His eyes are bright and twinkling at them, but that could just be because of the pizza.
She follows Chloe out of the bedroom, worrying her bottom lip, replaying in her head the conversation they were just having, trying to remember exactly what she said, when he falls into step beside her and rumbles out a whisper, “Exponentially, huh?”
Shit.
Chapter 13
Fully assembled furniture, pizza and a couple of beers, a long, lingering hug between the women and a trip back to Home Depot to return the van – it’s been one hell of a day.
But Xavier’s still stuck in that hallway, in front of the elevator, Bianca’s hand on his arm, looking up at him with sparkling eyes, grateful for the simple act of showing up.
God, it’s so fucking easy to make her happy.
Too easy.
It’s not like his calendar is full. His thesis is defended. Work doesn’t start for another two months. Hecouldget started on turning his thesis into a book, but . . . he deserves a break.
It’s just . . . he doesn’t know what to do with downtime.
He never has.
Not that he’s had an abundance of it over the years.
He went straight from undergrad into his master’s program, to one dig and another, before his second master’s and more field experience and then into his PhD. No time to just . . . be.
And it’s disconcerting.
Even this thing with Bianca – how much of his time is it going to take up? Probably not enough for him to feel busy and he’s always been busy. He likes it that way, starts to feel antsy and useless if he’s not, like there’s something he’s forgetting to do ora place he’s forgetting to go, something he’s missing out on out there in the world.
He hadn’t really even thought about what he was going to do after his defense, except a vague inclination to learn how to surf before he leaves LA, probably for good.
Maybe he should take up a hobby or an activity. Hiking? So many people around here are constantly talking about hiking this spot or that. Or maybe something less physical?
He’s just contemplating the merits of learning to knit versus crochet when Bianca opens the passenger-side door.
“All good?” he asks.
“All good,” she agrees and waves to Chloe, who’s out on her front steps waving back.
They’re winding their way back toward the 101 when Bianca suddenly starts talking.
“I think people confuse milestones and accomplishments.”
“What?”
He’s pretty used to her thought process building up inside her head and then bubbling over out loud with a complete non sequitur, but this feels especially random.
“It’s a theory I have.”
“Okay, Dr Dimitriou, explain.”
“People treat engagements and weddings like they’re accomplishments. Like they’re something you’veearned. You can’tearnan engagement, not the way you do a degree.”
“I think some people would argue that you can.”
“Chloe would have . . . at least Chloe from a couple of years ago would have. She wanted to get married and she worked at it. But it’s not . . . a meritocracy. There are too many things you can’t control.”
“I know you’re not going to argue that academia is a meritocracy, boss.”
