The Soulmate Equation (28 page)

WHICH MEANT THAT
they woke up like this a good while later, stiff and hot and groaning. River rolled away, falling onto his back and
reaching up to cup the back of his stiff neck. Beside him, Jess attempted to straighten her legs, whimpering.

“I don't want to sound paranoid,” she said, “but I swear someone must've hit us with a Benadryl dart from my doorway. We literally just passed out.”

He laughed. “I haven't napped like that since I was in kindergarten.” Rolling to face her, he pulled her close again, with sweet, sleepy eyes. “I think our bodies needed our brains to shut down for a few minutes.”

“I think you're right.” Jess kissed him, unable to close her eyes. She thought she'd felt secure in this before, but the love they'd just made cemented something different between them. With the tip of her finger, she traced the shape of his jaw, his mouth, and then a thought occurred to her. “Can I ask you something about the company, or do you want to stay in the bubble a little longer?”

“I plan to live in this bubble with you, so ask anything you want. It won't harsh my Jess buzz.”

She grinned, but then it faded. “What's happening with your executive team?”

“David and Brandon are gone. The board fired them the same day I saw you at Twiggs. Tiffany, too.”

Jess gasped. “She knew?”

“I think she sort of had to,” River said, and reached up to rub his eyes. “The only ones left from the original team are me, Lisa, and Sanjeev.” When he pulled his hand away, he gazed at her, unguarded, and Jess caught a glimpse of just how exhausted he was. “We brought on a geneticist from UCSD and the head of chemistry from Genentech to sit on the interim board. I've been promoted to
CEO. Sanjeev will step up as CSO. We're bringing on a new head of marketing, who'll hopefully start in the next week.”

“Are you going to have to make some sort of official announcement?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. We're just waiting on Amalia to confirm the CMO package we've offered, and then the new executive slate will go up on our site.”

She shook her head. “No, I meant an announcement about the results.”

“The results?” His brows pulled together in confusion.

“Just—” Jess faltered, hoping this wasn't insensitive or intrusive. “I mean, what about the
U-T
, and the
Today
show, and the
People
issue comes out Friday, right?”

River looked back and forth between her eyes for a second, and then said quietly, “We had to include it in the IPO audit, but otherwise, no. We're not making a statement on that.”

“Is that…” Again, she hated the possibility that this would insult him. “Is that legal? I mean—”

“Jess.”

“—the original score affected your valuation and—”

He leaned in, kissed her slowly, and then pulled back. “GeneticAlly isn't going to release a statement.”

Unease ballooned in her chest, making her feel like a boat on rocky water. Was he speaking in legalese? “Okay,” she said, frowning.

He studied her reaction and chewed his lip, smiling. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” she said, blinking up to his eyes.

“I know what you're thinking. That I'm being unethical or evasive. I'm not. You just have to trust me.”

“I do, it's just—”

He quieted her with another kiss, a longer one, deep and searching with his hand cupping her jaw and his torso rising back over hers. “Listen, I don't know how to answer this question any other way, so I'm just going to kiss you until you stop asking.”

“I'm saying, because I love you and I don't want your company to—”

“
Jess
.” He kissed her again. A loud, definitive smooch. “You've told me you don't want to know our results.” He stared at her intently. “So, you have to let this one go.”

In shock, she watched him push up and climb out of bed, smirking over his shoulder at her before walking to the bathroom. She heard the water running, and the entire time Jess stared unfocused at the doorway he'd just stepped through. They weren't going to release a statement. River didn't seem to think they would need to. Did that mean…?

Her heart had somehow transformed into a bird inside her.

River returned and reached near the foot of the bed for his boxers, pulling them on. Jess had a million questions but couldn't ask any of them.

Well, maybe one more. She frowned as he stepped into his pants. “Are you… going in to work?”

He buckled his belt and, before reaching for his shirt, bent over to kiss her again. “No. I'm not going in to work.” Straightening, he went silent for a second, and then said, “But do you think it would be okay if I got Juno from school?”

Jess bolted upright, diving for her phone.
Shit.
They had two minutes to make the seven-minute walk.

“I mean,” he clarified, “I want to go get her.”

“I know. Just let me—” She stood, reaching for her clothes.

“Jess.” Putting his hands on her shoulders, he eased her back onto the bed. “I'm saying
I
want to get her. Let me help you.” And then he ran his hands through his hair and took a deep, steadying breath. “If that's okay. I've got to fix things with both of my girls today.”

