Carbon Dating (Nerds of Paradise Book 3)

by Merry Farmer

  “Yep.” Roscoe nodded. “She thought she wanted to be wild and free, doing whatever struck her fancy whenever it struck. She never pictured herself as someone’s wife or someone’s mother.”

  “Ouch,” Ted muttered.

  His dad held up a hand and shook his head. “She had it in her head that marriage had to change a woman, make her into one of those TV moms. Once she realized she could be whoever she wanted and I wouldn’t stop her or make her be someone else, she softened up and came around.”

  “So, you think Laura will come around too?” Hope rushed in, filling Ted’s chest.

  “Yep.” Roscoe nodded. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you. That woman’s in love.”

  “I hope so.” Ted took a last sip of his coffee. “She’s worried about getting hurt again after losing her brother to leukemia. They were close, you know, and I think she really misses him.”

  “Of course, she does,” Roscoe said, a catch in his voice. “That probably has something to do with it too.”

  “That has everything to do with it. So what do I do now?” Ted asked, grateful to have his father there to help him sort out the situation.

  Roscoe shrugged. “You really love her?”

  “Yes,” Ted answered without hesitation.

  “This isn’t just a passing fancy or some kind of flirtation?”

  “I really love her, Dad.” Ted nodded. “I think she might be the one.”

  An unexpected smile formed on Roscoe’s weathered face. “Good. ’Cuz I like her too.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Ted smiled, feeling like he hadn’t dared to hope for ages.

  Roscoe nodded, then went on. “If you love her, then don’t give up. She’s like a skittish foal right now. You don’t go rushing at a skittish foal. You approach them slowly, making soothing noises.”

  Ted’s lips twitched. “You think I should walk up to Laura next time I see her saying ‘whoa, girl, whoa’?”

  Roscoe sent him a flat look. “I’m saying you need to be there for her. Let her see you’re serious about her. Let her know you understand she’s scared, but that’s not going to stop you. Mind you,” he went on, one hand raised, before Ted could get a word in, “she’s probably not going to come around right away. Three times, remember. Mom dumped me three times before caving. But if you’re there for her, if you let Laura know that she can be as scared as she wants for as long as she needs to, that you’re not going anywhere, I think you’ll be okay.”

  “You think so?” Ted asked, hoping beyond hope that his dad’s words were as true and magical as they seemed to be.

  “Yep.” Roscoe nodded. “And if she doesn’t come around, bring her out to me, and I’ll let her know the way things are.” He finished with a fond smile that said Laura had charmed not just one, but two Flint men.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Ted got up to take his coffee mug to the sink. He squeezed his dad’s shoulder as he passed. “Oddly enough, I feel better.”

  “Well, you should.” Roscoe pushed himself out of his chair with a grunt. “Your mother trained me up good over all those years.”

  Ted laughed softly. “She sure did.”

  “So, does Howie want us to find a way to test the magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters as part of the Haskell I rocket or are we saving that for the long-range project?”

  Laura sat at her desk late Monday morning, trying and failing to finish the write-up on the exhaust velocity equations Scott had her working on. She’d typed the same sentence three times, producing utter nonsense, as the daily chatter of the propulsion team wafted over her. It was all going in one ear and out the other, until she realized that Angelica’s question from across their arrangement of desks was directed at her.

  “What?” she asked, blinking up from her computer screen.

  Angelica sent her a sympathetic look. “I was trying to wrap my head around the scope of what we’re working toward with this first launch, but I can ask someone else.”

  “Oh. No, it’s okay.” Laura shook herself. She had to focus on work. Not only was it the thing they paid her to do, it was the only hope she had of escaping the misery that had settled over her since breaking up with Ted on Friday. “Everything having to do with the plasma engine is in theoretical testing for now. The Haskell I is more Howie’s way of getting his foot in the door of the industry by providing a commercially viable vehicle.”

