The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

“Hey, Olive.”
She tore her gaze from Adam’s and noticed Tom
approaching. He, too, was shirtless, and clearly fit, and had a
large number of abs that were defined enough to be easily
counted. And yet, for some reason, it did absolutely nothing
for Olive.
“Hi, Tom.” She smiled, even though she was a little
irritated by the interruption. “Loved your talk the other day.”
“It was good, wasn’t it? Did Adam tell you about our
change of plans?”
She tilted her head. “Change of plans?”
“We’ve been making great progress on the grant, so we’re
going to Boston next week to finish setting up stuff on the
Harvard side.”
“Oh, that’s great.” She turned to Adam. “How long will
you be gone?”
“Just a few days.” His tone was quiet. Olive felt relief that
it wasn’t going to be longer. For indiscernible reasons.
“Would you be able to send me your report by Saturday,
Olive?” Tom asked. “Then I’ll have the weekend to look it
over, and we’ll discuss it while I’m still here.”
Her brain exploded in a flurry of panic and bright red-alert
signs, but she managed to keep her smile in place. “Yeah, of
course. I’ll send it to you on Saturday.” Oh God. Oh God. She
was going to have to work around the clock. She wasn’t going
to get any sleep this week. She was going to have to bring her
laptop to the toilet and write while she peed. “No problem at
all,” she added, leaning even harder into her lie.
“Perfect.” Tom winked at her, or maybe just squinted in the
sun. “You going back to play?” he asked Adam, and when