Love, Theoretically

Elsie continues running until Jack catches up to her and physically stops her. He tells her that her interview was in bad faith, as George had always been the one that MIT planned to hire. Elsie is furious with Jack and insinuates that he’s happy because he gets to humiliate a theorist and hire George, whom she thinks is his girlfriend. She immediately regrets implying that George didn’t deserve the job and had only got it because she slept with Jack, as she knows George is an amazing physicist who has worked hard for the job. Elsie begins to cry, recognizing how awful it was that she tried to tear down another woman in STEM, especially a queer woman of color like George, as women in academia are already so disadvantaged against their male colleagues. It is snowing, and Jack offers to take her to his home nearby and explain everything completely.

At Jack’s condo, he offers Elsie hot chocolate, and she texts Cece, who stayed with George, that she is okay. Jack explains further how Elsie’s was a “bad-faith interview” and how the MIT position was essentially created for George, but Monica saw Elsie’s CV and wanted her to apply, despite the committee’s disapproval. Jack also admits that he recused himself from the final vote but knew everyone else was highly impressed by Elsie. Elsie assumes this is because he and George are dating, but Jack assures her that they are just close friends and attended graduate school together. He also mentions that George did not know she was the other candidate, but knew of Elsie because Jack had told her about his feelings for the woman he thought was his brother’s girlfriend. When Elsie realizes that the snow has gotten worse and that George offered to take Cece home because of it, she tries to take the bus, but Jack insists she stay with him and offers to sleep on the couch. Once alone, Elsie snoops through Jack’s bedside table, determined to find something he is hiding from her despite his blatant honesty, and finds a Polaroid with him and her playing Go at the last Smith family gathering. She wakes up in the middle of the night, and her first thought is about not getting the job. She wanders downstairs, where Jack is still awake on the couch, and ends up apologizing to him again about what she said about George earlier, saying it was the worst of all the terrible things that happened that day. Jack pulls Elsie closer to him on the couch and tells her he wants to take care of her because he thinks no one has ever done that for her, and they fall asleep together.

Elsie wakes up still in Jack’s arms and realizes with astonishment just how attracted she is to him. She runs to hide back in his bedroom, but when she comes downstairs again Jack is awake and asks if he can make her breakfast. He also asks Elsie why she is not a full-time researcher and if she wants to work for him. She declines, fearing that Laurendeau would not allow it, but when she does, Jack feels free to ask her on a date. Elsie cannot comprehend his question, still thinking that they both hate one another, but when Jack asks, “When’s the last time you had someone in your life you could be completely honest with, Elsie?” (189), she begins to question her feelings for him. Nevertheless, Elsie refuses him, and Jack is disappointed but still insists that he take her home.

Before taking her to her apartment, Jack stops at the home of “the most terrifying Smith” (191), his grandmother, Millicent. As she does at least once a week, Millicent has feigned an emergency to get Jack to visit even though he tells her she does not need to trick him to see him. Millicent forces them both to stay for coffee, and when Jack leaves the room, she tells Elsie she knows she is not a librarian. Elsie admits that she is a theoretical physicist, and Millicent mentions that was what Jack’s mother was too. Jack’s mother, Grethe, died when he was one year old, and his father married Greg’s mother, Caroline, a few months later. They thought that it would be best for the family to pretend like Caroline was Jack’s mother, but Jack learned the truth, and Millicent explains that “ever since, he’s been very distrustful of lies” (197). When Elsie brings up the article, Millicent tells her that it had nothing to do with a hatred of theoretical physics and that he was just angry because he learned something about his mother. When Elsie tries to press further, Millicent claims to forget, telling her that Jack will tell her when he is ready. As they are leaving, Elsie suddenly agrees to let Jack take her out, and he says he will, under the condition that she cannot pretend to be anyone else while they’re together.

Laurendeau is furious that MIT chose another candidate over Elsie, and she is surprised he does not even know who George is. She tells him that she is regrouping so she can apply for another job next year, but he is stunned because she already has several jobs, still not understanding how important financial stability is to her health and well-being. Even when he continues to reject her idea of a postdoctoral fellowship, Elsie tells Laurendeau that she trusts him. Elsie gets her formal rejection letter from MIT, and Monica calls to tell her how sorry she is while Elsie considers telling her how wrong her actions were. She asks Elsie to lunch in the near future, as does Greg in an email he sends her around the same time. Cece tells her that she shouldn’t work as much as she does and not to worry about rent next year because Kirk, the wealthy scientist and entrepreneur she has been fake-dating, plans to hire her long-term. Jack texts Elsie and asks her if she is free the following night.