The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

friends, but maybe she could buy him a thank-you drink for all
his help. She would even pay, for once.
“It went well,” someone said.
Olive turned to find Tom standing behind her, arms folded
across his chest as he leaned against the table. He looked as
though he’d been staring at her for a while. “Thank you.
Yours, too.” His talk had been a more condensed repeat of the
one he’d given at Stanford, and Olive had to admit that she’d
spaced out a bit.
“Where’s Adam?” he asked.
“Still giving his keynote, I think.”
“Right.” Tom rolled his eyes. Probably with fondness,
though Olive didn’t quite catch it in his expression. “He does
that, doesn’t he?”
“Does what?”
“Outdoes you.” He pushed away from the table, ambling
closer. “Well, outdoes everyone. It’s not personal.” She
frowned, confused, wanting to ask Tom what he meant by that,
but he continued, “I think you and I will get along great next
year.”
The reminder that Tom believed in her work enough to take
her in his lab quashed her discomfort. “We will.” She smiled.
“Thank you so much for giving me and my project a chance. I
can’t wait to start working with you.”
“You’re welcome.” He was smiling, too. “I think there are
a lot of things we can gain from each other. Wouldn’t you
agree?”
It seemed to Olive like she had much more to gain from it
than he did, but she nodded anyway. “I hope so. I think
imaging and blood biomarkers complement each other
perfectly, and only by combining them can we—”