What he was asking of her was nothing. It was everything. But as best she could, she’d give it to him.
A week was hardly any time at all.
Chapter Nine
Adam’s week in Baltimore dragged on forever.
It was funny—he’d been looking forward to this for so long. He’d thought the instant he set foot on solid, American soil again it’d be like coming home. The signs weren’t all in Spanish, and the buildings were brick and stone. The hotel was a perfect seventy-one degrees. But it didn’t matter.
His first few days in Puerto Rico, he’d kept seeing things and wanting to tell someone about them. Shannon, maybe, if he’d thought she would appreciate them. Now he was looking at poster presentations about the Large Hadron Collider and neutrinos, sitting in on lectures about the cosmic microwave background, and he knew exactly who would want to hear about them.
Jo. Jo, who was so damn dedicated to her work.
Jo, who’d looked at him like he was breaking her heart.
Alone in his room, he touched the corner of his lips. She’d pressed her mouth right there, and it had sent a fire roaring up his spine, making his whole body come to life. He’d wanted to reach out and pull her in, or let her back him up against the fence and show him just how hot a night in the tropics could be. He’d wanted her to touch him.
Instead, he’d frozen up. He’d said no. Or at least not yet.
And now, a thousand miles away from her, he couldn’t stop thinking about that almost-kiss.
While standing beside his poster presentation in the middle of the conference, answering questions about the research he’d done that year. While having a beer with his advisor between sessions.
While waiting for Shannon to arrive—for the two of them to figure out what they meant to each other after all.
He fought to convince himself he’d made the right decision.
And he hoped he hadn’t missed his only chance.
“What are you doing here?”
Setting her things down, Jo blinked blearily at Heather. Out of the corner of her eye, she snuck a glance at the clock. Just after ten a.m., so well past the time Jo usually came in. “Um. Work?” Obviously.
It’d been three days since Adam had taken off; work was pretty much the only thing keeping Jo sane.
But Heather wasn’t letting it go. “When did your observation window end again?”
“Four.” It’d been almost five by the time she’d collapsed into her bed.
Her second session operating the telescope. Just like the previous time, Heather had stayed for part of it, but instead of retreating to her office once Jo’d had things in hand, she’d packed up her stuff and gone home to bed.
The trust had been staggering, but after a couple of hours, the loneliness had been, too.
Jo had tried so damn hard, but every few minutes, she’d caught herself glancing over at the other seat, some part of her subconsciously expecting Adam to be there. A quiet presence by her side, a warm voice. A gentle brush of fingers against her skin.
She was so stupid.
Heather clucked her tongue. “I didn’t think I had to tell you this, but it’s okay to come in late after that kind of night.”
She hadn’t been able to sleep, so what would’ve been the point? With a shrug, she clutched her bucket of coffee to her chest and sank into her chair. Heather shook her head with a sigh. That seemed like as much of a conversation ender as any, so Jo turned to her desk, stifling a yawn and bringing her monitor to life.
By the middle of the afternoon, she could barely keep her eyes open. Fatigue and frustration made her temples pound, and the silence in the office only made it worse. Adam had never really visited her in her office, but apparently, she looked for him everywhere now; apparently she missed him even in the pieces of her life he hadn’t occupied.
She hadn’t realized how little she spoke to anybody else here until her one point of connection was gone.
Finally, Heather went for a coffee break, and Jo gave up and thunked her head against her desk. She rested there, brow pressed to the cool wood, cursing herself and the shitty situation she’d gotten herself into.
Of course she was still hunched over like that a minute later when someone knocked on the door. She groaned and sat up straight.
From the doorway, Carol flashed her an uncertain smile. “Is this a bad time?”
Was there any such thing as a good time? Jo waved at her to go ahead.
“Roberto agreed to give a few of us a ride to town to grab some groceries. Anything you need us to pick up?” Carol hesitated. “Or do you maybe want to go, too?”
Pushing her hair out of her face, Jo considered it. God knew she wasn’t getting anything useful done here, and Heather didn’t seem like she would mind. She was running low on snacks.
And it’d be a chance, paltry as it was, to talk to real live people and get out of her own damn head for a while.
She sucked her lip ring between her teeth. “Who’s going?”
“Me.” Carol ticked the names off on her fingers. “Kim, I think. And if she’s going, you know Jared will, too.”
Ugh. The two of them were more than she really wanted to deal with. Still…
“Yeah. I could go. If there’s room.”
Carol’s face did a terrible job at hiding her surprise. “Really?”
“Everybody needs food.” She shrugged off her annoyance at the question and put her computer to sleep.
When Carol smiled in reply, it looked genuine. “Cool.”
Jo left a note for Heather before slinging her bag over her shoulder and following Carol to the parking lot, where the rest of the crew was already assembled. Roberto and Jared and Kim didn’t do any better of a job at pretending not to be shocked than Carol had, but Jo ignored them as she got into the van. She left the backseat for the couple and the front seat open for Carol so she could be a normal, friendly person and carry on whatever small talk she wanted to with Roberto. As they lurched forward, she rolled down her window and let the breeze blow through her hair.
Leave it to her to go on a social outing and instinctively find a way to make it as isolating as possible.
The instant they arrived, Jo spilled out onto the pavement and left the others behind as she headed for the store. She cast one glance over her shoulder to find Jared dipping Kim, giving her a big sloppy kiss, and something inside Jo twisted.
She shook it off as the automatic doors parted, cool air beckoning her within. She grabbed a basket and set about wandering the aisles. At the register, the checkout girl took one look at Jo and angled the display her way so Jo could see the total, not bothering to rattle the numbers off. Jo peeled the bills from her money clip and handed them over, nodding and offering a clipped, “Gracias,” before taking her bags in hand.
She stepped outside to find the van gone.
Her chest went tight, panic and indignation both squeezing her lungs. For a second, they swamped her. Then she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Gave herself a good solid mental slap in the face.
It wasn’t any big deal. Roberto had probably only agreed to give them a ride because he’d needed to run some errands himself. If she’d stuck around, she would’ve been privy to the plan. She just needed to sit herself down and wait. They’d come for her. They wouldn’t have forgotten her or left her behind.
And yet, as she lowered herself to the curb, she couldn’t help it. A tiny part of her was ten years old again, sitting on a stoop outside the school, promising her teacher that her dad would be by to pick her up soon. Lying. Resigning herself to figuring out the bus routes and counting her change in her mind.
The buses didn’t run all the way to the observatory. A cab would be expensive, but she had the money. If she was really stranded, she’d be all right.