Two Months Later

I
N THE COMMOTION
of parents passing by and kids jabbering excitedly about their creations, Fizzy slid a small plastic item into Jess's hand, then curled her fingers around it. “Surprise!”

Jess stared down at the USB drive, coming to a stop in the crowded hallway. “Is this what I think it is?”

“If what you think it is is the newest Felicity Chen novel,
Base Paired
, about a hot scientist and a sexy single mom making a love connection through a DNA-based dating app,” Fizzy said, “then
yes
.”

River hovered behind, leaning a curious chin over Jess's shoulder. “Is it as dirty as your other books?”

Fizzy nodded proudly. “Probably dirtier.”

His eyebrows went up. “It's hard to know whether I should be weirded out by that,” he mused, “or proud.” Reaching around Jess's waist, River took the USB. “I'll start it tonight.” At Jess's look, he added, “Consider it research.”

Jess laughed, and his big hand came around hers, guiding her through the maze of tables and exhibits, knowing exactly where to go because he'd been here at one o'clock that afternoon helping Juno set up. For almost a month, River and Juno had worked tirelessly on the roller coaster. To suggest that he had grown more invested in it than Juno had would be unfair—she was, after all, often found awake when she was supposed to be in bed, triple-checking the glue on any one of the two thousand points of contact between all of the Popsicle sticks—but he had also been predictably intense about it. They had abandoned the art tape for something sturdier (read: bigger and faster), and had built four different cars to test on the coaster before finally settling on wheels that had to be ordered from Germany. In the hall closet, Jess now had three remaining boxes of HO-gauge model train track she had no idea what she would do with.

In the end, the coaster was more than four feet long and two feet tall. It had been painstaking work, and after a few nights of watching them with ovary-bursting bliss, Jess had finally registered that her presence wasn't at all needed and spent the time happily reading or watching her shows alone in bed. When the project had finally been completed three nights ago, River took them both for ice cream to celebrate.

So she knew better than to think even GeneticAlly's official IPO the next day would keep him away. Still, they had a company dinner tonight, and she expected River to be at the office until well past midnight—and probably gone again before Jess was awake. The starting price for the stock was higher than even the underwriter had dreamed it could be, and everyone was on tenterhooks
hoping it wouldn't drop in the aftermarket. If it held steady, or climbed, the original GeneticAlly team—minus David, Brandon, and Tiffany, who'd breached an important contractual clause—would each be worth tens of millions overnight.

“What time do you need to leave?” she asked.

He shrugged distractedly, and she wasn't able to pester an answer out of him because then they were at Juno's table, and both River and Juno were beaming with such pride that for a second Jess wanted to ask whose second-grade art-science assignment it had been. But how could she tease those faces? As parents, teachers, and fellow students came around the room to hear Juno's presentation—River was obediently quiet but stood proudly nearby—Jess felt the weight of the past few months press down on her chest like a sandbag. Destiny could also be a choice, she'd realized. To believe or not, to be vulnerable or not, to go all in or not. Tears pricked the surface of her eyes and she turned to Fizzy, pretending an eyelash had gotten in one. Fizzy, to her credit, pulled a tissue and a mirror out of her purse, allowing Jess her dignity.

“He's pretty amazing,” Fizzy agreed in a whisper. She watched River without a trace of tightness or envy in her expression; after moving on from the Rob debacle, Fizzy had realized she was ready for the real deal, updated her DNADuo criteria, and was confident her own Titanium-or-higher wasn't too far away.

When the judges were finished viewing the projects and tabulating the scores, students were encouraged to find their families and wait in the auditorium for results.

It was a familiar scene: rows of folding chairs and excited chatter. Younger kids darted between the aisles while parents took time
to catch up with each other. It wasn't too far in the rearview mirror when a night like this would have stoked the embers of loneliness and been followed by days of smoldering in her own insistence that Single Was Better. But tonight, she felt like the contented heart of a very sturdy family. Her perfect village took up an entire row: Nana Jo and Pops at the end of the aisle with Nana's scooter; Fizzy on her left, and River, then Juno on her right. No buffer zone of empty chairs anymore.

“I'm not saying the other projects weren't great,” River said, leaning in to whisper. “I mean, some were terrible, and some were great, but completely objectively Juno should win this thing.”

“Completely objectively, huh?” Jess bit back a laugh. River's competitive streak ran deep; second-grade art-science competitions were apparently not immune. “Win or lose, I'm impressed with you both.” She pulled back his sleeve, glancing at his watch. It was already six thirty. “Don't you have to leave soon?”

