The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
“Hey.” Olive forced her face into a smile. Her heart wasdoing something weird in her chest. Beating a little tooquickly. She should probably have it checked as soon as shegot back home. One could never be too careful aboutcardiovascular health. “Hi.”He snapped his mouth closed and cleared his throat.“You’re . . .” He swallowed and shifted on his feet. “Here.”“Yep.” She nodded, still smiling. “Just arrived. My flightlanded on time, surprisingly.”Adam seemed a little slow. Maybe jet-lagged from his ownflight, or perhaps last night he’d been out late with his famousscientist friends, or with the mysterious woman Holden hadtalked about. He just stared at Olive, silent for severalmoments, and when he spoke, it was only to say, “Youlook . . .”She glanced down at her dress and heels, wondering if hereye makeup was already smudged. She’d put it on three wholeminutes ago, so it was more than likely. “Professional?”“That’s not what I . . .” Adam closed his eyes and shook hishead, as if collecting himself. “But, yes. You do. How areyou?”“Good. Fine. I mean, I wish I were dead. But aside fromthat.”He laughed silently and moved closer. “You’ll be okay.”She had thought sweaters were a good look for him, but onlybecause she’d never seen him wear a blazer. He had a secretweapon all along, she thought, trying not to stare too hard.And now he’s unleashing it. Damn him.“Agreed.” She pushed her hair back and smiled. “After Idie.”“You’re fine. You have a script. You memorized it. Yourslides are good.”
“I think they were better before you made me change thePowerPoint background.”“It was acid green.”“I know. It made me happy.”“It made me nauseous.”“Mm. Anyway, thanks again for helping me figure it out.”And for answering the 139 questions I asked. Thank you fortaking less than ten minutes to reply to my emails, every time,even when it was 5:30 a.m. and you misspelled “consensus,”which is unusual of you and makes me suspect that maybe youwere still half asleep. “And for letting me crash with you.”“No problem.”She scratched the side of her nose. “I figured you wereusing that bed, so I put my stuff here, but if you . . .” Shegestured confusedly at the room.“No, that’s where I slept last night.”“Okay.” She was not counting how many inches there werebetween the two beds. Definitely not. “So how’s theconference so far?”“Same old. I was mostly at Harvard for a few meetingswith Tom. I only got back for lunch.”Olive’s stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food.“You okay?”“Yeah. I think I forgot to eat today.”His eyebrows arched. “I didn’t think you capable.”“Hey!” She glared at him. “The sustained levels of despairI’ve been engaging in for the past week require a staggeringnumber of calories, in case you— What are you doing?”Adam was leaning over his suitcase, rummaging forsomething that he held out to Olive.
- Page 188 and 189: the whole idea was idiotic and a ca
- Page 190 and 191: added begrudgingly, “he’s not n
- Page 192 and 193: noticeably different from the Adam
- Page 194 and 195: “Ol.”“How would that conversa
- Page 196 and 197: The lie rolled off her tongue like
- Page 198 and 199: It was all Olive could do not to le
- Page 200 and 201: Olive looked at Adam, expecting him
- Page 202 and 203: “Not sure. Not sure Holden knows,
- Page 204 and 205: She paused right in front of his ch
- Page 206 and 207: “We could, like, sleep in on Sund
- Page 208 and 209: Olive: Well, TSA is notoriously inc
- Page 210 and 211: “Adam being gone. Hell, even I mi
- Page 212 and 213: “But I could tell you so many jui
- Page 214 and 215: stricken and frantic. “I can’t.
- Page 216 and 217: crap her pants. “Right.” Olive
- Page 218 and 219: “Well.” He fidgeted with the ca
- Page 220 and 221: “You’re not mad, right?”“I
- Page 222 and 223: Possibilities. That’s what Adam
- Page 224 and 225: them. I do hate that I love them, t
- Page 226 and 227: Could room.With him.Olive knew full
- Page 228 and 229: She huffed, crossing her arms over
- Page 230 and 231: “No.” She winced.“Is it the p
- Page 232 and 233: “Adam, I’m pretty sure that if
- Page 234 and 235: me to cry under the shower?”“Th
- Page 236 and 237: to my professional career, general
- Page 240 and 241: “What is it?”“Calories. To fu
- Page 242 and 243: She rolled her eyes. “For Dr. Asl
- Page 244 and 245: It didn’t go perfectly, either. S
- Page 246 and 247: friends, but maybe she could buy hi
- Page 248 and 249: “A pretty girl like you should kn
- Page 250 and 251: to spending more time with you next
- Page 252 and 253: “Nothing.” Her voice shook. It
- Page 254 and 255: “It’s not what they say. It’s
- Page 256 and 257: “And I keynote-spoke.” He grabb
- Page 258 and 259: “Um . . . I’m wearing heels, he
- Page 260 and 261: She moved closer to him and grasped
- Page 262 and 263: “It’s appalling.”“—or the
- Page 264 and 265: like having a thousand little splin
- Page 266 and 267: well on her way to wasted by that p
- Page 268 and 269: “An obscenity, isn’t it? It’s
- Page 270 and 271: “For a moment there, during the t
- Page 272 and 273: “The opposite of discipline and h
- Page 274 and 275: Adam shook his head. “He wanted a
- Page 276 and 277: all of it, maybe it was always goin
- Page 278 and 279: “Olive.” He sighed heavily, clo
- Page 280: It was a little embarrassing, the a
- Page 283 and 284: studying her, it brooked no self-co
- Page 285 and 286: “No.” He shook his head. “Not
- Page 287 and 288: And I bet you do this all the time,
“I think they were better before you made me change the
PowerPoint background.”
“It was acid green.”
“I know. It made me happy.”
“It made me nauseous.”
“Mm. Anyway, thanks again for helping me figure it out.”
And for answering the 139 questions I asked. Thank you for
taking less than ten minutes to reply to my emails, every time,
even when it was 5:30 a.m. and you misspelled “consensus,”
which is unusual of you and makes me suspect that maybe you
were still half asleep. “And for letting me crash with you.”
“No problem.”
She scratched the side of her nose. “I figured you were
using that bed, so I put my stuff here, but if you . . .” She
gestured confusedly at the room.
“No, that’s where I slept last night.”
“Okay.” She was not counting how many inches there were
between the two beds. Definitely not. “So how’s the
conference so far?”
“Same old. I was mostly at Harvard for a few meetings
with Tom. I only got back for lunch.”
Olive’s stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I think I forgot to eat today.”
His eyebrows arched. “I didn’t think you capable.”
“Hey!” She glared at him. “The sustained levels of despair
I’ve been engaging in for the past week require a staggering
number of calories, in case you— What are you doing?”
Adam was leaning over his suitcase, rummaging for
something that he held out to Olive.
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