Chapter 5

The next three weeks of work passed by quickly. About six months ago, my organization received a very generous donation from a family helped by one of our treatments. Their daughter has a very rare disorder of the lungs and they were told that she wouldn’t see the age of six. They didn’t accept this and went on the hunt for anything that might help her; that’s how they got in touch with us.

We had been working on a new treatment for smoke inhalation victims, but the similarities to the little girl’s disorder were clear. After some trial and error – and an unusually fast decision by the FDA to allow this in the first place – we managed to get our treatment protocol to work for her. She’s probably going to have to do a breathing treatment once a month for the rest of her life, but she just turned 12 and she’ll likely outlive us all.

It’s stories like that one that keep me working here. I could be making ten times as much elsewhere, but here I have the ability to change the world, if only for one little girl and her family. But as a thank you for our help, the family donated enough to start a new lab in Boston. So I flew there to help set up the new facilities and make sure that the employees there were on the right track. We’re going to do great things with their money; their little girl won’t be the last saved by our teams, that’s for sure.

Despite the crapload (a technical term) of work I had on my plate, I still managed some reading in the hotel at night and I was more excited than ever to go to Dani Collins’ release party. It almost looked like I was going to have to fly right back to Boston after the party, but thankfully I wrapped everything up there in time.

I got back to Denver the night before the party and passed out nearly as soon as I got home. I’d pay for that soon as the jetlag caught up with me, but it was worth it to get a solid 10 hours of sleep.

The next morning, I woke up with a horrible travel hangover. It took three Excedrine Migraine, a pot and a half of coffee, and Paul’s famous bacon before I felt close to human. By that time, it was already nearly noon and I had a lot of preparation to do. It had dawned on me on the flight home that I hadn’t even considered what I was going to wear to the party. I sent Erica a message:

Me: Wtf do you wear to a book release party?
Erica: Clothes
Me: Smartass. Formal? Casual? I guess the key thing is, should I be in a t-shirt or a dress or something in between?
Erica: You’re way overthinking this, but I don’t know what I’m going to wear either. Let’s get some lunch and go shopping.
Me: Sounds good. I’m craving a good sandwich anyway.
Erica: I know just the place.

I must’ve passed the restaurant three times before finally seeing the tiny sign above the door and walking inside. It was a tiny little storefront, but every table was occupied; they’re clearly doing something right. I spotted Erica in the corner and made my way over. “How do you always find these awesome little hole-in-the-wall places?”

“After we shuffled offices a while back, I got put next to the food critic. The guy is an absolute goldmine, even if he is a pretentious boob.” She took a bite out of a muffin and offered me the rest, which I waved away. Erica works for the biggest newspaper in Denver, not that that’s saying much anymore; journalism isn’t what it used to be.

“The part that surprises me is that you guys still have a food critic on staff. Why not just pay some blogger two cents a word to write your column? It’s not like there aren’t enough foodies in Denver.”

She grimaced a bit and shook her head. “Your guess is as good as mine. I’m surprised I have a job at all either and I cover actual news.” Taking a sip of coffee and getting back to her usual peppy self, she said, “Regardless, this place is friggin’ awesome. They make the best Cuban in the city.”

It didn’t take any convincing to get me to try that, so I walked up to the counter and ordered, getting a large black coffee along with my sandwich. A few minutes later, it was delivered to my table in all its glory. Ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard all coming together to make my mouth happy.

After a single bite, I looked at her and said, “Holy shit. You weren’t kidding.” She just laughed and popped the remnants of her muffin into her mouth.

“So really, what should I wear? I don’t want to be too fancy and stick out, or be way underdressed. I don’t want her to think I’m weird.” Shit. I hadn’t meant to voice the last part.

Erica looked at me sideways and I could see the realization coming over her. “Okay, this makes so much more sense now! I can work with this. There’s a boutique about three blocks from here; they’ll have the perfect dress, I’m sure.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, knowing the answer already. Erica knows me too well to pull the wool over her eyes like that.

“I haven’t had a conversation with you in a month that didn’t involve her – Dani Collins. I’m not stupid, Sarah, even if my life choices may act as evidence otherwise sometimes.” The right side of her smile twitched as if she was holding back a laugh, but she didn’t seem to be continuing.

After a moment I just sighed and decided to spill the beans completely. “Okay, so hiding from either you or Paul is next to impossible. Yes, I have a crush on her, but it’s just that and nothing more. Hell, don’t you? She’s definitely your type and I know her writing got to you as much as it did me.”

This time she didn’t even try to hold back the laugh. “I may have diddled my dumplings to her books once or twice, but you seem to have a crush on her. That’s a bit different. What’d Paul say?”

“Nothing really. I just don’t think he understands that I’m just a random fan to her.”

“But you clearly want to change that or you wouldn’t be freaking out about what to wear. It’s a party with a bunch of book nerds like you and I; it’s not exactly the Queen’s ball or whatnot.”

Well, she had me there. I thought for a moment before responding. “You have more experience here than I do. What’s my gameplan?”

“Get to know her; I don’t even know if she’s into women, though she certainly hasn’t shyed away from writing about it. Also, calm down. She’s going to see you being nervous from a mile away, though telling you that probably isn’t helping, is it?”

“I hate it when people tell me to calm down. If it was as easy as just doing that, I would have already. Anyway, I guess that’s what I’ll do then. Just need to figure out how.”

We bantered a bit over another cup of coffee and then went to the boutique. They had a stunning deep purple skirt and a nice lacey black blouse that worked perfectly with it. I had my outfit for the night.