Bennett led her over to where a new aquarium had been set up and they ran through procedure for sifting the soil, adding the measured amounts of water for each sample and how to record it all in the shared folder. Katie asked a few questions and then he left her to it.
He sighed. There were plenty of things that he could work on today but he didn’t feel like doing any of it. It was a completely unfamiliar feeling to not want to work. Bennett made a face.
“Are you okay?” Katie asked from across the room.
“No, I’m not okay. And it’s entirely your fault,” he grumbled.
Katie’s face fell. “What? What did I do?”
Feeling ridiculous but already committed to the conversation, Bennett crossed his arms. “You made me read that damn book and now all I can think about is whether Senator Drake is going to be revealed or whether Natasha can keep his secret!”
Katie stared at him for a long moment, nothing moving on her entire body except her lashes as she blinked at him. Then she suddenly let out a startled peal of laughter. “You read the book!”
Her smile was so open and so beautiful that Bennett was momentarily thrown having it directed at him. “Yes, I stayed up half the night reading. I really enjoyed it.”
She trotted over to him in excitement. “Was it hard to do something fun for a change?”
She was smiling so he knew she was teasing. Or at least he thought she was. But this didn’t feel like the type of teasing he was used to. This made him feel kind of hot and breathless. He hadn’t felt like this since he’d first tried to flirt back in high school.
“It was at first. I couldn’t understand the point of reading about something that isn’t real. Then I suddenly found that I didn’t care. I just wanted to know what happened next.”
Katie’s clasped her hands in front of her, a pleased smile on her face. “That’s usually how it happens. Welcome to the world of book hangovers!”
Bennett laughed. “Is that what they’re called? Book hangovers? I guess it’s better than the usual type.”
“I agree. But now that you've admitted to liking the book, I have to confess that you almost got stuck reading something else. Your sister-in-law recommended a book for you that was extremely inappropriate.”
Bennett really wanted to ask what kind of inappropriate book but before he could, she was already talking about something else.
“I can’t wait until you get to the next part. Natasha is perfect for him but there’re so many things about her you don’t know yet. But no spoilers! I won’t say anything else.”
Her eyes danced with glee at the prospect. Bennett wouldn’t have thought it was possible for anyone to be this excited about something as simple as a book. It was also fun to share the experience with someone else. Something he would have never thought would matter to him.
“I used to read for pleasure all the time when I was younger. I’m not sure when that changed. But I’m glad you gave me a little push.”
“Me too. I can’t imagine a world without make believe. When I was growing up, whether I was hungry or lonely or sad, I could get lost in a book and be somewhere else. I could travel a thousand miles in the blink of an eye and suddenly none of the bad stuff mattered. Books are the only place magic exists anymore.”
For a moment, she looked so sad that Bennett actually felt a little pang
in his own chest. Katie was unrelentingly optimistic so the sight of her looking so defeated seemed wrong. And made him feel helpless.
“Well, you really helped me, Katie. After years spent learning new things, it’s humbling to realize that I could have forgotten something that used to make me so happy.”
Just like that, her smile was back. She patted his arm. “I’m glad that I was able to help you remember. I’m sure it’s not like the books you’re used to reading. Don used to read those medical journals with the tiny print. I tried one once and I couldn’t understand anything. It might as well have been a different language.”
Bennett gritted his teeth at the mention of her ex. “You weren’t missing anything. Why should you be up on technical jargon for a field that you have never studied?”
Katie shrugged. “Oh I know. I didn’t expect that I would understand it all. But I was just trying to be supportive. Don always said that I couldn’t understand how hard he worked and how much he was expected to know. So I was trying to show him that I was interested in his world. Not that he appreciated it. He laughed when he saw me reading it. Told me to stick to my gossip magazines.”
She shrugged but the usual twinkle in her eye was gone and she had the hunched posture he remembered from her first day at work. Like she expected to be made fun of again.
“There’s always going to be someone who knows more than you. I’ve met people who are vastly superior in their fields and have accomplished way more than I have in mine. I actually had a classmate in graduate school who made fun of my first patented invention. He said it looked like something that would be sold on TV for three easy payments of $9.99.”
Katie’s mouth fell open. “What a jerk! I bet he’d never invented anything.”
Bennett laughed. “Actually he had. The guy was a prodigy. He probably had several patents under his belt before he even entered high school.”
“Well, well, whatever. I bet all his inventions sucked donkey balls and so did he!”