“It’s all right.”
“No. It isn’t. Let me buy you lunch.”
“The fingerprint.”
“It’s still scanning,” Eric said. “Go ahead. I’ll call you on your cell phone when it’s done.”
She gave Eric a lethal look, but he just smiled at her. “Thanks, Banner. I owe you one.”
“No need to thank me.”
Jericho eyed her during the exchange. With a last look toward Eric, he ushered her out the door.
“What’s going on with Banner?”
“Nothing, he just likes to rib me about you.”
“He’s not interested in you…right?”
“Eric? No.”
“Good.”
That brought a smile to her lips. She liked that Jericho was asking. It meant he was very interested in her and felt proprietary. She thought that was very good.
“Where do you usually eat lunch?”
“At my desk.”
He sighed. “When you go out.”
“Across the street at the deli.”
They came out of the lab building and quickly crossed the street. Jericho ordered a pastrami on rye and Kate got her usual ham and cheese. They went back outside and sat at one of the tables.
“Do you work through your lunch hour often?”
“I don’t mean to. I just lose track of time and before I know it, it’s six or seven.”
“You shouldn’t go so long without eating. It’s not good for you.”
“You sound like my mother.”
“She’s right.”
Kate unwrapped her sandwich, but her appetite was nonexistent. “She means well, but my mother hasn’t ever really understood me. My father, either.”
“Why is that?” He took a bite of his sandwich.
“I was always asking questions. I excelled in school, and they truly just didn’t know how to interact with me. I think they thought some alien must have taken their baby and placed me there instead.”
“They must have been proud of you when you went off to college.”
She played with the wrapper. “I think they were more relieved. I didn’t go out much. I was more interested in studying and reading.”
“And science.”
“Lord, yes.” She smiled. It was something that she felt comfortable with. It never made her do or feel anything she didn’t want. “I entered every science fair.”