MIND FIELDS Read Online Free PDF

Sandi was hoping that some of that calm demeanor would rub off on her.
      Sam could sense the tension.  “Relax, Sandi.  It’s not like you haven’t done this before.  Remember what you told me about the first meeting a couple of years back?  ‘Like taking candy from a baby,’ you said.”
      Sandi forced a smile.  “I was only trying to impress you.  You were new back then, and I wanted you.”
      Sam looked up with a grin.
      “Oh, no no no,” Sandi said, “not like that.  I didn’t want you, I wanted you.  You know, for the lab.”
      Sam looked disappointed.  Sandi thought it was cute, but tried hard not to laugh.    “Not that you aren’t an attractive guy, Sam, but I wanted you for your brains.”  This time she did laugh.  “That still doesn’t sound right, does it?”  It was a nervous laugh.  “Not wanted…needed, yeah, I needed you for your brains. I needed you to take neuronanobotics to the next level.  If you’d gone into private practice, I never would have been able to make this work.”  Sandi had no problem talking with Sam about science, but romance was another story.  She could feel a blush washing up over her face.
      Sam smiled.  “It’s OK, Sandi.  I know what you mean.”
      “Thanks.”  She was relieved.
      It had taken a long time for Sandi to get over Paul.  In fact, she wasn’t really sure that she ever had.  She was determined to keep romance as far from the lab as possible.  A few months after she had left Paul, her friend Janice took her down to a club near the harbor to listen to a folk guitar player named Guy Andrews.  Janice had talked her into going on the pretense of having a girls’ night out, but it turned out that Guy was Janice’s cousin, and she figured that he was just what Sandi needed to forget about Paul. Much to Sandi’s surprise, Janice was right.  Guy was no rocket scientist, but he was a fairly bright guy who had just decided that music was more fun than a desk job, and much to his parents’ dismay, had dropped out of college after his third year to pursue his music career.  It hadn’t taken him very far.  At first, that didn’t really matter to him; he didn’t need much.  But as his friends moved into their careers, they gradually distanced themselves from him.  He was starting to doubt his career choice when he met Sandi, but she took his mind off all that, at least for a while.  They had been living together for about a year now.  Sandi wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt good when she was with him.
      From the moment they met, Sandi was convinced that they were soul mates.  He seemed to always know what she wanted, what she needed.   When he took her out to dinner, he managed to find her favorite restaurants without ever asking her so much as what kind of foods she liked.  He instinctively knew her favorite drink, her favorite flowers, her favorite color.   It was uncanny.  As she discovered much sooner than she would have ever imagined, he even knew her favorite erogenous zones.
      Sometimes he would seem so distant that she found herself wondering just what it was that she saw in him, and then he would do something subtle, but so special that all doubts were erased.  When she had a great day at the lab, he wanted to hear all about it, even though she was pretty sure he didn’t understand too much of what she had to say.  And when things weren’t going well, he always knew exactly what to say.  He seemed to know her almost as well as Paul had, but what had taken Paul years of experience seemed to come naturally to Guy.  It was as if he had a guidebook to her soul.  He was perfect, except … she could never quite put her finger on it; maybe it was just that he was not Paul.
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      A man in a pinstripe suit emerged from the door of the committee room.  “They’re ready for you, Dr. Fletcher.”
      Sandi stood, smoothed her suit and looked to Sam for approval.  He nodded ever so