For the Love of Ivy - Cindy Kirk Page 0,49
work on the crisis line...everything.”
What about me? he wanted to ask. Will you miss me?
“Hopefully you can still do counseling wherever you end up.”
“Colleges are cutting budgets.” Lauren shrugged. “I’ll have a heavy class load as well and be expected to do research and publish. I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the clients.”
“You’ll be a great professor,” Seth said. “You’re someone who’ll be successful at whatever you choose to do.”
He gazed at her for a long moment, tempted to ask her to stay. But the words wouldn’t come. She deserved so much more than a friendship or an affair. Besides, there could be no prestigious career in Sweet River. He cleared his throat. “Are you going to go to dinner?”
“Therein lies the problem,” Lauren said. “A few things my father said make me think Adam is giving him the impression he and I are involved.”
“You’re not involved.” Seth cleared his throat. “Right?”
Lauren jerked her hands from where they’d been sitting very nicely in his. “You know he’s not my type.”
Her gaze met his. Though they came from different worlds, she understood him. And he understood her. He was her type, not Adam Nordstrom.
No man would ever love her as much as he did. There was a certainty to the knowledge that was absolute. Even though he didn’t plan to act on his feelings for Lauren, he’d go with her to the dinner, help smooth things over with her father. He’d make nice with Adam, too, even if it killed him. “What if I went with you? Would that make it easier for you?”
“You’d do that? Why?”
“Anything for a trip to Bozeman.” Anything for you.
Lauren laughed, but quickly sobered. “What about Ivy?”
“Anna and Mitch wanted to have her over sometime this week,” he said. “I’ll call in the morning and set it up for Monday.”
“Why are you doing this?” Lauren tilted her head, her expression clearly puzzled.
“Because.” He tucked a wayward curl behind her ear. “I want you to be happy.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lauren’s father was not at all what Seth had pictured. He’d envisioned a small man in his fifties with a mop of wiry gray hair. Instead Edmund Van Meveren was just over six feet with dark hair that was cut short. He looked to be in his late sixties, which, now that Seth thought about it, would be about right if Lauren had been a late-in-life baby.
The lecture had been boring and attended by mostly graduate students. The restaurant Edmund had chosen was one of Bozeman’s finest, aptly named the Steak House. Instead of peanut shells on the floor and plank tables, there were linen tablecloths and an extensive wine list.
For Seth, seeing the shock on Adam’s face when he’d walked in at Lauren’s side had made the entire trip worthwhile. Lauren’s father had been polite but cool. But then he’d been distant with Lauren, too. Instead of hugging her, as Seth had expected, he’d simply shaken her hand.
Seth took a sip of iced tea and listened with one ear to the conversation. The way he saw it, he was here to lend Lauren moral support, not hijack the meeting between her and her father. That appeared to be Adam’s role.
For the past twenty minutes Adam and Lauren’s father had been talking mathematics while Seth and Lauren ate.
“I don’t know if I mentioned it,” Adam said, “but I had a chance to read over the compatibility survey Lauren devised for her research project. Very well done.”
Edmund looked at his daughter for the first time in almost half an hour.
Though Lauren just smiled, the flare of hope in her eyes told Seth how much her father’s approval meant to her.
“In fact,” Adam continued, “I was so impressed I decided to fill out one of them myself.”
Edmund raised a brow. “Why in the world would you do that?”
“Curiosity,” Adam admitted. “After all, this is a dissertation project.”
For a second Seth thought Edmund snorted, but then he coughed, so he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the response. Until he glanced at Lauren and saw the flash of anger in her eyes.
“Actually, sir—” Seth forced a conciliatory tone “—Lauren has had some marriages result from the survey candidates she sent on dates.”
Edmund didn’t acknowledge that Seth had spoken. Instead his gaze shifted to his daughter and he shook his head. “You wonder why I don’t take this discipline seriously. Your research sounds like nothing more than a matchmaking service.”
Seth had been taught from an early age to respect his elders, but the