Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

No sooner had she said it than she was out the door in a rush.

Roseanne felt numb all over.

Oh well, as long as they're happy...

In the lab-

Owen was poring over two sets of data from last week, spotting a discrepancy in the fourth column of the second set, just about to call Sammy over when his phone rang.

He answered it without looking-

"Hello?"

"Mr. Reynolds, it's Roseanne."

Owen paused, his gaze slowly drifting away from the screen, his voice softening, "What's up? Everything okay?"

"My dad, he... he wants to invite you over for dinner. He's cooking himself... If you're too busy, it's okay, I'll just let him know..."

"I'm free."

Roseanne stopped dead for a few seconds: "...Isn't the lab swamped?"

"It's manageable."

"So..."

said, "See you tonight. And thank your dad

no trouble at

hanging up, Roseanne was

Wait a minute...

Jen was texting her complaints about how swamped they all were with work, struggling to keep up with their schedule. And he says "it's

having overheard Owen conclude his call, nudged him teasingly, "Who was that? Little Roseanne, right? I could hear her

workload. Only you, Mr. Reynolds, can speak of it so lightly. Truly, a man with a date is a

told, Owen was pushing himself harder

Vel

made it

and cheerful.

to do experiments,

them, then glanced at his watch, "If I'm not mistaken, it's been over nine hours since you received the preliminary data yesterday. How much have you verified? Is the accuracy up to standard? Have the discrepancies

The deadly quadruple inquiry.

to have disturbed

his workstation with a grimace, facing

like these, Stoddard

whip up a program in minutes,

from simplicity to luxury is

little Roseanne could permanently join

...