Love study, p.1
Love Study, page 1
Love Study
NICOLE PYLAND
PYLAND PUBLISHING LLC
Copyright © 2025 Nicole Pyland
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.
ISBN-13: 979-8-88696-086-0
By the Author
Chicago Series:
• Introduction – Fresh Start
• Book #1 – The Best Lines
• Book #2 – Just Tell Her
• Book #3 – Love Walked into The Lantern
• Series Finale – What Happened After
San Francisco Series:
• Book #1 – Checking the Right Box
• Book #2 – Macon’s Heart
• Book #3 – This Above All
• Series Finale – What Happened After
Tahoe Series:
• Book #1 – Keep Tahoe Blue
• Book #2 – Time of Day
• Book #3 – The Perfect View
• Book #4 – Begin Again
• Series Finale – What Happened After
Boston Series:
• Book #1 – Let Go
• Book #2 – The Right Fit
• Book #3 – All Good Plans
• Book #4 – Around the World
• Series Finale – What Happened After
Sports Series:
• Book #1 – Always More
• Book #2 – A Shot at Gold
• Book #3 – The Unexpected Dream
• Book #4 – Finding a Keeper
• Book #5 – Making It Count
• Book #6 – Side by Side
• Book #7 – Crashing into Love
• Book #8 – Spin Serve
Celebrities Series:
• Book #1 – No After You
• Book #2 – All the Love Songs
• Book #3 – Midnight Tradition
• Book #4 – Path Forward
• Series Finale – What Happened After
Holiday Series:
• Book #1 – The Writing on the Wall
• Book #2 – The Block Party
• Book #3 – The Fireworks
• Book #4 – The Sweet Escape
• Book #5 – The Misperception
• Book #6 – The Wait is Over
• Series Finale – What Happened After
Fire Universe:
• Book #1 – The Fire
• Book #2 – The Disappeared
• Book #3 – The Kidnapped
• Book #4 – The System
Stand-alone books:
• Reality Check
• The Show Must Go On
• Future Wife (time-travel)
• Echoes (paranormal)
• Timeless (reincarnation)
• Cabin Crasher (a novella)
• Origins of Eternity (vampire)
• Love Study
Young Adult / New Adult:
• The Moments
• Love Forged
• Pride Festival
Anthology:
• The Meet Cute Café
(a collection of 8 interconnected love stories featuring couples of different ages and backgrounds)
Erotica:
• Once a Month
• Voyeur
Royalty Series:
• Book #1 – Ascending
• Book #2 – Appointing
• Book #3 – Arriving
• Book #4 – Awaiting
TruLove Universe:
• SoulMatch
• TruLove
New Orleans Series:
• Book #01 – January
• Book #02 – February
• Book #03 – March
• Book #04 – April
• Book #05 – May
• Book #06 – June
• Book #07 – July
• Book #08 – August
• Book #09 – September
• Book #10 – October
• Book #11 – November
• Book #12 – December
Love Study
Larissa Hanson is about to get her doctorate in psychology when she gets an idea to write a book about the science of love. Helping her will be her best friend forever, Harlow Madden, who gives Larissa the idea to interview people and ask them how they fell in love.
The only problem is that Harlow has been secretly in love with Larissa since they met over a decade ago, and listening to other people tell them their love stories makes her think that it might be now or never with her best friend.
After leaving her previous girlfriend, Harlow is once again staying in Larissa’s guest bedroom, and that, combined with these interviews, has her looking for a change in her living situation as quickly as possible because playing house with the woman she loves is too hard when she doesn’t believe that Larissa will ever return her feelings.
Spending time in these interviews makes Larissa think about her own lack of a love life and wonder more and more about Harlow, just as Harlow is contemplating pulling away.
Will either of them have the courage to tell the other how they feel before Harlow moves out or moves on?
To contact the author or for any additional information,
visit: https://nicolepyland.com
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
By the Author
Love Study
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
EPILOGUE
Afterword
By the Author
About The Author
CHAPTER 1
“Aren’t you supposed to be working on something?” Harlow asked her as she sat down with a bag of Larissa’s chips in her hand.