  The words felt wooden and heartless as they came out of her mouth. And just a few weeks ago, the prospect of designing rockets that could do things no one else had thought of yet had been just as exciting as digging up a rare and valuable fossil. But neither of those things had held a candle to the unexpected bliss of engaging in some very naughty activity with Ted every night. How was it possible that cutting one thing out of her life—something she was still arguing with herself was never meant to be in the first place—could make everything else seem completely pale and uninteresting?

  “Guy trouble?” Angelica asked, quiet enough not to involve the guys on the team sitting on either side of them.

  It dawned on Laura that it was pretty sweet having another woman on their team. Or maybe not. The last thing she wanted to do was think about Ted, their doomed relationship…and the gnawing feeling that she’d made a terrible mistake in calling things off.

  “We broke up,” Laura confided in a whisper. “End of story.”

  To her side, Scott made a doubtful noise. Laura hadn’t been quiet enough after all. She blushed and forced herself to focus on her computer screen.

  “We won’t be able to test the practical capabilities of the magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters until we figure out how to construct them on a small enough scale to power a vehicle as small as Howie’s theoretical design,” Scott said.

  Crazy as it made her, Laura heard, “You’re an idiot to break things off with a guy who loves you the way Ted does,” in his comment.

  “I’ll see what I can do about it,” Laura answered, trying not to sound defensive.

  The awkward silence that followed told her she’d said something wrong. She perked up and glanced to Scott.

  “Well, technically, thruster design is Angela’s forte,” he said, face pinched as though he wasn’t sure if he should tease her or offer his condolences. That was when Laura realized he’d been talking to Angelica, not her. “You’re doing a great job on the exhaust velocity, though.”

  Laura let out an involuntary, “Oh,” of embarrassment. Scott wasn’t issuing coded statements of disappointment. She really needed to get her head back in the game if she was going to survive the day. If things kept on the way they were going, if she couldn’t pull it together, she might have to consider quitting PSF, leaving Haskell, and finding another job. She didn’t know how she could stay there when every day, everywhere she went, everything reminded her of Ted.

  She’d tried hanging out with her friends on Saturday, but only a few minutes after Sandy had shown up for their pasta party at the Clutterbucks’, Laura had had to feign a headache and leave. She’d tried to go for a walk on Sunday to clear her head, but sounds and reminders of the weekly baseball game were everywhere, the ice cream parlor kept staring her down every time she crossed Main Street, and in the end, there were so many memories of Ted on the street that she’d retreated to her apartment. There were still signs of Ted everywhere she turned in her apartment too. His scent lingered, no matter how many times she washed her sheets.

  “Look lively.”

  Scott’s whispered warning only barely pushed Laura out of her thoughts in time to see Howie striding into their area.

  “How is everyone today?” Howie asked in his booming voice, clapping his hands together. As miserable as Laura felt, Howie’s ebullient personality brought a smile to her face. The man had more joy inside of him than an army of carol singers. More mischief too.

  “Fine, good,” people answered. Laura attempted to keep her smile in place, but it faded.

  It was just her luck that Howie zeroed in on her. “Laura. We nee
d to talk.”

  “Me?” She straightened, a wash of nervous energy zinging down her spine.

  “Yes, you, my dear. Chop, chop!”

  Laura jumped to her feet as Howie glanced around, looking for a free meeting space. He chose one of the smaller, break-out rooms, gesturing for Laura to follow him in. Her heart ricocheted around her gut as she scurried into the room, nearly tripping over her feet as she did.

  “Now,” Howie said, shutting the door behind her. The walls of the office were soundproof glass, so Laura was well aware of her teammates staring into the room with curious looks. “Get me up to speed on what’s going on with your fossil,” Howie continued, motioning for Laura to take a seat at the small conference table.

  “The fossil?” Laura blinked, almost missing the chair as she sat. That’s what Howie wants to talk to you about? Not your pitiful job performance, not the way you’re distracted all the time, not the fact that you’re holding your team back and should be fired?

