Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
“Dick!” I shouted, shoving his shoulder hard.
Rome snickered and caught my wrist, pulling me toward the front of the building, where they’d set up a bar area that served drinks and food. “It’s fine. You weren’t down to your last quarter. Plus, I’m starved. I need to keep up my strength if I’m gonna kick your ass at Skee-ball.”
“You haven’t changed in twenty years. You’re still an annoying little shit,” I complained.
My former friend glanced at me over his shoulder and flashed a broad grin as if he realized exactly how frustrating he was and reveled in it. At the counter, Rome ordered a medium pepperoni pizza for us to split and a beer, while I requested an unsweetened iced tea. He whipped out his card before I could even get my wallet out of my pocket.
“Hey!” I growled, lunging to shove his card away from the cashier. “You’re not supposed to pay.”
“You paid to get us in here. I can pay for dinner,” he argued, while moving his arm to keep it out of my reach but still offer the card to the teenager taking our order.
“No! You can’t.”
“Of course I can.” Rome cackled.
“No. You’ll say it doesn’t count.”
The asshole groaned. “It still counts, even if I pay for the pizza.”
The teenage girl giggled and plucked the credit card from Rome’s fingers. “Oh my God, you guys are so cute. Have you been dating long?”
That stopped us cold. Rome recovered first, smiling warmly at the teenager. “We’re not dating. Just old friends. This is our first time hanging out in decades.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” She handed me an empty cup so I could fetch my drink from the dispenser, while her manager pulled Rome’s beer bottle out of the fridge behind the counter. “Snag a table. I’ll bring you the pizza when it’s ready.”
Rome tipped his beer at her and winked. “Thanks.”
I trudged to the big silver container holding the iced tea and poured myself a drink before joining Rome in the booth against the far wall. We sat in an awkward silence. This was what I’d been attempting to avoid while we were on our “date,” but I guessed it couldn’t be helped. We needed to eat. It was after eight in the evening, and my lunch had been a turkey sandwich I’d crammed into my mouth while making notes for my next lecture at UC.
“You mentioned you haven’t been in Cincinnati long,” Rome said. His nimble fingers picked at the label on the slender brown bottle in his hands. “Why here?”
“Job,” I replied and was content to leave it at that, but it dawned on me that the entire meal was going to be painful and long if neither of us was willing to talk. Besides, his question had been polite. “And a fresh start.”
Rome huffed a small laugh, his lips moving into almost a grin. “I bet that start is looking a lot less fresh now.”
That was an understatement. After college, I’d returned to Providence and brought the woman who would become my wife with me. While the marriage hadn’t lasted long, I’d tried to stay and build a new life, but it had felt impossible with the constant reminders of what I’d had all around me. It had seemed smarter to begin again in a city where I had zero memories.
And now, I was building new memories in a new city…with an old enemy. I couldn’t fucking win.
“At the time, I was casually searching for a new job,” I forced myself to admit. If Rome was going to make pleasant conversation, I could at least play along. I pulled the paper wrapper off my straw and placed the straw in my drink, then twisted the paper into a knot. “Wasn’t even all that serious about the idea of moving. But I ran across a new job posting for the Cincinnati Natural History and Science Museum. The pay was okay, and I knew nothing about Cincinnati, but I remembered I had a friend teaching archaeology at the University of Cincinnati. Before applying for the museum, I called her and asked if there was any chance that UC could use a guest lecturer in geology. I figured that if I got the museum job and added in a few classes at the university, it would be enough to live comfortably.”
“You have an archaeologist for a friend? Is she anything like—”
“Please, don’t. That joke is so old,” I stopped him to keep him from mentioning that famous Harrison Ford character. “And yes, every archaeologist has a friend who’s a geologist. If you’re going to find a civilization that buried in the earth, you need to be close friends with someone who understands the rocks.”
“Yeah, but I thought you said you were a paleontologist.”
“I am. There isn’t a bachelor’s degree in paleontology. You start with a degree in the earth sciences, usually geology, and move on to pursue your postgraduate degree. I actually got my masters in geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, then continued my studies for my PhD. It allowed me to study my two loves of evolutionary paleobiology and geomorphology. It might have also been a deciding factor in moving to the area, since Cincinnati has provided a wealth of fossil evidence from the Upper Ordovician era, which was the age…” I trailed off when I finally realized that my mouth had run away with me. Fiona had put up with it during those early dating years, but the moment I’d slipped the engagement ring onto her finger, my cute rambles had become tedious.