Sunny Says (23 page)

“That’s only a month away. I’m
sure you’ll be glad to see them again.”

A grim expression spread over
his face. “I won’t be going this year.” He pushed his bowl away and drank
deeply from his wineglass.

“Why ever not?”

“It would be awkward. I wouldn’t
want to embarrass them.”

“Why in the world would you
embarrass them? They’re your family, and I’m sure they love you. Even Rachel,
who thinks I’m hopeless, is always glad for me to visit.”

He refilled their wineglasses. “But
you’ve never done anything as stupid as I’ve done.”

“Oh, no? Ask Rachel. She could
recite a list of my dumb moves that would reach from here to
Canal Street
.
Why, the only reason I’m here running the bakery while she’s in
Paris
is
because I got can—” She stopped abruptly when she saw the deep pain in his
eyes. She reached across the table and took his hand. “Have you murdered
someone? Have you committed some atrocious crime?”

He shook his head. “No. Nothing
like that.”

“Then tell me. Tell me about
Neil Larkin.”

He gulped another big swallow of
wine, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He kept his eyes on the table where he
made slow circles with the bottom of his glass.

“Until this morning, I was Dr.
Neil Larkin, professor of biochemistry at one of the country’s leading medical
schools and, it was said, a sure contender for next year’s Nobel prize for my
breakthrough in cancer research.” He glanced up, his eyes haunted by a pain so
intense that it sucked her breath away and made her heart hurt.

“Go on,” she said softly.

“After ten years’ work in the
lab, I’d found it. A compound that would revolutionize cancer treatment. To put
it simply, I devised a substance that attacked and destroyed cancer cells very
quickly with no damage to surrounding tissue and with no adverse effects. It
was a miracle, Amy. A true miracle drug. God, I’ve never been so excited in my
life. I sent copies of my studies to several colleagues around the country, and
my findings were to be published next month in the
Journal of the American
Medical Association
.

“Yesterday, I came to
New Orleans
with my research team and the head of my department to present my paper to
America
’s most
prestigious biomedical conference and receive an award.”

“But, Neil, that’s wonderful!”

His hand tightened around hers. “No,
it’s not wonderful.” He tossed off the rest of his wine. “Not a single one of
my colleagues could replicate my research.”