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..."

thank your dad for me, for going

no trouble

Roseanne was slightly

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

Stoddard, having overheard Owen conclude his call, nudged him teasingly, "Who was that? Little Roseanne, right? I could hear her voice." Owen shot him a glance, "You know, so why

both Jen and Sammy have been moaning about the workload. Only you, Mr. Reynolds, can speak of it so lightly. Truly, a man with a date is a different

told, Owen was pushing himself

Vel

he made it

and cheerful.

just pretending to

over nine hours since you received the preliminary data yesterday. How much have you verified? Is the accuracy up to standard? Have the discrepancies been

The deadly quadruple inquiry.

"...Sorry to have disturbed you, I'll see

to his workstation with a grimace, facing

times like these, Stoddard found himself missing

whip up a program in minutes,

from simplicity to luxury is easy, but the

Roseanne could permanently

...