Mind Reader

by Kirsty McManus

  “Oh. Right. Actually, I have heard of this particular firm subsidising university study for some of its employees, so I suppose they might be open to advising you. But to start, this role involves assisting management. I’m afraid it’s not as glamorous as sales and marketing at a nightclub, but it should be quite rewarding, considering your enthusiasm for science.”

  “I’m not interested in glamour. All I want to do is make a difference, however small the contribution.”

  “Are you free to come in for an interview on Friday?”

  “Of course.” That means I can still go to Byron Bay tonight.

  “Great. I’ll send you an email with all the relevant information, and I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

  “Perfect. Thank you, Amy. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.”

  I hang up. That went better than I expected. I’m pretty good on the phone, but I’m even better in person. Now I could essentially only be days away from working in a scientific field, and people like Beatrix Mackenzie will no longer be able to scoff at me.

  I can be just like them if I want to be.

  TEN

  Beatrix

  The rest of the week goes smoothly, and Elijah settles in quite well. Charlie ended up asking Polly in HR why we weren’t notified of his appointment to Steve’s role or given the opportunity to apply for it ourselves, and she said it was because Elijah already worked in the same position in Sydney—and he had requested the transfer when he heard Steve would be taking leave. She mentioned that Charlie and I were more than welcome to apply for Elijah’s old position down south, which was temporarily being looked after by one of their sales managers, but we both decided we were happy in Brisbane for now.

  And while I always liked Steve, I actually think Elijah fits into our team better. He has a laid-back, but still driven attitude to the workplace, almost like how I imagine Richard Branson would operate. I haven’t mentioned it to Charlie, but I may have the tiniest of crushes on our new boss. Not that it will ever go anywhere. We have a very strict policy banning interoffice relationships since there was a scandal a while back, when one of the secretaries dated one of the lab guys. After they broke up, the secretary didn’t handle it well, and she would often burst into tears at the office, or confront her ex during staff meetings. It was all very awkward. So, as a result, Steve implemented the no-fraternising rule. I’ve been totally fine with it…until now.

  Still, I can control myself. And besides, it’s never a good idea to get involved with the boss, even if there isn’t an official rule.

  The weekend is quite low-key. After my previous one, I’m glad to chill out on my own, uninjured.

  But when I arrive at work on Monday, my whole world is turned upside down.

  Kellan Gallo is sitting in reception, reading something on his phone.

  “What are you doing here?” I demand.

  He looks up, surprised. “Beatrix! I didn’t know you worked here! What a coincidence!”

  “What do you mean, you didn’t know I worked here? Why would you be here otherwise?”

  He stands up so he can talk to me face-to-face, but his height means he is now looking down on me. “This is my place of employment now too.”

  My mouth falls open. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m StemWide’s new intern.”

  “Is this some kind of prank? Did Charlie put you up to this?”

  “No, no. I assure you, I’m genuine. You got me thinking after we met, and I realised I needed to do something with my life.”

  I frown. “So you decided to get a job at a lab?”

  “Yes. Now you can teach me how to be like you.”

  “I don’t know about that. Do you have a background in science?”

  “Nope,” he says cheerfully. “This is an unpaid position. The whole point is that I start my education here. And if I do well, the company might even subsidise my degree.”

  I stare at him. Seriously? “Whose intern are you?”

  “I have no idea. But I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.”

  As if on cue, Polly appears. “Hi, Beatrix, Kellan. I see you’ve already met.”

  “We have indeed,” Kellan says. “And I must say, it’s lovely to see you again, Polly.”

  I’ve never seen Polly fawn over anyone, but it seems Kellan has a weird effect on her. She smooths down her hair and flushes. “The pleasure is all mine, Kellan.”

  She catches me looking at her, bewildered, and clears her throat. “Ah, Beatrix, before Steve left, he decided that you and Charlie could use some additional help, so we got an agency to find us an intern. Kellan is the successful candidate.”

  I’m tempted to say there mustn’t have been any other applicants, but I hold my tongue. “Why did Steve think we needed help?”

  “I suppose because he knew he was leaving and that you might have a slightly heavier workload until Elijah settled in. Anyway, for now, I trust you’ll show Kellan around and get him acquainted with the office.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  Polly smiles at Kellan. “Beatrix is a gem. She’ll look after you.”

  “Oh, I believe it,” he says, winking at me.

  Once Polly is out of earshot, I look at Kellan again. “Are you sure you want to report to me and Charlie?”

  “Yes. Why not?”

  I sigh. “I…I just… never mind. Come on. Let’s find you a desk.”

  I am very, very unsettled by this turn of events. How did Kellan Gallo, of all people, end up as my intern? Surely he’d think that kind of work was beneath him? It’s like…like…I don’t know…like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory deciding to become a pro-footballer.

  We ride up in the elevator to the third floor. Elijah is standing near my desk. “Ah, Kellan Gallo, I presume,” he says.

  “The one and only.”

  “Welcome. I hope you enjoy working here. We’ve got a great team, and I know Beatrix and Charlie will ensure your settling-in process goes as smoothly as it did for me.”

