Talk Nerdy to Me (18 page)

"It's not a question of whether I want to be or not.
I'm not. End of story." His brown gaze softened. "You, on the other
hand, are still a question mark."

She
backed up a step. "I refuse to be a genius."

"You
don't have any say in it."

"Sure
I do. I reject the label."'

'Then you might want to reconsider inventing purple
hovercrafts, especially when you've had no engineering courses whatsoever. It
would take a genius to—"

"I took some online courses. Spent lots of time on engineering
message boards. I don't want you to get too impressed with my native
abilities."

Charlie studied her for several long seconds. "What
have you got against being a genius?"

'They're weird. In a town like Middlesex they could be
looked at strangely. I can see it all now. 'I'm sorry, Mrs. Whosit, but you
can't be a Brownie leader. We heard that you're a genius, and they can't be
trusted with impressionable young minds.'"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "It's not like leprosy. It's
a gift."

"Then you take it. I don't mind being known for regular
smarts. In fact, I'd like that a lot, if nothing else to show old Denise that she's
not the only one who—"

"Your
sister, right?"

"Yes. My sister who is coming tomorrow,.." Eve
glanced at her watch and discovered that the time had really gotten away from
her. She had
a
ton of
cleaning to do before Denise showed up. "Let me ask you a question. I get
that you're not interested in me."

"Wrong. I'm very
interested in you. I'm fighting it."

"Okay,
interested but fighting. Duly noted. Now let's say a brainiac showed up who
taught economics at Yale. She's not into small towns at all, but she's
convinced that there's no civilization worth mentioning outside of New England.
Would she be a potential girlfriend or not?"

Laughter sparkled in his
eyes. "Does she invent things?"

"Not
that I know of. She's mostly all about the numbers, all about stock options,
leveraged buyouts, boring stuff like that."

"Blah."

What
a sweet word that was.
Blah.
The
sweetest word she'd heard in a long time. Her mood improved exponentially.
"I thought with your magna cum laude and everything, you might be
interested."

Charlie
groaned. "I suppose my mom told you about that, too."

"It
was a slow day at the bakery. I was waiting for Myrtle to finish frosting my
cinnamon roll. And you didn't answer my question."

"Eve,
are you worried that I'll be attracted to your sister?"

"Maybe a little bit.
After all, she is a college professor."

"Don't put me in the
same category as Rick."

That confused her. "He
has a thing for college professors?" Somehow Eve couldn't picture that.

"No.
his general category is good-looking women, and as long as someone fits in that
category, he'll dive right in. He doesn't care what else is going on with her, just
so she's a babe. His girlfriends all fit the profile and are pretty much
interchangeable."

"And your point
is?"

"You
implied that I'm the same way with female brainiacs. If they're smart, I'm
going in, regardless of other factors. One's as good as another. But
I
don't happen to operate
that way."

She
was intrigued with this conversational thread. "Then how do you
operate?"

"I'm a one-woman kind
of guy."

The
way he said that, looking straight at her, made squiggles of excitement dance
in her tummy. "I see."

"Once I focus on
someone, she's the only one I want."

She
warmed herself in the heat of his gaze. "So once you're committed, someone
could drop you into a room full of naked Mensa ladies and you wouldn't be
tempted at all?"

"Nope. Not if I'm into
someone else."

And
he was into her. She had no doubt from the way he was looking at her. But he
was fighting it. "Well, doesn't that suck the big one?" she blurted
out before she could stop herself.

"What do you
mean?"

"There
you stand, the perfect boyfriend, and you've taken yourself off the market
where I'm concerned! It's not fair." Her sudden burst of anger surprised
her.

It
seemed to surprise him, too. "Okay, look.
I
should go. You're right, it
isn't fair." Then his glance strayed to the hovercraft. "Except, damn
it. I really want to make sure you get this airborne without smashing yourself
into tiny bits. And I'm worried that someone is trying to steal your
concept."

She
didn't want him hanging around because of some misplaced protective urge. If he
was determined to tight his attraction to her, she would make it easier on him.
"I won't smash myself into tiny bits, and there's no hard evidence somebody
is trying to steal anything. I could still find those notes. Feel free to
leave."

"But—"

I
mean it, Charlie! Your services are no longer needed around here." She was
working up a good head of steam, now. Until he'd said that thing about being a
one-woman guy, she'd been able to talk herself out of feeling gypped. But that
was the last straw. She'd searched all her life for a man who could make that
kind of deep commitment, and now that she'd found one, she couldn't have him.

He
gazed at her, his expression troubled. "I really think that we
should—"

The
doorbell rang. She couldn't imagine who could be coming over at this time of
night, but whoever it was might provide the perfect segue to get Charlie out of
here. She hated the fact they were fighting and their friendship was in
jeopardy, but she was probably foolish to try and hang on to that friendship
when he'd be leaving Middlesex at the first opportunity.

"Let me see who that
is." She started into the kitchen.

"Don't
forget to check the peephole." Charlie followed her.

"I
always check the peephole." She was feeling cross with him and frustrated
by the situation. Why did he have to set his sights on Hoover Dam, anyway? What
did Hoover Dam have that she didn't have? Oh, yeah. Big turbines. Men and their
machines. Phooey.

