Chapter 118
SOPHIA’S POV
Lance and I stayed at our table after Archer disappeared into the private room. Neither of us mentioned what had just happened but I could see it on Lance’s face.
“Should we order?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah.” He set the menu down. “Let’s order p>
We chose our food and sat in comfortable silence for a while. I kept my back deliberately turned to the private room. I didn’t need to see what was happening in there.
About twenty minutes later, the door to the private room opened. Archer stepped out, straightening his jacket. His eyes looked round the dining room and landed on Lance and me almost immediately.
He walked straight toward us.
“Well,” he said, stopping beside our table with a smile “I didn’t expect to find my two favorite people sitting out here p>
Lance looked up. “Professor Reese p>
“Don’t give me that tone.” Archer pulled out the empty chair between us and sat down without being invited “You invited me to this restaurant. Did you think I wouldn’t find you p>
I blinked. “You knew we were here p>
“I saw Lance’s car in the lot.” Archer smiled. “I went to handle something unpleasant first. Now I’m here for the actual reason I came.” He signaled the waiter and ordered two vegetarian dishes without looking at the menu. When the waiter left, he caught Lance’s expression and shrugged. “I’m getting old. My body wants greens now. It’s an indignity I’ve learned to accept p>
Lance smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind for the future p>
“You should.” Archer settled back in his chair. “Everything catches up with you eventually p>
The tension from earlier faded. It was good to know that he wasn’t ignoring us. Lance’s mood looked better now. He was actually smiling.
Lance poured rice into my bowl without being asked, then poured soup carefully beside it. I watched him do it so naturally, so quietly, like it was something he’d been doing for years. Archer watched too with a smile.
“So,” Archer said, looking at me directly. “Lance tells me your applications are almost ready p>
“Almost,” I said. “I’m still working on the research statement p>
“That’s the part that matters most.” He leaned forward a bit. “Tell me -what do you want your work to say? Not what sounds impressive. What do you actually care about p>
I thought about it honestly. “Pediatric diagnostics. The gap between rural access and proper care. I saw it firsthand during my assignment in the small town. Children getting missed diagnoses simply because of geography p>
Archer was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded “That’s a real problem. And it’s specific enough to build strong research around.” He looked at Lance. “You found a good one p>
Lance smiled. “I know p>
“He’s been talking about you since before you even applied,” Archer said to me. “he says you’re diligent, driven, have strong foundations, genuine compassion” He paused, just long enough. “A woman like that is rare, Lance. Someone ought to make sure she doesn’t slip away p>
The air shifted. I felt heat rise to my face and looked down at my bowl.
Lance cleared his throat. “Professor, about the collaborative project-” he said smoothly, redirecting the conversation. “Once Sophia completes her master’s and joins the doctoral program, I was thinking we could build something together around rural pediatric screening. A longitudinal study p>
Archer’s attention shifted. He looked genuinely interested now. “Funding p>
“I have some ideas and the data from her fieldwork could serve as the foundation p>
“Send me a proposal outline,” Archer said. “If it’s solid, I’ll back it p>
The conversation moved forward. It was lighter now. Lance kept quietly refilling my glass as we talked. Archer laughed at something Lance said.
I sat between them and felt, for the first time in a long time, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
THIRD PERSON’S POV
The private room door opened again. Damien, Tiffany, and Simon stepped out into the main dining area. Damien moved with his usual Alpha authority. His eyes scanned the room out of habit.
Tiffany spotted them first.
Archer was laughing at something Sophia had said, relaxed in a way he had never once been in the private room. Lance leaned toward Sophia, pointing at something in her notebook, his shoulder close to hers. Sophia was nodding. Her pen moved quickly as she wrote something.
Tiffany’s wolf went rigid.
She watched Lance gesture as he outlined something – a research plan, by the look of it – and saw Sophia respond happily.
The jealousy came fast. Not just over Lance’s attention, but over the ease of it. The naturalness, the way Sophia seemed to belong in that world – research, academia, medicine – in a way that Tiffany was afraid she herself never would.
She thought of an idea.
Lance knew research. Lance was Archer’s most respected student and Lance, despite everything Simon had done to him, had still chosen to stay.
Maybe, Tiffany thought, Lance was exactly the person she needed.