Love Expectations (Season 1 of Nata and Phillip's Romance) ✔️

23. 'It's a long story'

Phillip

Some trees are taller, but the buildings on  UChicago campus aren't that different from the way they were during my college days. Neither is the inside of Professor Mallard's lab. Not that I've actually been to this lab or even this floor, but the scratched-up walls, damaged countertops, and ancient lab equipment are stuck in the last decade.

"How many people share this space?" I count the benches that seem like they belong to different people.

"All the bioengineering grad students." Professor Mallard's answer sounds like I'm the dentist pulling his teeth and not a potential benefactor.

"Did you and Mom use it as well?"

"No." He jerks his chin up and walks away. If he moves any farther, I'll have to start shouting to maintain our conversation. Is he trying to be formal with me, or does he think my wealth is contagious and he wants nothing to do with it? "Your Mom was an undergrad. I was leading her biology 101 class, no lab work." He crosses his hands on his lower back and rolls back and forth on his heels. "But I did spend some of my time here in those days."

I got through higher levels of bio, thanks to Nata. A wave of tenderness washes over me at the thought of Nata. Me showing her my renovated apartment, and her hasty retreat from my bedroom at my request to visit hers brings the corner of my mouth up. 'You show me yours because I've shown you mine?' I shouldn't have said that, but joking around her and seeing her reactions makes them worth every time. I like making her smile. Her glares. The way her chest betrays her emotions with shallow breaths.

The combination of a smart and confident woman who knows her work and what she wants, with a too-honest and too-open girl I spent so much time with at college checks some of the boxes I never knew I had. I push the thoughts of Nata away. I'm here to find out about my mother.

I pretend to inspect the ancient rotovap and close the distance between the professor and me. "Was Mom a good student?"

"Grace wasn't going to pursue a career in sciences if that's what you're asking. That's one thing she was sure of." The tiny smile on his lips and glazed gaze make me want to push harder, crawl inside his head, and see the images of her he has there.

"Why do you say that?" Impatience seeps through my voice.

He paces up and down the short space between the two rows. "She changed her major three times. Grace taking biology was your father's influence. He was trying to persuade her to give science a chance."

I narrow my eyes. That's news. "You knew my dad?"

"No, we've never met." Mallard shakes his head and increases the speed of his pacing, making me dizzy. "Grace and Tom were childhood friends." That's the same information Dad told me. Mom and he didn't have one grand meet cute. They went to the same school and were neighbors throughout their childhood.

The professor moves papers on one of the benches, straightening already neat piles of paperwork. "She said he was sort of a big brother figure for her." This tracks as well. I don't dare speak, hoping for more glimpses into Mom's life to tumble off his lips. He shrugs. "At least that's what she told me. She listened to him. Sometimes too much."

"Too much?" My breath hitches. Why would he say that?

"Grace." He sighs, and that almost imperceptible smile is back to his lips. "She was charming. A people-person. She liked everyone. Everyone liked her." The smile widens on his lips as he falls deeper into his memories. My desire to be inside his head triples. "It was hard not to like your mother," he continues. "She was one of those sunshine people who brightened the room. Who everyone gravitates to." He rubs the side of his face. "I always thought she belonged in the center of the room. She told stories so well."