The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
probably whacked someone on the head with a microscope formislabeling peptide samples. “So it is something criminal.”“What? No. The department suspects that I’m makingplans to leave Stanford and move to another institution.Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but Stanford has decided tofreeze my research funds.”“Oh.” Not what she’d thought. Not at all. “Can they?”“Yes. Well, up to one-third of them. The reasoning is thatthey don’t want to fund the research and further the career ofsomeone who—they believe—is going to leave anyway.”“But if it’s only one-third—”“It’s millions of dollars,” he said levelly. “That I hadearmarked for projects that I planned to finish within the nextyear. Here, at Stanford. Which means that I need those fundssoon.”“Oh.” Come to think of it, Olive had been hearingscuttlebutt about Carlsen being recruited by other universitiessince her first year. A few months earlier there had even been arumor that he might go work for NASA. “Why do they thinkthat? And why now?”“A number of reasons. The most relevant is that a fewweeks ago I was awarded a grant—a very large grant—with ascientist at another institution. That institution had tried torecruit me in the past, and Stanford sees the collaboration asan indication that I am planning to accept.” He hesitatedbefore continuing. “More generally, I have been made awarethat the . . . optics are that I have not put down roots because Iwant to be able to flee Stanford at the drop of a hat.”“Roots?”“Most of my grads will be done within the year. I have noextended family in the area. No wife, no children. I’mcurrently renting—I’d have to buy a house just to convince the
department that I’m committed to staying,” he said, clearlyirritated. “If I was in a relationship . . . that would really help.”Okay. That made sense. But. “Have you considered gettinga real girlfriend?”His eyebrow lifted. “Have you considered getting a realdate?”“Touché.”Olive fell silent and studied him for a few moments, lettinghim study her in return. Funny how she used to be scared ofhim. Now he was the only person in the world who knewabout her worst fuckup ever, and it was hard to feelintimidated—even harder, after discovering that he was thekind of person who’d be desperate enough to pretend to datesomeone to get his research funds back. Olive was sure thatshe would do the exact same for the opportunity to finish herstudy on pancreatic cancer, which made Adam seem oddly . . .relatable. And if he was relatable, then she could go ahead andfake-date him, right?No. Yes. No. What? She was crazy for even consideringthis. She was certifiably mental. And yet she found herselfsaying, “It would be complicated.”“What would be?”“To pretend that we’re dating.”“Really? It would be complicated to make people think thatwe’re dating?”Oh, he was impossible. “Okay, I see your point. But itwould be hard to do so convincingly for a prolonged period.”He shrugged. “We’ll be fine, as long as we say hi to eachother in the hallways and you don’t call me Dr. Carlsen.”“I don’t think people who are dating just . . . say hi to eachother.”
- Page 5 and 6: To my women in STEM: Kate, Caitie,
- Page 7: Chapter FourteenChapter FifteenChap
- Page 10 and 11: Olive squeaked. She tried to open h
- Page 12 and 13: “Neither are eyes.”Humph. Good
- Page 14 and 15: “Are you planning to enroll?” h
- Page 16 and 17: She could hear his smile.“I’ll
- Page 18 and 19: When given a choice between A (a sl
- Page 20 and 21: to be held for any length of time,
- Page 22 and 23: feature of humanity, could never un
- Page 24 and 25: good night.”“Wait!” She leane
- Page 26 and 27: “But it wasn’t my worst, either
- Page 28: Any rumor regarding my love life wi
- Page 32 and 33: “Dr. Carlsen.”Dammit, dammit, d
- Page 34 and 35: she could find, petrified. She was
- Page 36 and 37: horrible at it, which meant that ea
- Page 38 and 39: ago—and Olive immediately underst
- Page 40: “Oh. Oh, no.” That would be way
- Page 43 and 44: caught Anh kissing Adam Carlsen, sh
- Page 45: that she didn’t even flip her off
- Page 48 and 49: “I cannot believe it.”“Believ
- Page 50 and 51: This was the worst. The absolute wo
- Page 52 and 53: It was true that Anh had seemed hap
- Page 54 and 55: seemed insane.“You mean . . . for
- Page 58 and 59: “What do people who are dating do
- Page 60: over you and am not involved in you
- Page 63 and 64: “About you.”“Oh.” Olive’s
- Page 65 and 66: “Though, I’ve been thinking abo
- Page 67 and 68: sexual intercourse between the two
- Page 69 and 70: “For this to work we should proba
- Page 71: talk about. Their ten-minute coffee
- Page 74 and 75: “The relationship, it’s fake. W
- Page 76 and 77: “I have, haven’t I? Did I ever
- Page 78 and 79: Olive nodded again. When a single t
- Page 80 and 81: little unsettling, the realization
- Page 82 and 83: Olive smiled back, gesturing at Ada
- Page 84 and 85: herring for breakfast on the reg. M
- Page 87 and 88: WAS LATE for her second fake-dating
- Page 89 and 90: “I worked.”They got in line to
- Page 91 and 92: department chair this morning. He
- Page 93 and 94: “Is that so?”“Mmm.”His mout
- Page 95 and 96: “The time difference screwed me u
- Page 97 and 98: that he wasn’t planning to. Olive
- Page 99 and 100: “That is, I, um . . . never put t
- Page 101 and 102: “What kind of question is that?
- Page 103 and 104: “Who?”“Tom,” Adam said, a t
- Page 105 and 106: Olive had no idea he was giving a t
department that I’m committed to staying,” he said, clearly
irritated. “If I was in a relationship . . . that would really help.”
Okay. That made sense. But. “Have you considered getting
a real girlfriend?”
His eyebrow lifted. “Have you considered getting a real
date?”
“Touché.”
Olive fell silent and studied him for a few moments, letting
him study her in return. Funny how she used to be scared of
him. Now he was the only person in the world who knew
about her worst fuckup ever, and it was hard to feel
intimidated—even harder, after discovering that he was the
kind of person who’d be desperate enough to pretend to date
someone to get his research funds back. Olive was sure that
she would do the exact same for the opportunity to finish her
study on pancreatic cancer, which made Adam seem oddly . . .
relatable. And if he was relatable, then she could go ahead and
fake-date him, right?
No. Yes. No. What? She was crazy for even considering
this. She was certifiably mental. And yet she found herself
saying, “It would be complicated.”
“What would be?”
“To pretend that we’re dating.”
“Really? It would be complicated to make people think that
we’re dating?”
Oh, he was impossible. “Okay, I see your point. But it
would be hard to do so convincingly for a prolonged period.”
He shrugged. “We’ll be fine, as long as we say hi to each
other in the hallways and you don’t call me Dr. Carlsen.”
“I don’t think people who are dating just . . . say hi to each
other.”
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