Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“I didn’t do it,” he exclaimed. “Perhaps, it was a secret admirer? I wish I’d thought of it, but no…I’m innocent.”
“But you said, ‘smell the roses,’ and…”
Marlon pursed his lips. “It’s a common expression, Holden. I assure you there is no double meaning.”
He was telling the truth, which on one hand was good. On the other, I felt like a fool.
“Aye, well call me a bilge rat and toss me in the brig.” I gave a nervous half laugh and stepped aside, tipping my pirate’s cap a jaunty angle. “Sorry. My mistake.”
“Not a problem, my friend. We shall converse later.” He bowed theatrically and spun on his heels.
Ugh! That was…embarrassing.
But not a big deal in the scheme of things. I had a busy weekend ahead of me and a lot of balls in the air. I thought about texting Ezra to tell him about Val’s text and that the mystery of the roses was a continuing saga. That wasn’t unusual, though. I thought about him all the time and found myself sharing the silliest details of my day.
“The lights were all green on Colorado Boulevard on my commute this morning.” Or “It was so hot in my car, my glasses fogged up.” Ezra was always quick with a funny gif or emoji. Something that made me feel connected to him when we weren’t together. Seeing his name pop up on my caller ID always made me smile.
I wondered if he’d still text me after he moved or if—Whoa.
Where had that come from? I furrowed my brow and picked up my pace as if to ward off bad juju. Worrying about the future was borrowing trouble, and pondering long-dead roses was ridiculous.
I had to get through one more class today, so I could concentrate on the fair this weekend. And Ezra would be part of that, and it would be amazing.
One hour and twenty minutes to go.
I hurried down the congested hall to my classroom, where a couple of students milled around my podium with last-minute questions. I answered them quickly, barely stifling a groan when Mallory Rossman approached.
Mallory was a diligent and intelligent young woman who unfortunately didn’t have a grasp on the astro portion of astrophysics. Almost every class began with her asking twenty questions about material she should have mastered in her freshman year.
Yes, I’d been a tad leery of her passing acquaintance with Ezra at first. She’d never mentioned that she knew him, though, which made me think her father was the real connection. Mr. Rossman wouldn’t be the first parent to try to influence their child’s grade…even when said child was an adult college student. That wouldn’t fly here.
I hoped like heck Mallory was making good use of tutoring because she was definitely struggling.
“Hello, Mallory. Class is about to begin. How may I help you?”
“I’m seeking clarification regarding use of the principle of invariance as it relates to the measurement between Ursula Minor and Regulus.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and patiently replied, “I think you mean Ursa Minor, which is a constellation. Regulus is a star. You’ll need to narrow a point in the constellation before you can apply the mathematics.”
“Yes, of course. That was a negligent oversight on my part.”
“Do the reading. The final is next week,” I warned.
“I know. There’s a good chance I’ll have to take the course again, but the board was appeased by my philanthropic efforts. As long as I show up to work this weekend, I’ll have the opportunity to redeem myself at a new university.” She tugged on the strap of her designer bag and smiled. “I look forward to being of assistance to you tomorrow, sir.”
I nodded absently as I opened my laptop. My mind was already on physical mathematical framework of magnetohydrodynamics. I hadn’t quite worked out how to tie in my pirate hat with the subject matter, but—
“Tomorrow? What do you mean by assistance?”
“I volunteered at Renaissance at the Park,” she replied, fiddling with her stylish glasses.
“Thank you for volunteering. I know we can use the help, but as I mentioned the first time you asked, I can’t give extra credit for—”
“Oh, I know. My father found a way around it. As long as I have a record of my participation, we’ll be fine. Excuse me…I’ll be fine,” she corrected, moving to her seat.
I wasn’t sure what she meant, and I didn’t have time to delve with class set to begin in three, two, one…
“Good morning, everyone. Or shall I say…arrrrr?” I doffed my pirate’s hat and waited for the lighthearted moans and twitter of laughter to subside. “We’re going to discuss rrrrrelativistic magnetohydrodynamics and the sophisticated mathematic equations governing astrophysical systems today. Fun stuff!”
Within minutes, I’d filled the whiteboard with complicated equations for these bright young scientists in the making to solve. For a few hours, I tuned out personal doubts and things I didn’t understand, and focused on the mysteries of the universe.