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..."

tonight. And thank your dad for me, for going through the

no trouble

hanging up, Roseanne was

Wait a minute...

about how swamped they all were with work, struggling to keep

overheard Owen conclude his call, nudged him teasingly, "Who was that? Little Roseanne,

and Sammy have been moaning about the workload. Only you, Mr. Reynolds,

told, Owen was pushing himself harder than

Vel

made

and cheerful.

pretending to do experiments, fabricating

received the preliminary data yesterday. How much have

The deadly quadruple inquiry.

"...Sorry to have disturbed

a grimace, facing

like these, Stoddard found himself missing Roseanne

she were here, she could whip up a program in minutes, making sense

to luxury is easy, but the reverse is

only little Roseanne could permanently join

...