  I wonder if anyone apart from me and Charlie knows what Kellan does on Friday and Saturday nights. They’re not exactly acting like it.

  I nod politely. “Of course.”

  “Excellent. Well, my door is open if you have any questions, but you’ll be in good hands with this one.”

  He smiles at me and heads to his office.

  Kellan looks at me. “What’s the deal with you and Mr. Boss Man?”

  I blush. “Nothing. What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t know. I felt like maybe I sensed a vibe of some sort between you.”

  “Shh! There was no vibe. Interoffice relationships are banned.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame.”

  “Kellan?”

  Charlie has arrived and looks as stunned by his presence as I still feel.

  He beams at her. “Charlie! It’s great to see you again.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “He’s our new intern,” I say dryly.

  Her eyes widen. “What?”

  “Exactly.”

  She seems to struggle with this revelation for a moment and then shrugs. “Cool.”

  I furrow my brow. She reconciled that a little too quickly.

  “So, what would you like me to do?” Kellan asks. “A little filing? A little DNA separation?”

  Charlie suddenly smiles. “Actually, that reminds me. Bea, didn’t you have that school visit tomorrow?”

  “Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot. You’re coming with me, right?”

  “I’m afraid not. I have Bill arriving from Auckland tomorrow. It was a last-minute thing, so I was going to see if you could either handle the workshop on your own or reschedule. But now you can take Kellan!”

  Kellan wrinkles his nose. “Did you just say the words school and workshop?”

  The last thing I want to do is attend a DNA workshop at the local high school with Kellan.

  “I think I’ll reschedule.”

  “Oh, but think of the
poor kids,” Charlie says with an exaggerated sad face.

  “When have you ever been concerned about a bunch of random kids?” I ask.

  “I haven’t. But you have. Remember, you pushed for this. You want to get more young people interested in science, so we don’t end up like that movie, Idiocracy.”

  “I love that film!” Kellan says.

  “Really?” I ask. I’m about to make a crack about how he probably doesn’t see the irony in it when he surprises me.

  “Yes! I found it a worryingly accurate representation of where society is headed. And for the record, I think by the year 2505, we’re going to sound a lot less intelligent than the way they talk in that movie. Do you know they recently added the words amazeballs and douchebaggery to the Oxford dictionary?”

  His response catches me off guard. It appears Charlie feels the same, because she bursts out laughing. “Kellan, I think you’re my new favourite person, and I totally forgive you for not wanting to date me. It’s your loss anyway, and I’m sure you’ll come to regret it. But in the meantime, I’m really glad you’ll be working with us.”

  “I’m not sure how to respond to any of that, so I’ll just say I look forward to working with you both too.”

  I study Kellan for a moment. “I suppose I shouldn’t put off the workshop, but Kellan, I need you to follow my lead tomorrow. You’ll be representing StemWide, and we have standards to uphold.”

  He smiles. “I promise I will be an absolute beacon of respectability.”

  “Why do I find that so hard to believe?”

  “I promise, dear Beatrix. You will not regret taking me.”

  I really, really hope that’s true.

  ELEVEN

  Kellan

  I offer to pick up Beatrix the next morning, since we’re heading straight to the school DNA workshop.

  When she gets in the car after loading a big box in the back, she looks around as if wondering how she found herself here.

  “You know, you don’t have to have all those walls up on my account,” I say.

  “I don’t have any walls up, apart from the professional boundaries I impose for work.”

  “But you’ve been like this from the moment we met.”

  “I just find it hard to trust people who don’t live their lives according to facts.”

  “Hey, I believe in evolution and the fact that humans came well after dinosaurs too. Just because I have the ability to see someone’s soulmate does not mean I’m gullible or uneducated.”

  “I guess I worry it’s the gullible and uneducated you seek out.”

  “That’s not true. I never approach clients.”

  “What about Charlie?”

  “She’s the first one, I swear. Just ask my friend, Roxy. She’s the most straight-up person you’ll ever meet, and she’ll vouch for me.”

  I look at him curiously. “How does she fit into your life?”

  “She owns Heaven Sent, where I work from. We met a few years ago, and she saw how many people I helped, so she offered her club as a meeting place.”

  “Does she profit off you?”

  “Well, I do pay her a small fee, but that’s only fair. She never asked, though. And I suppose she makes a bit of cash from the drinks my clients purchase after seeing me, but that doesn’t change anything.”

  “It kind of does.”

  “Are you this tough on everyone?”

  “No.” She’s quiet for a moment. “I’m just having a hard time figuring you out.”

  I smile. “Don’t worry. You’ll grow to love me in time.”

  “Uh…”

  I can see she’s about to refute my claim, so I change the subject. “Tell me what we’re doing today.”

  She seems relieved to finally talk about something in her comfort zone. “We’re trying to get students more interested in science by showing them the DNA in strawberries.”

  “I thought DNA was too small to see with the naked eye.”

  “It is. But we’re doing an experiment to extract the part of the strawberry that contains its DNA.”

