Alex had conceived a deep and desperate plan.
She had managed to get her mother to talk about her dad one night, and Mom had told her how they had met in college in a science class, how they used to sit for hours talking about science and love and how they wanted to discover new species. They'd almost gone on an expedition together, but when Robert found out Danielle was pregnant with Alex, he wouldn't let them go. Instead he proposed, and they got married. Two and a half years later he died.
She'd looked so sad, even after fourteen years. Alex said impulsively, "Are you lonely, Mom?"
Mom had smiled quickly in a way that wasn't completely real and said, "Of course not. I have you. What else do I need?"
Maybe she'd meant it, but Alex had seen that loneliness in her eyes, and that was when she began to make her plan.
Dr. Linus wasn't anything like her father. In the pictures Robert was young and handsome and strong, his face dark and vivid. Dr. Linus was little and old and quiet, sort of meek. Until he started talking about history, and then he came alive in a way that made her think of her mother and those long talks with Robert about science.
And Alex thought, What if they met? What if they liked each other? Her mother already was a fan of her kind teacher without having met him, after all that time he had been spending tutoring her for her AP tests. And no one could help but love her mom. What if?
She didn't tell anyone. The other kids would make fun of her for plotting ways to make odd little Dr. Linus her dad.