Deflected by Katherine Benfante

She was born into a world that refuses her ambition.
He's offered the chance to do achieve something monumental in science.
Both are about to discover that the course of a life can change in an instant.

In 1903 Montreal, Elie Rutherford sees only one future awaiting her: marriage, respectability, and an end to her education. As the daughter of renowned physicist Ernest Rutherford, she can't imagine anything less than becoming a scientist. If she can't find another path, she may have to surrender the future she's always dreamed of, settling for a suitor that, on paper, seems to fit everyone else's expectations for her.

A century later, William Hertz is on track to become a mechanical engineer when an unexpected opportunity draws him toward theoretical physics instead. Then an even greater possibility appears: the chance to contribute to a groundbreaking astrophysics observatory. But figuring out physics is the easy part; the rest of his life refuses to follow equations.

Before the time-traveling events of Scattered, Elie and William each stand at a crossroads, unaware that the choices they make will one day echo across a century… and bring their lives together in the most unexpected way.

A novella for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and "The Big Bang Theory."