Some Gave All by Nancy Holder Page A

office but nearly hung a U-turn when he caught sight of Sara and Mr. Tenure gazing at each other beneath the energy-saving fluorescents like they were about to launch into the big show-stopping love duet from
Phantom.
What were they doing here? There was a third person with them—a young, attractive woman in a black turtleneck sweater and a black wool miniskirt over black tights and boots that hugged her calves. She wore a spectacular pair of thick black-rimmed glasses that reminded him of Harry Potter, but in a cute-nerd-girl way. Not that he was checking her out at a time like this.
    “Dr. Forbes,” Sara said formally as he approached. Even beneath the bad lighting, he could see a flush spread across her cheeks. She was still pissed off at him. Why? She’d found true love. With a guy who had tenure. So it had all worked out for her, right?
    “Oh,
this
is Dr. Forbes.” The other woman’s eyes widened as she pushed up her glasses—
cute
—and stuck out her hand. “I’m Heidi Schwann. I was just telling Dr. Holland that I was hoping to be your teaching assistant next semester and here you are.”
    None of this was computing, and J.T. didn’t have time for it. But he took her hand and shook it.
    “I’m Heidi’s thesis advisor,” Sara said. Then the flush deepened and she added, “And of course you know David.”
    “Tenure. Bioluminescence,” J.T. said with forced joviality. “Congratulations.” J.T. wanted to punch the guy in the face.
    “Thanks.” David put a proprietary arm around Sara’s shoulders. Smug bastard. “Life is good.”
    Just die
, J.T. thought. “Great. Well, I have to get into my office. I’m running a protocol at my house but I forgot a key… piece of research that I only have in hard copy.” He knew he didn’t have to explain anything. But he was very nervous, and getting more nervous by the moment.
    “Oh, may I walk with you?” Heidi Schwann chirruped. “I’d love to hear about your work.”
    “I have to make a couple of quick calls,” he said apologetically. “Then I have to get back. I left my program running.”
    “Oh.” Her head bobbled up and down like, well, a bobblehead… and then she continued to walk beside him. He was just about to make it clearer that he needed his space when he caught sight of the door to his office. It was ajar. It was always locked, always. Someone had broken into his office. Was it Vincent? Who else could it be?
    Unfortunately, there was a long and mysterious list.
    He reached for the knob and looked back at Heidi. “So, I’ll catch you sometime tomorrow?” he hinted. Was she trying to look past him into his office? Yes. That was exactly what she was doing. Luckily the lights were off.
    He waited. Finally she stirred. “Sorry, what? Oh, tomorrow. Sure. Of course.” She jerked her hand forward in an almost inhuman way, like she was one of those octopus aliens in
Galaxy Quest.
Eager to be rid of her, he shook her hand briskly again and smiled at her to take out the sting of the quasi-rejection.
    “Tomorrow,” he repeated.
    She pushed up her glasses again. “What time?”
    It dawned on him that she might be even more socially awkward than he was. He had no idea what time he would be in tomorrow.
If
he would be in tomorrow.
    “Noon.” A nice round time, easy to remember, easy to make excuses about if he needed to.
    “Good.” She almost hopped with happiness on the balls of her feet. She was actually quite charming. “Okay then.” She gave him a little wave,
exactly
like the aliens in
Galaxy Quest
, and then she took a couple of steps backwards, as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do next.
    Exit stage left
, J.T. mentally prompted her. Then, to his relief, she did just that. He watched her toodle down the hall until he was satisfied that he would be able to shut the door behind himself and get it locked if she made a U-turn and headed back to him again. Maybe he should start carrying a weapon. He wished he’d thought to bring