“When will this get easier?” she whispered as she got to her feet. Spending a night with Kal hadn’t had the expected result of easing her heartache, apart from the few hours it had encompassed. Avoiding Daniel hadn’t helped, either, and by the look on his face as he peeked through the window, he was still upset she was leaving.
Flicking on the porch light, she opened the door, saying nothing as she looked him over in his slacks, dress shoes, and brown tweed vest over his usual white shirt. The top two shirt buttons were undone, and he looked more relaxed than usual without his tie.
“Oh, good.” He pushed up his glasses in an awkward show. “You’re here. You weren’t at the party.”
There was a brown paper bag in his hand, and she hoped it wasn’t cake. “Daniel—”
“You took your phone off the hook,” he interrupted. “I was worried you might not be feeling well.”
She hadn’t been, but it was nothing she wanted to talk about. “What do you want?” she asked, wishing she could be honest with him.
He shifted his weight, scrubbing a hand over his five-o’clock shadow. “Look,” he said, mood abruptly shifting, “I get that you have this thing for Dr. Kalamack. You’re a grown woman, and I’m not your . . . brother,” he said, and she wondered if he had been going to say boyfriend. “If you want to follow him to Florida to work with him, wash his flasks, and plan his dinner parties, who am I to say differently.”
She blinked, lips parting. “Excuse me?”
“You probably want to start a family,” Daniel said, his shoulders stiff. “And it’s a good match. You’ll at least understand what he’s talking about when he sits down at the dinner table once they make you go home after you get pregnant.”
Her jaw dropped, even though that was about all any woman had a right to expect, an elf in an elven lab or not. But it still ticked her off. “You don’t have a clue what I want,” she said hotly.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said sourly. “I don’t know why I’m even here, except that you have a problem in your seed field and Angie is out sick. I thought you might like to know before Monday, when everything is dead.”
Her anger vanished, and she looked at the paper bag in his hand. “What’s wrong with my seed field?”
“It’s wilted.” He held out the bag for her to take. “They’re losing their hairs, leaves, and fruit, in that order. I thought you might like to see.” She took the bag, and he looked angrily at the stacked boxes beside the door. “Good luck at Kennedy.”
He turned to go, and the bag crackled in her grip. “Daniel, wait,” she called, and he stopped on the stairs, silent as she fumbled for words. He thought she was giving up her career to cater to a self-indulgent, egotistical snot. It was more than her pride could take. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m not going to Kennedy. At least not permanently. I just can’t stay here.”
Daniel shifted to face her more fully. He was two steps down, and halfway gone into the dark. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” she blurted. Hesitating, Trisk bit her lip, wishing things were different. “No,” she said again, softer this time. “I did. It might take me a while to fix it.”
He was silent, thinking that over and probably getting it wrong.
“How is the release going?” she asked, not wanting him to leave. “I’m sorry I missed it. Is everything hitting the right parameters?”
Daniel looked at his car, then back at her. “I don’t get you, Trisk. I find you packing up your life, your career, and you ask me how my release is going?”
Worried that Quen might come out despite her telling him not to, she shrugged, shutting the door behind her and leaning back against it.
His chest moved as he sighed. “The government is thrilled,” he said flatly. “The military got in and retook the building without a hitch. We need to adjust the dosage levels, though. It’s having a wider effect than we expected. The entire city block is sick, not just the building.” He hesitated, seeming to gather his resolve. “Is there anything I can do to help, Trisk?”
She shook her head, the guilt rising high. “Don’t think badly of me,” she said softly. “This isn’t what I wanted to have happen.”
Daniel took a step up, and she fumbled behind her for the doorknob. “No. I’m sorry,” she said as she opened the door and retreated into the house. “I just wanted to know if your project was a success. You should go.”
Jaw clenched, Daniel stopped. “It’s not a failure to ask for help.”
Miserable, she took another step in, almost peeking around the open door. “Thank you for telling me about my crop. I’ll check it tomorrow.”
Daniel took a slow breath as if to say something, but then he turned and walked away without a word, head down and hands in his pockets. Her eyes were stinging as she shut the door. “Damn it,” she whispered as she turned, gasping when she almost ran into Quen. “I hate it when you do that!” she exclaimed, smacking his shoulder. “Don’t you have anything better to do than sneak up behind me?”