Clara rubbed her temples as the fluorescent lights hummed faintly above her. The lab was quiet, the morning rush still half an hour away. Even though she woke up late, she was still the first to arrive and that's what she liked.
Anything to take her mind of the morning.
Nathaniel's face flashed in her memory—the stunned look when he'd opened her door, the way his eyes had dipped before he caught himself, the flush creeping up his neck during breakfast. God, it was embarrassing enough to make her want to combust.
It had stirred something warm in her chest she hadn't wanted to examine too closely.
But diving straight into work afterward had helped. Numbers were steady. Data didn't blush. Graphs didn't replay uncomfortable moments on a loop. For the first time since getting out of the car, she felt like she could breathe normally again.
