I looped my arm in Rachel’s, glad to see that she’d kept a sense of humor about her situation. “I’ll give it a try, but we’re not exactly best friends.”

“If Dr. Appleton had any friends at all, you’d be it.”

“Ouch. I’m not sure I like that distinction.”

“He always says how you’re the only one who remembers his birthday.”

“That’s because it’s the same day as Lamarck’s, August 1.”

“How do you do that? Remember dates? Like for some eighteenth-century biologist?”

“For Lamarck and Dr. Appleton, I make the association that both of them developed theories that don’t work.”

“I like that. Dr. Appleton’s theory is that if you torture your students, they’ll learn better,” Rachel said.

“And Lamarck’s is that if you keep frowning, the lines on your forehead will deepen and your kids will inherit deep frown marks.”

Rachel gave me a broad smile that smoothed out her forehead. “I get it.”

“Much better,” I said.

When we arrived at my car, Rachel turned to me. “If you don’t feel comfortable talking to him, don’t worry. I’ll be okay.” She gave me a reassuring grin. “If I don’t make it to med school, well, doctors don’t make the money they used to, anyway.”

“And we all know that’s what matters most to you.”

I gave Rachel a playful nudge, and waved good-bye from the front seat of my smokestone metallic Fusion. Strange name for a color, but today the interior felt like I imagined a smoking stone would. I could barely turn the key in the ignition, very hot to my touch. I cranked the A/C to max.

I couldn’t let Rachel down, but I didn’t look forward to talking to Keith Appleton either. He was my age, midforties, yet he had a way of making me feel unimportant and inexperienced. There was no telling whether my interceding on Rachel’s behalf would help or hurt her chances of gaining his approval of her thesis.