  “Yes, yes.” Howie sat forward in his chair, like an eager schoolboy, folding his hands and resting them on the tabletop. “I’ve heard a rumor that the Bonnevilles are trying to stick their noses into it, and it’s my sworn duty to sock it to the Bonneville family whenever I can.” He beamed as if the whole thing were a joke.

  If only it were.

  Laura blinked a few more times, then let out a baffled breath. “It’s really the bank that’s causing problems,” she began. “Although we talked to Mr. Templesmith last week, and he told us that, yes, the bank is being maneuvered into filing a lawsuit because of the Bonnevilles on the board of trustees.”

  “They’re sneaky little bastards,” Howie said with a sly look. “They’ve been causing trouble since the town was founded. It would make a good movie, actually.” He paused and tilted his head to the side. “Maybe a television series. One that takes place over several generations. Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, from the Old West to the modern world.”

  Laura raised her eyebrows, no idea if she was supposed to respond to that or not. She waited, hands gripping the edge of her chair, until Howie steered his train of thought back to the subject at hand.

  “So, what’s being done to fight this whole thing?” he asked. “I hear Sandy Templesmith is involved?”

  Whether she liked it or not, Laura’s heart sank. “Yes, she’s helping Ted fight the lawsuit.” She tried, but she was sure she hadn’t kept the gloom or resentment out of her voice.

  She knew she’d failed to when Howie looked at her strangely. “You’re involved too, of course.” It was a statement more than a question.

  Howie was her boss. More than her boss, he was her boss’s boss. Conventional wisdom said that it was imperative to keep personal problems out of the office. Except that Howie seemed to think his employees were family instead of workers. And he was the one who had dragged her into the office to talk about the fossil, not rockets. She had no idea what the rules of engagement for the situation were supposed to be.

  “Ted and I broke up,” she blurted out, then rushed on to, “So I’m not really involved at this point. But I know that Ted has some photographic and historical evidence that people knew about the fossil long before the bank held that mortgage on the property, and Sandy thinks she can use that to get the Bonnevilles to drop the bank’s suit.”

  She delivered her entire statement in one breath and took a huge gulp of air at the end. Then she gripped the edge of her chair even harder, waiting for Howie’s reaction.

  Howie stared at her with a half-opened mouth for several seconds. Then he shook his head. “You didn’t break up with Ted Flint because of the lawsuit, did you?”

  Dread sank deeper into Laura’s gut. She did not want to talk about this with the owner of PSF. “It won’t affect my job performance, I swear,” she insisted, even though it felt like a lie. “And it wasn’t because of the lawsuit. It’s because Ted deserves someone better than me.”

  Damn, she stopped herself as soon as the words were past her lips. She’d been nursing that excuse for so long that it came out far too easily.

  “You’re wrong,” Howie said as if she’d fumbled some math. “Absolutely wrong. But before we get to that—”

  Laura opened her mouth to protest, but Howie didn’t give her a chance.

  “So the problem with the fossil and the ranch and the lawsuit is that Bonneville, as a bank trustee, on behalf of the bank, is saying that since the fossil was discovered during the time that the land was mortgaged, the bank is, in fact, the true owner of the fossil?”

  Laura shut her mouth and narrowed her eyes. There was something a little too sharp, a little too knowing about the sparkle in Howie’s eyes. He couldn’t have gleaned all that from the little slice of information she’d just given him. Obviously, he knew much more about the situation than he was letting on.

  “Yes,” she answered slowly. “In fact, there’s supposed to be a meeting at the bank—really soon, actually—to discuss the whole thing.”

  “Hmm.” Yep, based on the cunning in Howie’s single syllable and the growing spark of triumph in his eyes, Howie was definitely in the know and definitely up to something. “A meeting any minute now, you say?”

  “Mr. Haskell, do you know something the rest of us don’t know?” Laura arched an eyebrow at him.

  “Haven’t I always insisted you call me Howie?”

  Laura pressed her lips together, then said, “Spill it, Howie.”

