Finding Me Read Free Page A

needed a job. I wanted to work in a lab that wasn’t owned by a drug manufacturing company, so I came here.”
    “Bullshit. There are labs like this closer to California than Delaware. What are you running from?”
    That was my first taste of Fitz’s brutal honesty and lack of tact, and it was a bitter taste, delivered with an even more bitter aftertaste.
    I didn’t know at the time how he knew I was from California, or what else he thought he knew about me, but I wasn’t in a sharing mood so I gave him a curt answer. “Nothing. I am running from nothing. My dad knew Ben, I asked for a favor, and Ben accepted me.”
    “ You asked for a favor? Wouldn’t your dad be the one that asked for a favor?”
    Shit.
    I took a deep breath and channeled the frustration I was feeling to distract me from the sadness that ensued at mentioning my father. “Because I’m perfectly capable,” I said, glaring at Fitz.
    “How did he die?”
    That was the bitter aftertaste.
    There was nothing I wanted to do more than object to his question and tell him how absurd and rude he was for making such a bold assumption.
    “Your voice changed when you made that call. Your dad … he died, didn’t he?”
    “An aortic aneurism.” I stated the words factually, fighting off the emotions brewing in my chest. I moved my focus away from his so he couldn’t see how uncomfortable the conversation made me.
    “When did it happen?”
    “May. May 5.”
    Fitz nodded. “Was his name Max?”
    I cringed and shook my head. “No, my dad’s name is … was…” I swallowed and took a deep breath “…his name was David.” Fitz nodded again and then excused himself. I’m sure I had made things incredibly awkward, however, I hadn’t really had the time to think about it because I was focusing on trying to relax and stop the impending tears that I could feel burning the corners of my eyes.
    Fitz returned shortly with two coffees and placed one in front of me. “My dad died when I was thirteen. It never gets easier, but you start remembering the good more than the loss and that helps a lot.”
    The following day Fitz insisted that I go to lunch with him. I didn’t realize how many people I had been avoiding as I followed him out to the parking lot.
    “You’re like a celebrity,” I joked, sliding into the passenger seat of his car.
    “I am after that feat. There’s kind of been a stir about you since you started, and here you are, getting into my car.”
    “A stir?” I repeated, my voice swimming with sarcasm.
    “You’ve kind of made a habit of avoiding everyone. People are intrigued by the hot blonde that only ever speaks to Gus.”
    I turned in my seat to look at him, and he laughed at the obvious confusion across my face. “Just because you don’t pay attention to anyone, doesn’t mean people aren’t paying attention to you.” His words reminded me so much of my mom’s that my chest throbbed slightly before he turned on the radio and reversed with a sharp jerk, distracting me from my own misery.
    The atmosphere of the lab changed along with our relationship after that. Fitz began playing his music from the speakers of his computer and my shell slowly began to crack as he inquired and learned about my family and Abby. We talked about movies and music, food and philosophy, along with weird things like textures we didn’t like, laughs we found annoying, and theories on the extinction of dinosaurs. We discussed nearly everything, everything except for Max, my mother, and anything regarding my dad from the last year.
    Sometimes we’d be talking and the conversation would veer dangerously close to one of the topics that had become my own personal Bermuda Triangle, and I’d completely shut down. Thankfully, Fitz never made a big deal of it and would carry the conversation back to safer waters and pretend like I hadn’t just made things incredibly awkward.
     
    “So what’s your hypothesis?” I ask, shrugging off my coat.
    “What are