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“Will I be that interested? It’s not in my field, is it?”
Bran turned his head toward Liam and mimicked locking gazes in his uncanny way. “It’s about nano-regeneration of the spinal cord after injury.”
Liam’s throat felt like he’d swallowed a cup of flour. “Is it promising?”
“Very promising,” Bran said with a sharp nod.
“Why wouldn’t she tell me that?”
“It’s a long way from lab mice to reality in a human subject. And it may not apply to a sixteen-year-old injury. Maybe she didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
Was he right? Was she protecting him? Or was it her way of shutting him out?
“I have to know.” He wouldn’t let her leave without an explanation. “But she clams up every time I broach a subject she doesn’t like. I don’t have enough time to win her trust.”
“I can buy you a little extra.” Bran sat back in his chair. “The convention doesn’t start until next week. And even if the snow stops tonight and the highways are clear, our private road won’t be plowed until at least Wednesday.”
“You have a private snowplow service on standby, right?” Liam said. “They cleared for us tonight. Won’t they be available tomorrow?”
“Not if I tell them not to come.” His devious smirk wasn’t lost on Liam.
“And what am I going to owe you for this?” Liam’s spirits lifted.
“Not much. Just join me for my workouts every morning while you’re here.”
“But you exercise for two solid hours! That’s cruel and inhuman!” In reality, Liam’s normal routine took at least an hour and a half, but he liked to tease Bran about his excess.
“Quit complaining. You can hook those electrodes to your legs and sleep through half of it,” Bran teased, as if Liam could possibly sleep through his functional electrical stimulation.
“Please tell me you don’t still exercise at 4:30 a.m.”
“For you,” Bran said, “I’ll postpone it until 5:00.”
CHAPTER 7
CARLY
The chances that Carly’s roommate was actually worried about her were somewhere between none and negative. Not because Nora didn’t care, but because she was oblivious to little things like tornados, blizzards and such, even when she was in the midst of them.
Nonetheless, Carly called her to make her little fib closer to the truth.
“Girlfriend, you just interrupted aStranger Thingsmarathon. This had better be good.”
“Ewww, Nora! I can’t believe you would watch something that scary by yourself.”
“It’s not that scary the third time through.” Intense music in the background indicated that Nora had restarted her show. “What’s up? Why are you calling?”
Carly hesitated. She could use some advice, and Nora had a fairly level head about most things, if not about her choice of entertainment when staying alone at their apartment in Houston.
“I kind of met a guy.”
“What! Wait a second!” There were rustling noises, and the music stopped. “You met a guy? Are you saying you met a guy your age of eligible dating status? Or some old professor who wants you to do a post-doc next year?”
Carly chuckled, despite her anxious state. “A guy my age.”
“Whoa! Is he hot?”
“Well—”