  Howie broke into a wide grin. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacked and pulled out an ancient-looking set of letters. “These have been in the family for generations,” he said, gently opening one of the letters as he set the bundle on the table.

  Laura reached for the pile when Howie nodded to her. She slid them closer and turned the top letter to face her so she could read it. All she needed to read was the return address printed on the top for her jaw to drop. “Dr. Horace Marvell, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.” It was dated 1884.

  “Is this…?” That was as far as Laura could get before the power of speech left her.

  “Read it.” Howie encouraged her with a nod and a gesture to the paper. “You know that all of the land of the original Paradise Ranch was originally owned by my great-great-great-great grandfather, Howard Haskell.”

  “Yeah,” Laura answered slowly. She opted to glance up at Howie instead of reading the letter.

  “And that Howard’s sister, Virginia, owned half of the ranch and left it to a certain Jarvis Flint, Ted Flint’s ancestor, on her death?”

  “I think I did know that,” Laura answered.

  “Well, when Virginia’s health started to fail, she ordered a complete survey of the land. In the process, a few unusual features were discovered. One of them was something that appeared to be an animal bone.” He tapped the table right above the pile of letters and grinned.

  “You’re kidding,” Laura said, breathless. She scanned the letter again.

  “Nope. The bone was too old to belong to any of the cattle they’d raised on the land since the ranch’s founding, so Howard—who was an adventurous spirit and read far too many dime novels along with scientific journals—invited Dr. Marvell there to come take a look.”

  Indeed, the first paragraph of the letter was a long thank you for Howard’s hospitality during Dr. Marvell’s visit. It was the rest of the letter that made Laura’s head spin and her heart leap with excitement.

  “The good doctor came out and took a look at the bone in question and determined that it was a discovery of paleontological importance,” Howie went on. “Those were the early days of dinosaur hunting, as I’m sure you know, but his findings are in writing, right there.”

  “From 1884,” Laura exclaimed, glancing up at Howie with a smile. “Way, way before the mortgage.”

  “Exactly.” Howie smiled with smug satisfaction.

  “So why didn’t they excavate the fossil back then?” Laura asked. “That would have been a massive find for those days.�
�

  Howie shrugged. “Virginia died shortly after that, and apparently they all had so many other things to do, what with legally dividing the ranch and competing with the Bonnevilles back then, probably, that no one ever got around to following up. It wasn’t on anyone’s radar.” He paused, lips twitching to a smile. “Which makes sense, since radar hadn’t been invented yet.”

  Laura laughed at his joke, too grateful not to.

  “Anyhow, I guess everyone just forgot about it. I remembered my Grandpa Howie saying something about it when I was a kid, but until you started digging out there on the Flint ranch, I forgot about it too. Until I heard there was trouble.” He tapped the table again. “Quintus fished around in our attic and found that.”

  Quintus was Howie’s teenage son. Laura had never wanted to kiss a teenage boy so badly. “This is amazing,” she said, laying a hand on the pile of letters like it was a precious treasure. It was a precious treasure. “This is definitive proof that the fossil was known and documented before the mortgage. The bank doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

  “No, they don’t.” Howie smiled in satisfaction. “So what are you waiting for?”

  “I’m sorry?” Laura blinked.

  “Take those letters and high-tail it to wherever they’re having that meeting, young lady,” Howie told her. “If you run, you just might be able to make it before the meeting starts.”

  Yep. It had been a set-up, all right. Down to the timing of Howie’s deus-ex-machina revelations and everything.

  “I can’t.” She slid the letters back across the table to him. “You go.”

  “You go.” Howie echoed, sliding the letters back to her. “It’s your fossil.”

  “It’s the Flint family’s fossil,” she corrected him. “Ted and I broke up.”

  “I’m sure you can take it back.” Howie smiled, betraying that he somehow knew all about that too.

  Laura shook her head. “I can’t. I blew it, and now it’s over.”

  “So help me God, Laura, if you sit there and tell me that all is lost, I’ll demote you to the custodial staff.” He issued his threat with a teasing smile.