“These last seven months are because of you, Jerry,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you personally. I think Nick may be my soul mate. So, what do you need, Jerry?”
“I’m thinking about asking Bella to marry me.”
“That is so cool, Jer! You guys make a cute couple.” She knew marriage was only a matter of time after they got their matching his-and-hers tattoos.
“I know, but I just wanted to make sure it’s the right thing.” “Jerry, you are such a great guy. I can say without hesitation,
you two will be great together.”
“You really think so? You really think she’d say yes if I asked her?”
“She would be a fool not to.”
“Thanks, Shel. I just really needed a woman’s point of view.”
Shelly hung up smiling. No sooner had she put down the phone than it rang again.
“Forget something, Jer?” There was a pause. She could hear breathing. “Jer?”
“Dr. White?” a man asked with an accent. “Dr. Shelly White?”
Shelly froze. She held the phone both lifelessly and with immense pressure at the same time. Her heart began to race. Her leg began to shake.
“Can I help you?” she mustered.
“I believe it is I who can help you, Dr. White.”
She swallowed hard. She had not rehearsed this moment. She ached for this call but was not prepared for what to say. What do I do? If his life is in danger, should I keep him on the phone? What if we get cut off?
“Do you have something to write on?” he asked.
“Y-yes,” she said, the word stumbling from her mouth, her hands frantically searching for the pen and paper that were right in front of her. “Um, yes, go ahead.”
“I am going to give you a formula for you to take to that new lab
that I read about in the paper. The one with the models, yes?” “Yes,” she answered, not sure if she was supposed to.
He started speaking, listing off numbers and calculations. Shelly wrote anxiously, trying to relax her heart rate and periodically wiping the sweat from her hands and the pen. The series of codes and mathematical equations took three pages of a yellow legal pad.