not quite sure if it should take the worm or worry about a hook.
He smiled at her happily, sure she must like them; sure he had chosen well. “You see, Anna Dawn,” he explained, simply, “I like to go for walks on the weekends and I found these by the roadside yesterday evening. When I saw them, I wondered if my little botanist, Ms. Hamlyn, could identify them for me? What do you think?”
She leaned in for a closer look. “Pretty.… ”
He offered them to her. “Here. Take them. Smell. They are quite fragrant.”
She put them to her nose and inhaled. "Yes, very sweet, like honey.”
“Well?” Omega looked at her intently, waiting for an answer.
“Well ... what?”
“What are they? You are a botanist?”
She examined the flowers more closely over the top of her glasses. “I don't think I'm familiar with this particular plant,” she admitted, avoiding his penetrating gaze. “I need my field guide.”
His gaze softened. “Not to worry, Anna Dawn. The world is full of questions wanting answers, is it not? I just thought it could be a little ... thing ... between us. I find the flowers, you identify them. Could be fun.”
She nodded, “Yes. It could be.”
“So, perhaps you could just tell me what they are later, when you have time to find out.”
“Be glad to," she said, handing them back to him. “It's very nice of you, to think of me.”
“Oh, please keep them. I picked them for you.”
She looked at him, still not quite sure what to think.
His eyes twinkled. “I assure you, I am not flirting with you, Ms. Hamlyn, if that is what is bothering you; for I am a happily married man. It would just be nice to get to know you a little better and I thought this would break the ice between us a little faster.”
She smiled, accepting his answer with a tilt of her head. “In that case, Dr. Omega, I'll have to watch myself around you. I'm not one to open up easily, not without a fight.”
“I never for one moment thought you would be,” he answered.
Anna Dawn put down the flowers. “Tell me about your wife, Dr. Omega,” she ventured cautiously. “What’s she like?”
Omega's eyes lit up. “Johanna? Oh, she is wonderful. A brilliant woman. I consider her a great scientist in her own right. Insightful, resourceful, brave and very dear.”
“I'd like to meet her sometime.”
“I hope you may. But it may be a while. She is in Africa right now.”
“Africa?!”
“Yes. Working on one of our projects.” He sighed. “I do not see her very often these days. We are both so busy. I miss her.” For a moment, he stared off into space, then cleared his throat, bringing himself back. “You seem a bit lonely yourself, Anna Dawn. Am I wrong?” Here, he was getting personal again and chuckled inwardly at the thought.
Anna Dawn hesitated. “I live alone, if that's what you mean.”
“Partly. I guess what I am asking is, where are your family? Who are the important people in your life?”
She reddened. “My, how we do pry, Professor!”
“Forgive me. But I do take some pride in reading people, and I am usually proven correct. Forgive me for noticing, but I sense an emptiness in you. Like you are the only person in your world. It is very sad.”
She played with her hands. “I don’t know why I’m talking to you like this,” she said hesitantly. “I’m not one to open up to an old acquaintance, much less someone I’ve only known a day. But,” she pointed a finger at his nose, “there is something about you, Dr. Omega…. I don’t know what. Somehow, you do make me feel I could tell you anything.”
“So you could, lass,” Omega answered quickly. “I would never betray your trust. Are you alone, then, as I suspected?”
She nodded. “Yes. Quite alone.” Then she looked up sharply. “But I manage. I’ve managed on my own for some time.”
“I have no doubt of it,” Omega said. “I understand what it is to be lonely, Anna Dawn. Please know that you can talk to me if there is no one else to listen.”
She chewed her lower lip, thinking, then said, “I’ve been orphaned since I was three. Car accident. Killed my parents and my baby brother. I was raised by my Aunt Carol, my father's sister. She just passed away last winter. She was all the family I had. So, you see,” she forced a smile, “after all these years, I'm an orphan again.”
For a moment, she waited, as if deciding whether to say more; then, he could tell from her face, she smelled the hook. That would be all the fishing he would get done today.
“I'll look for something to put these in,” she said, gathering up the newspaper and blue flowers and starting for the door.
Omega was wise enough to know now was not the time to press her more, so he simply called to her as she walked out, “By the way, Ms. Hamlyn, I notice your eyes are the same color as the flowers. Just an interesting coincidence. Have a nice morning.”
Anna Dawn flopped back in her chair, befuddled. For a long moment, she examined the wildflowers, her fingers strangely trembling. How was she supposed to react to things like this? If he made her so uncomfortable, why the devil did she like him so much?
Maybe she was being silly, reading things into their banter that was all perfectly innocent. What was there to fear, really? That somebody was being nice, was actually attempting to care about her? She had been alone so long, independent and self-directed … no one else to have to plan for, or worry about. This whole idea of permitting a personal relationship to develop between them—-a “thing” he had called it—-rubbed like a new pair of jeans. But, then, she had never known a father or an uncle or a grandfather, so how could she know what to expect from a man? Worse, she had never known a mother, so how could she know how a woman effectively interacts with a man, whatever his role? And beyond that, it had to be admitted, her new boss was an entirely different animal altogether from anyone she had ever met, from either sex. How one was to appropriately respond to him was anybody's guess. An instruction manual had not been written on the likes of Dr. James Omega.
Reflectively, she stared at the cheerful bouquet in her hands. Found them by the roadside, did he? she thought. The wild roses from the previous week probably came from his walks, too. Out dear old professor seems to have a knack for finding things others pass by, whether it's flowers or ... me. The question is, do I like being found?
As she fingered the tiny blossoms, she felt a small shiver of delighted discovery—-each delicate blue flower had a perfect, white star in the center.
Boxes began arriving that afternoon. Anna Dawn was sitting at her desk, looking over the fall class schedule when the UPS courier came through the door with two packages, one roughly the size of a microwave oven and the second the size of a shoebox.
“M’am,” he said, “some parcels for a Dr. J. Omega?”
“Yes,” she said. “You may leave them here. He's out of the office, but I'll sign for him.”
“Fine. Where do you want them put?”
“Over there, by his door.” She pointed to his office. “What are they?”
The courier shrugged. “I don't look inside 'em, M'am; I just deliver 'em. But most of ‘em say ‘Handle with Care.’ Were you expecting something fragile?”
Anna Dawn shrugged. “I guess so. Be careful with them,” she cautioned.
When Omega returned an hour later, there were seventeen boxes of varying dimensions awaiting him outside his office door.