I Love You, Miss Genius novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Pia

Thursday, Dash acted, and that was the worst part.

He gave me orders, he argued about lunch, and he asked my opinion on a font.

He never mentioned the sticky note.

I spent the whole day waiting for the other shoe, and it never dropped.

At midnight the floor was dark except for his office.

I had said I would leave at ten.

I was still there, because he was not leaving, and I would not be the first to go.

He ordered noodles.

We ate on the floor of his office with our backs against the couch, the cartons between us and the city black in the glass.

He had taken off his blazer.

His hoodie was gray and soft at the cuffs, and he kept pushing the sleeves up his forearms.

"Can I ask you something?" he said.

"You're my boss."

"That's a yes?"

"It's a warning."

He grinned and twirled his noodles.

"Why do you think I'm putting a hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a ghost?"

"Because you're desperate."

"Rude."

"Accurate?"

"A little," he said. "But no."

He set the carton down, and his face went quiet in a way I had not seen yet.

"I had a sister," he said. "Pia."

I held very still.

"She was eleven. I was nineteen. She had a kidney disease so rare you can't spell it on the first try."

"I'm sorry."

"There was a trial in Houston that would've fit her. She matched all eleven criteria."

His voice stayed flat and even.

"Nobody told us it existed. Her doctor didn't know."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Love You, Miss Genius from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.