Page 62 - The Love Hypothesis

one of her friends was too busy lately, so not that, either. She’d participated

in that volleyball tournament, but it had been over a year ago.
“Um. I work out?” She would have loved to wipe that smug expression
off his face. So much. “Whatever. We should do something together on a

regular basis. I don’t know, maybe get coffee? Like, once a week? Just for
ten minutes, at a place where people could easily see us. I know it sounds

annoying and like a waste of time, but it’ll be super short, and it would
make the fake dating more credible, and—”

“Sure.”
Oh.

She’d thought it would take more convincing. A lot more. Then again,
this was in his interest, too. He needed his colleagues to believe in their
relationship if he was to cajole them into releasing his funding.

“Okay. Um . . .” She forced herself to stop wondering why he was being
so accommodating and tried to visualize her schedule. “How about

Wednesday?”
Adam angled his chair to face his computer and pulled up a calendar

app. It was so full of colorful boxes that Olive felt a surge of vicarious
anxiety.

“It works before eleven a.m. And after six p.m.”
“Ten?”
He turned back to her. “Ten’s good.”

“Okay.” She waited for him to type it in, but he made no move to.
“Aren’t you going to add it to your calendar?”

“I’ll remember,” he told her evenly.
“Okay, then.” She made an effort to smile, and it felt relatively sincere.

Way more sincere than any smile she’d ever thought she’d be able to muster
in Adam Carlsen’s presence. “Great. Fake-dating Wednesday it is.”

A line appeared between his eyebrows. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“Saying what?”
“ ‘Fake dating.’ Like it’s a thing.”

“Because it is. Don’t you watch rom-coms?”