When
she looked through the peephole she saw Rick standing on her front porch
blowing into his hands to keep them warm. She started to open the door and it
wouldn't budge. Then she remembered that Charlie had locked it.

Charlie
was unnecessarily freaking her out with all this door-locking and talk of
people stealing things. She was in Middlesex, voted one of the ten safest towns
of its size in the nation. The real estate agent had told her that early on.
Eve hadn't thought the statistic had mattered all that much to her, but now
she realized instinct had led her here, because she wanted to raise her kids in
Middlesex.

Those potential kids would
need a father, of course, and she'd been unconsciously searching for him too.
So what if Charlie looked like the perfect candidate for that, too? He didn't
care to raise his kids in a place that ranked in the top ten safest towns for
its size. Maybe he wasn't so damned smart, after all.

She
unlocked the door and Rick came in looking as though he'd had one too many
jolts from the muscle stimulator. His shirt was buttoned up wrong and
apparently his coat zipper had jammed a third of the way up.

"Nanu,
nanu," he said in a halfhearted imitation of Mork from Ork. I needed a
time-out. Hey, Charlie, how's it going?"

"Okay."

Eve
told herself not to react to Charlie's soft tone, but her heart wrenched,
anyway. Those two quiet syllables spoke volumes about his state of mind. He was
upset. Well, so was she.

"I'd
offer to help you guys." Rick tried to tame his hair, which was standing
out in six different directions. "But I'm wiped. Maybe
I
could stretch out on Eve's
couch until Charlie's ready to go home."

Eve grabbed her opening.
"Actually, Charlie's ready to—"

"I
thought Eunice was planning to run you home," Charlie said.

"She
was, but I couldn't talk her into quitting. She never seems to wear out."
Rick looked dazed.

"Maybe
you shouldn't have let her use that muscle stimulator," Eve said.

"Oh,
that was cool. It was just the pace was brutal. I kept trying to convince her
that we should take a break, but then she'd turn on the black light and start
twirling her tassels or some such trick, and I'd be back at it."

Eve
resisted the urge to glance over at Charlie, who was no doubt rolling his eyes
at his cousin's lack of restraint.

"Finally
I just grabbed my clothes and ran. Got dressed on her front porch. Then the
local fuzz cruised by and I was afraid that paint job would glow in the dark,
so I had to jump behind a snowy bush to finish the job."

"That
explains the sprig of evergreen behind your ear," Charlie said.

"There
is?" Rick reached back and pulled out a twig with a few pine needles
attached. "After all that's happened,
I
didn't
even feel that. I think the aliens gave her sexual superpowers, man. She's like
some X-rated Ener-gizer bunny."

"Rick,"
Charlie said. "There were no aliens. She made all that up."

"That's
what you say!" Rick struggled with his jammed zipper. "You weren't
there! I never knew there were so many ways to use a green glow stick. So. Eve,
can I borrow your couch?"

Eve
decided the evening had come to a fittingly weird ending. "Charlie, I
think maybe you need to take your cousin home."

Charlie sighed.
"Probably a good idea."

"I'd
like that," Rick said. "But I can't seem to get this zipper unjammed."

"Let
me see. I've dealt with a trillion cantankerous zippers in my life." She
dropped to her knees in front of Rick and tackled the balky zipper.

"Thanks,"
Rick said. "Listen, Charlie, just to give you an idea of how much Eunice
worked me over, I would normally look at a beautiful woman kneeling in front of
me and start getting ideas."

"Well,
don't." Charlie sounded irritated as he reached for his boots.

"Hey,
no worries! Trust me, I'm not thinking of anything like that. It's like when
someone offers you chocolate cake after you've eaten everything on the buffet
table. You have nowhere to put it."

Eve
glanced up at him. "I'm not offering you chocolate cake. Rick."

"Damn
straight she's not." Charlie grumbled as he put on his coat.

"Oh. I know that! I'm
just sayin'."

"Looks
like the zipper on your lip isn't working any better than the one on your
coat," Charlie said.

Eve
wiggled the zipper and freed it up. "There." She zipped Rick's coat
as she stood. The poor guy did look as if he'd ridden all the Coney Island
rides ten times in a row. "Maybe you should stay away from Eunice,"
she said.

"Are
you kidding? I just need to get my strength back. We're on again for tomorrow
night, unless you really need me over here."

Eve wasn't sure what to
say. "Well, I really—"

"I
know," Rick said. "You really don't need me. I think Charlie invited
me to be polite, and you went along for the same reason. Charlie's the guy you
want, right?"

Right.
"I'm
not sure Charlie can make it tomorrow night," Eve said. "Don't you have
a conflict, Charlie?" She glanced at him and wished she hadn't. He'd put
on the chaps that showcased exactly what she could never have, damn it.

He gazed at her, cool as
can be. "Not that
I
know
of."

"Of
course he doesn't have a conflict," Rick said. "You should have seen
how excited he was about this project, all the research he did on biowhatzit.
He wouldn't miss this for the world, would you, Charlie?"