all your career aspirations come in weird letter combinations?”
Something akin to a snort rolled out. “No. Well, yes, maybe. JPL is the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. It’s more focused on spacecraft, so it would be a small career switch from astronomy, but I have the degrees to back it up.”
“Wow. You really know your shit.”
“Maybe.” A faint blush tickled the edges of his cheeks. “The university seems to see it that way too.”
