MILLIE
I was a bit leery of going to work Monday morning. How could I face Caleb with the memory of his lips on mine? Every time I thought about any one of the three of them, I felt a dizzying sense of longing, and it had to stop. I was already standing outside the Astrophysics building without the nerve to go inside. The crisp morning air wasn’t making my cheeks pink, but it was thankfully hiding it for me.
“You’ve got to face him,” I told myself. “It was just a dream.”
Well, it was a dream plus one quality climax, but that was my own doing.
Caleb was my sort-of boss, and I didn’t even know Vlad. I had met Warren once, and there was no guarantee that I would ever see him again. The other two men were easy to get over. The only real challenge was facing Caleb over morning coffee.
I was armed with muffins from a bakery near my apartment. From what I knew of Caleb, he wasn’t a health nut, but he wasn’t a junk food addict either. He kept in shape, and he tried not to snack between meals. A muffin would count as breakfast, though, so that was safe.
I thought I was going to surprise him with my little gift, but he wasn’t in the office when I arrived. I was going to the library today, to the archives. There was so much good stuff down there that nobody ever looked at, and I needed to look through previous publications to cross-check what Caleb was hypothesizing based on his star charts. Much of his research was firsthand, but it wouldn’t hurt to have the experts weigh in.
I was looking forward to diving deep into the archives, but it meant I couldn’t be here to give Caleb the muffin in person. My tension would have to follow me around for a few hours longer, so with a relenting huff, I left the muffin on his desk along with a note that explained where I was going.
“I hope you have a good morning,” I said to the air.
Then, I was off to the library. I stepped lively across the city campus, letting the heels of my blue suede shoes echo through the first tastes of autumn. Showing my badge at the door of the archives, I signed in with an eager smile. The security guard let me in with a few polite remarks, and suddenly, I was alone with rows and rows of books.
This was my happy place. Fact-checking, editing, and research were three of my favorite acquainted, and they all happily met me here. Setting my bags down, I pulled off my navy cardigan and rubbed my hands together conspiratorially.
“Where, oh where, to begin?”
I decided to go straight to the star charts. They were in the center of the building, in a filing cabinet for massive paper documents. Each organized drawer slid out from the bulk of the cabinet on metal rollers. Some sheets were laminated, but others required a delicate touch. I spent almost an hour searching for what I wanted. Afterward, I picked up some tomes by Hawking, Shapely, and Copernicus. The one thing about the archives that was less than ideal was that you weren’t allowed to take any books out. With no other option, I sat at a long table and forced myself to take notes right there.
Time slipped by, and before I knew it, I was being asked to sign for another two-hour slot the next day. I slid back into my cardigan and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Here, by the scientific library, it was easy to forget I was standing amidst a major city. There were students chatting in the grass and hedges being trimmed nearby, but one face across the patch of grass was entirely unforgettable.
“Hey, um, Warren!” I exclaimed as he came closer.
It was clear from the quick steps that he was looking to catch up with me, even if I was standing still outside the library doors. With a magnetic smile like that, I certainly wasn’t running anywhere. I could only smile back as he stopped beside me.
“Well, well, Miss Millie Jackson, what a small world,” he remarked teasingly. “What are you up to right now?”
“I was gathering some reference material and fact-checking in the library,” I explained, gesturing to the heavy wooden doors behind me. “What about you?”
“Oh, I’m just leaving my morning class,” he answered. “Don’t tell anyone that I suggested this.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “But you might be able to find the same works online.”
“Professor!” I gasped, feigning shock.
“I know, I know.” He laughed. “Horrible of me. But it’s the truth.”
“Seriously—” I sobered up. “They do have things in the archives that haven’t been made available digitally.”
“Do they?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “How was your weekend?”
“It was fine, relaxing. And yours?”
“It was good, great, honestly.” He paused. “Caleb and I were speaking about you.”
I perked up. I had to force my breathing to slow so that the excitement didn’t register on my face. It was such a girlish and over-eager move, yet I couldn’t forget the dream still burrowed under my skin.
“Oh, really?”
“He was saying how much he appreciates all the work you’ve been doing.”
Feeling there was more, my head instinctively tilted. “Is that it?”
“No,” Warren admitted. “He also appreciates you going out to dinner with us.”