“Aren’t you supposed to be looking for an apartment?” she asked back.
Harlow gave her an incredulous look before she opened the small bag and held it out for her to take the first chip. When she didn’t, Harlow shrugged and pulled one out for herself.
“I’ve been here for three days. I just got all my stuff out of her apartment. Give me a minute, at least.”
She ate a chip and winked at Larissa.
“How many times is this now?”
“That I’ve temporarily crashed in your guest bedroom?”
“Yes. Three?”
“Four, if you count the time I was here for a week before I landed that studio. Not all of them for the same reasons, though. Sometimes, a lease can run out before someone finds a new place when that someone puts off looking for said new place, like they should’ve been because their lease was about to expire. But who’s counting?” Harlow said before she stole Larissa’s bottle of sparkling water and took a sip. “So, how’s your dissertation coming, not-yet-doctor?”
“It’s not.”
“I know. That’s why I asked.” Harlow placed the bottle down and added, “And the book thing?”
“It’s not a book thing,” she said and leaned back in her chair. “It’s a book. Well, it will be. Right now, it’s just a rough outline and not much else.”
“I don’t understand why you need to do this while you are trying to finally finish school.”
“Don’t say finally like that. It takes people years to get their Ph.D. I’m on schedule, technically.”
Harlow ate another chip and said, “You’re thirty-five. You’ve been at this since grad school.”
“Ten years is perfectly respectable,” Larissa argued and stole a chip from the bag after all.
“Is it? I wouldn’t know; I dropped out of college.” Harlow leaned back in her chair and pulled out another chip. “I still don’t understand why a book instead of your school stuff. You didn’t go to school to be a writer. You’re trying to get a psych degree.”
“It’s a psych book. Well, sort of.”
“Is it, though? You want to tell people how to find love.”
“Not tell them; just give them a path to it, or a deeper understanding of how it happens using science from a soon-to-be doctor of psychology.”
“Right. And your school thing is on–”
“Dissertation,” she corrected.
“Yes, I know what it’s called, not-Dr. Hanson.”
“Shut up,” Larissa replied, laughing, and stole the whole bag of chips.
“I’m only saying that you’re supposed to be working on one thing – something to do with cortisol levels or stress, I don’t remember exactly – but you’re working on some self-help book to help people fall in love instead. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but you’ve never really been in love yourself, right? I’ve known you forever, and you’ve only had two very short relationships.”
“Not forever.”
“Since college. And we’re in our thirties now, so close enough.” Harlow stole the chips back and took one out of the bag, chomping down on it. “What’s making you want to do this, Larissa? You’re so close to being done with school. And I know your parents aren’t going to pay for you forever.”
“Hey, they don’t pay for me. I have a job.”
“A part-time job at a bookstore so that you can finish this degree. They did it for your sister, too, because your family is like one of those Norman Rockwell paintings, but she got her Ph.D. in six years. You’re on ten now, and the way I watch you stare at a laptop screen without your dissertation on it tells me that you’re not working on the thing.”
“I work on it every day. It’s little by little, and my advisor knows my progress. He’s the only one who has to, thank you very much, you… annoying person.”
She pushed her glasses up her nose.
Harlow laughed and said, “It’s cute when you try to insult people because you’re so bad at it.”
“I am not. I wasn’t trying to insult you; just inform you that you don’t have to worry about it or me. I’m on track.”
“I always worry about you.” Harlow shrugged a shoulder again, looking serious now. “So, why a book? You started on it, like, a month ago, but I still don’t get it. Explain it to me like I’m a kid and know nothing. That’s probably not that far off if it involves science. Does it have anything to do with the school stuff that you’re supposed to be working on?”
“Not really, no. But I also don’t know what it has to do with.”
“Finding love?”
“Sort of.”
“Well, you know I’m no expert in that department. My last relationship just blew up.”
“How many of those have you had now?” she asked.
“Several.” Harlow rolled her eyes and gave her a smile. “And you know that because after they end, I sometimes show up on your doorstep with bags.”
“Why do you move in with women, then?” Larissa asked and shook her head. “Four times.”
“Hey! I can’t help it. I always think it’s a good idea.”
