if she didn’t have those results though. She was just about out of her current funding which was worrisome. She needed a new grant to get her through the next set of experiments. Where she would find that funding, she had no idea at the present time.
With exasperation, she packed up her computer and stuffed her notes into her leather bag, tossing it all over her shoulder. She needed to take some time out of the laboratory in order to find new funding, but she couldn’t find new funding until she had results from her lab work to show progress. What a conundrum.
She walked to her beat up old car and yanked the door open, tossing her bag onto the back seat as she got into the driver’s side. As usual, she closed her eyes and prayed that the engine would turn over this time. When she turned the key, she actually crossed her toes this time, knowing that the engine had not been in the best of moods this morning.
With a sigh of relief, the engine started up and she put the car in gear, driving to her tiny apartment while her mind sifted through the data she’d gathered today. The results were disappointing, but she knew there had to be a way. She’d been so optimistic about this last batch. What had gone wrong?
Her drive home was only ten minutes at this time of the evening. With no traffic, because sane people were already in bed, she was able to cruise through the streets with barely a single stop. She pulled into her parking space at her apartment building and grabbed her bag, trudging up the stairs while her mind went over the steps in the experiment once again, trying to find a reason why the bacteria hadn’t been stopped, or even slowed, by her new strain of wheat.
If she’d been more aware of her surroundings, she would have noticed that her door wasn’t locked when she entered her apartment. But she pushed her door open and dumped her heavy bag on the floor as she made her way to the tiny kitchen to find something for dinner. Looking into the fridge, she realized that she had only yogurt and milk left since she hadn’t gone to the grocery store in over two weeks. She picked up the milk, too tired to contemplate eating the yogurt because of the effort involved. She didn’t bother with a glass, just started drinking the milk right out of the carton despite the fact that it was extremely bad manners. What did she care? No one came into her apartment but her.
“The milk is past the expiration date,” a deep voice said from the darkness.
Elana gasped and swung around, holding the almost empty carton of milk out as if it were a sword while her eyes skimmed the darkness, trying to find the source of that voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, but something deep down inside of her told her that familiarity was a bad thing.
The only light in the apartment was still coming from the refrigerator behind her so her eyes couldn’t penetrate the darkness of the small living room. “Who’s there?” she called out, still trying to see even though she knew it was almost impossible.
“I’m hurt that you don’t remember me, Elana,” that deep voice said. A moment later, a light came on and her eyes blinked, her mind refusing to acknowledge that this particular man was sitting casually in her living room, acting as if he had every right to be there. And worse, looking like he’d been there for quite a while.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, her mind going blank as it always had when this man came near. “How did you get into my apartment?”
Gaston shrugged and stood up, his long legs giving him the height that made him now tower over her. He slid his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks while his eyes took in the slender beauty in front of him. He was surprised to see that she was actually more stunning now than she had been seven years ago. She was too thin though. She hadn’t been overweight to begin with but the lost weight made her appear almost waif-like.
He pushed the concern for her heath away. He was doing this for his father, he told himself. What she did with herself was none of his concern. He had a mission and a short period of time in