Prologue
Frankly, Olive was a bit on the fence about this whole grad school thing.
Not because she didn’t like science. (She did. She loved science. Science was her thing.) And not because of the truckload of obvious red flags. She was well aware that committing to years of unappreciated, underpaid eighty-hour workweeks might not be good for her mental health. That nights spent toiling away in front of a Bunsen burner to uncover a trivial slice of knowledge might not be the key to happiness. That devoting her mind and body to academic pursuits with only infrequent breaks to steal unattended bagels might not be a wise choice.
She was well aware, and yet none of it worried her. Or maybe it did, a tiny bit, but she could deal. It was something else that held her back from surrendering herself to the most notorious and soul-sucking circle of hell (i.e., a Ph.D. program). Held her back, that is, until she was invited to interview for a spot in Stanford’s biology department, and came across The Guy.
The Guy whose name she never really got.
The Guy she met after stumbling blindly into the first bathroom she could find.
The Guy who asked her, “Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason you’re crying in my restroom?”
Olive squeaked. She tried to open her eyes through the tears and only barely managed to. Her entire field of view was blurry. All she could see was a watery outline—someone tall, dark haired, dressed in black, and . . . yeah. That was it.
“I . . . is this the ladies’ restroom?” she stammered.
A pause. Silence. And then: “Nope.” His voice was deep. So deep. Really deep. Dreamy deep.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Fairly, since this is my lab’s bathroom.”
Well. He had her there. “I’m so sorry. Do you need to . . .” She gestured toward the stall, or where she thought the stalls were. Her eyes stung, even closed, and she had to scrunch them shut to dull the burn. She tried to dry her cheeks with her sleeve, but the material of her wrap dress was cheap and flimsy, not half as absorbent as real cotton. Ah, the joys of being impoverished.
“I just need to pour this reagent down the drain,” he said, but she didn’t hear him move. Maybe because she was blocking the sink. Or maybe because he thought Olive was a weirdo and was contemplating siccing the campus police on her. That would put a brutally quick end to her Ph.D. dreams, wouldn’t it? “We don’t use this as a restroom, just to dispose of waste and wash equipment.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought . . .” Poorly. She’d thought poorly, as was her habit and curse.
“Are you okay?” He must be really tall. His voice sounded like it came from ten feet above her.
“Sure. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are crying. In my bathroom.”