“But after four times?”
“Each relationship is different, Lou.”
“I hate when you call me Lou.”
“I know. That’s why I do it. Your first name is so much to say. Lou is easier.”
“I regret telling you my middle name,” she replied.
It was Louise, which was why years ago, Harlow started calling her Lou for short.
“Anyway, every time I’m with a woman, and we’re taking those steps, it feels like the right move at the right time. I can’t explain it. And, yeah, maybe I should learn my lesson, but think about it. The first time I did it, we’d been together for a year. It wasn’t some quick thing. It just didn’t work out once we were actually living together, so the next time, when my lease was up and I moved in with someone, it was after four months of dating. That didn’t work out, either, but I was with my most recent ex for two years. We didn’t just move in together.”
“I know.”
“We broke up seven months after I moved in. It wasn’t working, but we’re still okay with each other. I’m okay with all of my exes, which is the weirdest thing in the world to some people, but it works for me and some lesbians. So, every time, I thought it might work, but then, it just didn’t.”
“But why didn’t it?” Larissa asked.
“Different each time, too.”
“Okay, but why each time?”
“We fought all the time.” Harlow held up a finger. “She cheated on me. I tried to forgive her, but couldn’t, so I left.” She held up another finger. “We got bored with each other and were better off as friends. Sex was pretty bad after the first few months, too.” Harlow held up a third finger. “And the most recent one was ready for more, and I wasn’t.”
“You know she wanted to ask you to marry her.”
“I know. I feel really bad about that, but it wasn’t what I wanted; not with her anyway. So, it ended, and I’m here, but I’ll look for an apartment soon, I swear.”
“I’ve only had those two short-term relationships,” she shared. “Nothing else.”
“I know,” Harlow said. “I don’t know why, but I know.”
“I’m busy.”
“With not school?”
“Stop it.” Larissa laughed. “I like school. I like the world of academia.”
“Yes, but it’s not everything. Outside of your sister, have you seen anyone but me in the past, I don’t know, week?”
“I’ve been to the library, so yes. I also worked yesterday.”
“I meant anyone you know and could have a conversation with; not people who are sitting at another table studying or pulling books off a shelf, or people who are paid to be there with you because it’s their job.”
“Well, I don’t need a lot of people around me all the time like someone I know.”
Larissa lifted an eyebrow.
“I’m not some massive extravert. I just don’t like to be cooped up all the time. I can go out one night, but be totally cool staying in for the rest of the week. You should know this as someone I’ve lived with multiple times now.”
“Crashed with, I believe, is what you called it before.”
“Fine. Crashed with.” Harlow laughed a little. “So, you, the person who has had no significant relationships in your adult life, are about to write a book about finding one? Why would I buy it? Why should I believe that you’re the expert who can help me find someone?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“No, I’m being serious here. And you’d need that info before you publish anyway. Why should someone buy it?”
“I don’t know. It’ll be good? Maybe. It might be good? I don’t know…”
She covered her face with her hands.
“Hey.”
Larissa heard Harlow move, and her hands were pulled away from her face.
“Tell me. Why are you writing it? Just talk to me, not the people who may or may not buy it, okay? I’m getting it for free, so I don’t even count.”
Larissa laughed and said, “My research for my degree is on the impact of cortisol on love. Can I get scientific with you for a minute?”
“Sure. Go for it. I probably won’t understand it.”
“Yes, you will. Just think of it like this: when you encounter a possible threat, like someone walking toward you when you’re alone at night, your hypothalamus sends an alarm to the rest of your body. With me so far?”
“Sure. That’s easy enough.”
“Okay. So, there’s this combo pack of nerve and hormonal signals that activate during this alarmed state. Your adrenal glands release a bunch of hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline, in this case, would boost your energy by increasing your heart rate and elevating your blood pressure, preparing you to run. Cortisol is our primary stress hormone. When it’s engaged like this, it increases sugars in our bloodstream and enhances our brain’s use of glucose needed for processing. It also increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Normally, the body’s stress response is self-limiting, meaning that once the threat has passed, like the person walks by you and keeps going without causing you harm, the hormone levels go back to normal.”