  “So, it doesn’t look like those swirly ladder images you see in sci-fi movies?”

  “Oh, no. Sorry, it’s still cool, but no, it doesn’t look like that.”

  At least she didn’t think my question was so stupid that she laughed in my face.

  We arrive at the school, and I carry Beatrix’s stuff inside, despite her insistence she can do it herself.

  “I know you can, but I’m your intern, and since I’m not going to be any use relaying scientific information, you might as well use the skills I am capable of handling.”

  She smiles appreciatively. I feel like this is some kind of breakthrough.

  As we enter the administration building, she shudders. “This brings back memories.”

  “I take it they aren’t pleasant ones?” I ask.

  “Uh, no. Definitely not pleasant ones. If you haven’t already noticed, I’m a scientist. That translated to unpopular nerd back in the mid-2000s. Facebook was only just becoming mainstream around that time, and no one had iPhones yet. Science and technology were still considered extremely uncool.”

  “Don’t worry, I know all about being uncool. Predicting soulmates for the girls in my grade was a good party trick, but it didn’t exactly make me popular with the guys. And the girls saw me more as a friend than anything else.”

  She looks at me with renewed interest. “So, you weren’t always so…” She seems to struggle for the right word to use.

  “No, I wasn’t this charming back then. It took years of refining to perfect. But if you repeat that to anyone, I might have to kill you.”

  “Noted.” She looks like she’s holding back a laugh.

  We reach the front counter, and a staff member smiles up at us. “May I help you?”

  “Yes, hi. I’m Beatrix Mackenzie, and this is my colleague, Kellan. We’re here for the strawberry DNA workshop.”

  “Oh, right. Yes, of course. Welcome. We’re so grateful that people like you take time out of your busy schedules to help out our kids. Just sign in, and I’ll show you to the classroom.”

  Both Beatrix and I sign our names in the register and put lanyards around our necks, advertising the fact we’re visitors. The woman leads us down the hall and knocks on a random door.

  Inside are roughly twenty bored-looking teenagers. Since I turned twenty-one, I haven’t been a fan of anyone under that age. I can’t decide if I would have preferred to work with primary-school-aged children today. They tend to be easier to beat on an intellectual level than teenagers.

  Beatrix has a quick chat with the teacher, who offers to stay in the background and act as an extra set of hands. The classroom has a bunch of lab equipment at the back, so the teacher orders everyone into groups while Beatrix and I unpack her box of goodies.

  “I must say, this is a lot sexier than I thought it would be,” I tease, holding up a strawberry.

  “We have enough adolescents here already,” Beatrix says dryly. “Please behave.”

  I wink at her. “I’ll try my best.”

  “When you’re ready, come and collect a handful of strawberries each,” Beatrix tells the class.

  We both find ourselves inundated with teenagers smelling like cheap body spray. I hurriedly hand out the fruit to get them away from my personal space.

  Beatrix puts several strawberries in a small bowl in front of her. “Now, I want you to crush them up, like so.” She brandishes a small tool that I think I want to call a pestle. Is that right? Pestle?

  I watch, impressed as she grinds up the strawberries in front of her. She’s so obviously good at what she does, and her confidence is a huge turn-on. I’ve never seen something so attractive, although, I suppose having her lying naked on my bed while I feed her the remaining strawberries dipped in chocolate might be slightly more exciting.

  The teenagers follow her lead, while Beatrix gets out some detergent and salt in preparation for the next stage.
<
br />   I’m really intrigued by how easily she holds the attention of the kids around her. I’ve never wanted children myself, but seeing Beatrix here laughing and joking with them makes me think she’d be an excellent mother. And for a flash of a second, I wonder what her children would look like with my…well, half of my DNA.

  And then I get side-tracked because Beatrix mentions the final step of the process, which involves adding alcohol to the strawberry, salt, and detergent puree. Now we’re talking.

  I’m a little disappointed—along with half the class, it seems—to find out the alcohol is just the stuff used in cleaning wounds. Beatrix measures out some of the liquid, pouring it into the mixture, and two separate layers form.

  “That top layer you can see is the strawberry DNA,” she explains.

  There’s a bunch of oohing and aahing, which turns to childish joking about snot as the kids scoop it out of their bowls.

  “I never knew it was that easy,” I say to Beatrix.

  “It’s amazing, huh? You can do it with other fruit too, but strawberries are easiest. And I’ve refined this process to maximise the amount you get. It’s all about the cooling and heating. If the alcohol is really cold, it works better.”

  I smile, loving her enthusiasm and earnestness.

  “What?” she asks self-consciously.

  “Nothing. I’m just really glad you brought me with you today.”

  She turns away, flustered, and busies herself with the rest of her presentation.

  I grin, glad I’ve been able to get under her skin.

  The time passes much more quickly than I expected, and suddenly we’re done. On the drive back to the office, Beatrix is quiet.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Nothing.”

  “How can you be thinking about nothing?”

  “Okay, it’s not nothing. But it’s not important.”

  “What are you doing tonight?”

  She furrows her brow. “I don’t know. Going home?”