Page 96 of Not In The Contract

“Will you continue in that field?” Taylor asked, but Hayden cut in before I could answer.

“Of course she will.” Hayden laughed. “Why would anyone get their PhD in something they had no interest in pursuing?”

To my relief, they quickly fell into their own conversation and I loosened a hard breath.

“Cam, could you switch seats with Devon, please?”

I looked up at the young woman whose name had already escaped me, and her dark-haired partner who rolled her eyes.

“Happy wife, happy life,” Cam teased as she got to her feet.

I glanced at Alex, who nodded encouragingly, and swapped seats.

“I’m Elliot,” she reminded me, and I smiled in relief.

“Thanks.” I chuckled shyly. “I’m not usually bad with names but then again, I don’t usually meet seven people all at once.”

“I get it.” She snickered. “I guess I was lucky in a sense that I was the first outsider.”

“You were?”

“I was the first person to be invited from the outside,” she explained, and launched into the story of her relationship with Cam and how her career had changed ever since.

“You’re in your last year, right?” she asked. “I didn’t do the whole Honors, Masters, thing.”

“Yeah, all I have left is submitting my thesis and I’m finally done.”

“That must be so exciting,” she gushed. “I can’t imagine how stressful it must be studying for so long. What are your plans after?”

“Honestly,” I chuckled mirthlessly, that familiar foreboding taking hold of my lungs, “I don’t know. I’ve been studying for years now and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do once it’s all over.”

“I can sympathize with you.” Elliot frowned. “Not to say that I know exactly how it feels, though. I worked a dead-end job for years just to make ends meet and I couldn’t change it. I had no idea what industry I could work in, or which one I evenwantedto work in.”

I nodded, sensing Alex’s gaze on the side of my face. “If it wasn’t for my scholarship ending,” I sighed, “I’d probably look at studying something else. I feel like I’m standing in front of a dark, deep hole with no idea what will happen when I jump in.”

“Staying in your comfort zone is always enticing,” Elliot said sagely. “Even though I hated my job, the thought of resigning and changing it terrified me. But sometimes life has a way of surprising you. Sometimes that dark hole is just a scary-looking tunnel that leads you to something even better than you’d ever imagined.”

I’d heard similar sentiments before but coming from Elliot it felt more concrete. She’dexperiencedthe change she was talking about. Maybe it was possible for me, too.

“You work in software engineering now, right?” I asked.

Elliot’s eyes lit up and her smile was near blinding. “Yeah, from exhausted hostess to team lead on the latest project.” She chuckled proudly. “My very own Cinderella story.”

“And you bagged Queen Charming,” I teased, feeling at ease enough with Elliot to tease her just a little bit.

She was someone I could relate to and I didn’t feel like an awkward outsider with her.

“Indeed I did,” she said, casting a lovestruck gaze over to Cameron. “Speaking of which, what’s up with you and Alex?”

Heat crawled up my neck. “Me and Alex?” I hedged, trying my best to sound nonchalant.

“Yeah, are you two an item yet?”

Yet?

I shook my head. “I don’t know if that’s in the cards for us,” I said. “I only have a few weeks left with her anyway, and she’s probably too busy.”

“You know,” she hummed, her gaze light, “I thought the same thing about Cam.”