He followed her attention to his wrist. A couple of months ago, Jess imagined, River would have bolted up at the sight of the time. But he just exhaled, calculating, and said, “They're about to do the awards. I'll leave after that.”

“How're you feeling about tomorrow?”

The moment of truth. “Nervous,” he admitted, “but mostly relieved that it's finally here.”

He took her hand in his, and she lifted them, kissing his knuckles. It was as if David's betrayal had eased some tension in him: Things had gone horribly wrong, but it'd turned out okay in the end. Better, even. The new executive team was invigorated and had a tight, instant connection. River had personally retested hundreds
of samples. There was so much media buzz about GeneticAlly lately, Jess was aware that many parents knew who she and River were and not because their children were in school together.

And as much as he insisted it didn't matter, Jess knew that their new Diamond score had confirmed that once upon a time he had discovered something authentic, and he'd actually managed to do something with it to make the world better.

Beside him, Juno was busy talking to a friend in the row ahead, enthusiastically debating the merits of corn snakes versus California kings. Jess made a mental note to remind River not to give an inch on the snake front.

“Juno is such a curious, creative kid,” River said, following Jess's attention. “We need to make sure we get a house with enough space for her projects—”

His words came to an abrupt stop, their eyes meeting as they each seemed to register the magnitude of what he'd just said.
We need to make sure we get a house.
They were together—of course—but they hadn't really talked about what came next.

River turned his face to the front, giving Jess a sweet view of his cheeks darkening. “I was going to talk to you later, but”—he cleared his throat—“one of the teachers earlier mistook me for Juno's dad. Juno explained, but she paused for a second first. It made me think that maybe I haven't been clear enough about what I want.”

Jess's heart pounded and her palm grew clammy against his. She briefly turned her eyes to the left, to confirm that Fizzy and Pops were still cracking up together over some goat videos on Instagram. “You have an IPO tomorrow,” she reminded him. “This conversation can wait.”

“Why?” he asked, angling his gaze to her and grinning. “Is it going to be hard or stressful in some way?”

She smiled around her bottom lip. “Okay. Point taken. What
do
you want?”

“You.” He let the syllable hang for a meaningful beat. River wanted her, and he
wanted
her. His whiskey-brown eyes held the same heat they had in the middle of the night, when he'd woken her with a kiss and turned on the muted bedside lamp before guiding her over him.

But then his intensity broke, and he continued with quiet sincerity, “And Juno. Maybe a dog.” He peeked over her shoulder. “I want Fizzy's insanity and Jo's cooking. Fishing on weekends with Ron. I know it's too early to really decide anything, but when you're ready to take the next step—whatever it is—I'm in.”

“You're saying you want to move in together?”

He laughed a little at this. “Of course I do. My place has more room, but it doesn't feel like a home, and I know how much you guys love the apartment. But we could find something big enough for all of us. With a giant kitchen and bedrooms on the ground floor for your grandparents, or even their own place out back.”

Jess didn't know what to say. She had so much already, it felt almost greedy to want more. Waking up together every morning or the quiet intimacy of mundane tasks like grocery shopping and budgeting and just… sharing the daily load. She imagined moving around each other at the end of the night—putting the last glass in the dishwasher, sharing a quiet groan that Juno left her socks on the couch again. She imagined not having to say goodbye to him on the doorstep, ever.

Ask for all of it. What do you have to lose?

“This summer,” Jess said, lifting her chin as if daring him to balk. “June or July. If you mean it, let's find a place.”

His mouth turned up at the corner. “Yeah?”

She couldn't resist; he was too sweet. Jess leaned in for a kiss. “Yeah.”

But it was cut short by the appearance of Mrs. Klein at the front of the room. River jerked himself away, tapping Juno's shoulder. Jess watched as they looked at each other, and then ahead, and smothered a laugh with her fingertips. She'd always joked that Juno was half Fizzy's, but now she had to admit there was an even more dominant influence afoot. Because, in unison, Juno's and River's eyes went big and round, their spines went ramrod straight.

So, Jess wished for one more thing.

And as the room broke out into applause, and River lifted Juno up into a celebratory hug, Jess quickly threw a few more wishes out there for good measure. But even if nothing went the way they'd planned tomorrow, GeneticAlly had already done at least one spectacular, extraordinary thing.

Juno closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “We did it, River Nicolas!”

Yeah
, Jess thought, watching them.
We did.