But in her heart of hearts, she knew it wouldn’t make a difference—her father would still refuse to find work, and therefore he’d need money. Which meant he’d be hassling her aunt more, coming around to collect what he could. Was she supposed to let him starve?
She couldn’t do that. He was still her dad.
Why do you cling to who he used to be instead of realizing who he is? The man you loved is gone.
“I’m disappointed you dropped out of that class,” Harriet said, going back to unpacking the box of oracle decks. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I am.”
“You’re right—I don’t want to hear it. Anyway, I’ve come up with an alternative solution.” Technically, it was Ronan’s idea, not hers, but Audrey had decided to fully embrace it. “I’m helping the professor with the book he’s writing, and, in exchange, he’ll give me the rundown on the classes he’s teaching.”
“He’s allowed to do that?”
“I don’t see why not. I won’t be doing assignments or getting grades or using college resources or anything like that. It’ll be more like a…discussion group.”
“This is the professor who came into my store that day?” Harriet didn’t lift her head up as she worked. “The one with the sexy name.”
“You think his name is sexy? I can ask if he’s interested in going on a date with you,” she teased.
Harriet snorted. “I’m old enough to be his mother. Besides, I think the man is already smitten.”
Audrey opened the deck of oracle cards and admired the pretty, almost watercolor-like designs. They had uplifting names like hope, adventure, and resilience. She started shuffling them, focusing on the repetitive motion and whispering sounds of the cards sliding against one another. “You think?”
“I did not come down in the last shower,” she replied. “I know when a man has a crush.”
Audrey focused on the cards, shuffling them so they became a blur of pink and blue and sparkling gold in her hands. It was easier to do that than to think about Ronan crushing on her—sure, she knew he was attracted to her. Well, unless he went around kissing anyone like that.
Nobody kisses like that unless they feel something.
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “What we have is more of a business relationship.”
Bullshit. You specifically didn’t want him to pay you so there’s no more power imbalance.
“Maybe business is a strong word,” she self-corrected. “Maybe more like…mutual respect and admiration from an academic standpoint.”
Except that wasn’t right, either. How could he have mutual respect for her academically when she was the furthest thing from an academic one could get?
“Or maybe it’s whatever two people are when a friendship is starting to form.” Yeah, that sounded about right.
“So you’re smitten, too? Interesting.” Harriet picked up the empty box, and Audrey watched as she disappeared out the back with a smug expression firmly in place, her long skirt swishing around her feet.
“Maybe a little,” Audrey admitted under her breath.
Her hands stilled, the deck of oracle cards feeling heavier than when she was shuffling them. She peeled the top card off the deck and placed it faceup on the glass, the way she’d watched her aunt do time and time again. The card showed a blond woman in white robes striding forward, the title and subtitle in intricate gold font.
Action. Go forth and stop sitting on the side lines.
A bubble of excitement expanded in her stomach. Maybe this was her time to stop sitting on the sidelines of her own life. Maybe her father’s cutting words had actually steered her in the right direction.
Because this evening, when she went to see Ronan, things would be very different.
Chapter Fifteen
There are 25,000 possible combinations for coffee orders at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Ronan leaned back in his chair, arching his back so that the muscles protested. He was stiff after sitting for so many hours, painstakingly going through the results of an experiment he wanted to reference in his book. The general structure was starting to take shape, and rather than blobs of data and academic papers and journal articles, he was finally seeing the “story” it all told.
His mentor, an experienced and acclaimed professor who’d been like a father to Ronan at Cambridge, had read through a draft of his latest chapter. It had come back covered in changes marked in red, comments and questions littering the margins like debris. Not one to be discouraged, Ronan had steadily worked through each and every one and could now see exactly