Billionaire Romance Boxed Set 1(140)

“Mark…”

“What? Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?” He looked at me with pleading eyes, and I breathed a sigh of frustration. If there was one thing I didn’t want to do, it was to be dependent on Eliot’s help. Really, after everything that had happened between us, I thought it would be best if I never spoke to him again. After all, I had reached out to him, and he had pushed me away completely.

“Come on,” Mark said. “Please?”

“Fine,” I said. The problem in front of us did seem intractable.#p#分页标题#e#

The phone rang four times, and I was beginning to think that Eliot wouldn’t pick up. Even though I was nervous to talk with him, I admit that I was disappointed. I wanted so much to hear his voice again. Then, just before the call would have gone to voicemail, Eliot picked up.

“Hello, Brynn.”

“Dr. Herceg?” I said quickly. “Hi! I have you on speakerphone. Mark’s here.”

“Oh,” he said, and coughed. “Oh, hello.”

“Hi, Dr. Herceg,” Mark said. “We just had a question for you.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about the projective algorithm. We’re stuck on one spot.” Mark explained what we had done and where we had gotten stuck. Eliot listened to half of the explanation before interrupting.

“Wait one moment,” he said. “The general case for the second equation you mentioned. It isn’t solved yet.”

“We’re just looking at one specific instance,” I said. “Letting the permutative variable equal one, just for this part.”

The phone was silent.

“And we’ve made some headway on that instance,” Mark said. “But we’re getting stuck when we try to put it back into the original algorithm.”

Still nothing but silence.

“Dr. Herceg?” I ventured.

“No! I mean, yes, interesting. Very interesting, to look at that particular case. I’m going to have to take a peek at that tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Mark said.

“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” Eliot sounded distracted, and I thought I could hear the sounds of a pencil scratching on paper.

“Did you want us to come in anyway?” Mark asked.

No, I thought. I couldn’t. Tomorrow was the day I had planned to go visit the graveyard where my mother was buried.

“Hm, yes, you’re working now?”

“We’re just finishing up in the library now,” Mark said.

“Would you mind just leaving your work for me to look at tomorrow?” Eliot said. “Just leave it at the main desk. I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” Mark said, a bit deflated.

“Excellent work, you two,” Eliot said. “Brynn?”

“Yes?”

“Excellent work.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“I’ll see you both later.”

“Goodbye, Dr. Herceg,” Mark said, but the line had already gone dead.

“Well,” I said. “That didn’t help us solve our problem.”

“I’m going to come in anyway tomorrow,” Mark said. “You in?”

“I… I can’t.”

“Come on, Brynn!” Mark was getting pumped up just thinking about it, I could tell. “He said our work was interesting.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s just tomorrow I had plans to go see my mom.” I began to tear up just thinking about it. For the last week and a half, I had let everything else get in the way of the real reason I was in Hungary. Guilt washed over me as I thought about all of the lame excuses I had leaned on to prevent my going.

“Oh,” Mark said. His face drew down into a serious expression. “Of course. I’m sorry, Brynn.” Mark put his arm around me and hugged me sideways.

“Hey, whatever,” I said, leaning into him. “No big deal.”

“I’ll take copious notes,” Mark said. “Whatever he says, I’ll write down, and I promise I won’t do any more work until you’re there.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I owe you.”

I always seemed to owe Mark. Especially once in college, especially after what happened at that party, I already owed Mark big time.

Last year I had dared to venture out to a party at one of the dorms on campus. I danced and drank with Shannon and had fun, really I did. But then Shannon left and I had to go to the bathroom. Somehow I ended up in the back courtyard of the dorm, where off in the bushes a group of stoners passed around a pipe. I turned to leave them alone, but as I went back through the doorway some frat guy caught me by the arm and pulled me through the open door of a dorm room.