From That Moment Read Online Free Page B

below. A homeless man, lying on a dingy sleeping bag, shone his flashlight right into her eyes. “Come here.” Lia’s heartbeat was racing. Her leg muscles tightened and she bolted into the dark, unable to see. I have to get to the T, I have to get to the T. She ran aimlessly until her eyes recovered from the intense light. Her body relaxed when she saw the familiar sign of the T. 
    Time to go home. Lia got on the train and breathed a long sigh of relief as she stared at her reflection in the pitch black windows. She saw a vulnerable girl, who had no one to protect her. A girl who longed to be held and soothed like a hurt child. 
    It was almost midnight when Lia quietly opened the door to Gianna’s apartment, but Gianna was sitting at her desk, painting. 
    “Hi there. You’re back late.” She looked up, her reading glasses perched low on her nose. Her expression was neutral; she trusted Lia to do the right things at her age.
    “Yeah, I went for a walk.” Lia plopped herself down on the couch. “What are you doing?”
    “Oh just painting something for the bistro, I felt that we needed to change up the decor a bit.”
    “You are a superwoman, Gianna. Most women your age are retiring, and here you are working as hard as ever.”
    “It’s not work, I enjoy this.” 
    “Well I’m going to bed, I’m beat. Do you have any plans tomorrow morning?”
    “Just my routine six month check up, then the usual.”
    “Okay, well let me know how that goes. Please text me.”
    “Don’t worry Lia. I’m fine. Look at me.”
    Lia went over and kissed her aunt on the cheek, peeking at her painting. It looked like an old house. She would ask her about it when she was done.
    “Good night, Gianna.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Lia walked into the lab, her resolve strong. I’m going to get my work done, distractions be damned. It was already 9 a.m., but the lab was a ghost town. I guess everyone is enjoying the nice morning at home. It was probably the last warm day of summer; the forecasters were predicting rain in the 50s over the weekend. 
    She sat down and started reading, taking notes on her iPad. She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn’t notice that the lab was filling up. By the time she got to the last paper in her stack, almost everyone was in lab. Top 40 Music was blasting out of the radio, and Lia looked up as she heard Lady Gaga singing. 
    “Working hard?” Colin stood behind her. He was dressed up today, wearing pressed khakis and a blue button-up shirt. His hair was combed to the side, still wet from the shower. 
    Lia had a vision of kissing his just-shaved cheeks, then moving onto his round lips. Stop! She felt the redness creeping up on her face.
    “Colin? I’m done. Reading the papers, I mean.” Is that all I can say? She cleared her throat. “Should we go over my project or something? I need to know what I’m supposed to work on.” This is so weird.
    Colin swallowed. “Oh right, yes.” 
    He pulled up his chair next to her, and reached over to his desk to get his yellow notepad and a pen. “You’re going to continue the work where I left off in the PNAS paper.” 
    “Oh the structural studies of the transporter? Yeah, I thought there were some next steps that I could work on.” Lia felt much more at ease, discussing neutral technical matters. The knot in her stomach loosened.
    “Oh yeah? What are your ideas?” Colin looked genuinely interested. Now they were two scientists talking shop.  
    “Well, I could study the other half of the maltose transport protein. That would complement and reinforce your results.”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking.” Colin’s eyes gleamed and he sat up. He looked excited. “Do you know how to get started?”
    “I just need a tour around the lab, and I can start purifying some proteins right away.”
    “Of course, sure thing, yes.” He stood up, giving her a close-up view of his perfect butt. Focus. Focus.
    Lia