CHAPTER 19

The first hour of her plane ride, Myrna could think of nothing but Brian and all the things she wanted to do to him when she saw him. The plane could not get to Portland fast enough. Eventually, she grew tired of checking her wristwatch every thirty seconds and sorted through her mail. Among the textbook advertisements and interdepartmental memos, she found a letter from a funding agency. Her last ditch grant! She’d almost missed the submission deadline and knew it wasn’t her best work, but without research funding, the university wouldn’t let her keep her job for long. She didn’t have tenure yet.

Myrna hesitated, afraid to open the letter. She’d applied on a whim the day after she’d left Brian in Des Moines. She had the groupies to thank for the inspiration. And now that she knew for sure her government-sponsored grant would not be renewed for the following year, she didn’t just want to work on this project as a fun summer side project. She needed this project to keep a roof over her