Tenure Track

by Victoria Bradley

  Mandy’s tone grew dark. “Uh-uh. Don’t go dissin’ my friends. I’m responsible for my own actions. It was my picture and I’m the one who posted it.”

  Sensing the rising anger in her voice, Phyllis interjected. “Mandy, take a breath. Lewis, please don’t interject until she’s done. Then it will be your turn.”

  He apologized for breaking the ground rules, quickly regretting his words. Mandy cleared her throat and continued, looking at Phyllis. “For the record, Lewis didn’t even know about that photo, so he never had any intention of bringing discredit to the university.” She turned back to him. “The Web thing happened ‘cause I was hurt and pissed off by the way things ended. Mostly by the way you just shut me out. Dude, you broke up with me by text message! Who does that? I mean, come on!”

  His eyes broke away from her gaze. “Look at me!” she demanded, forcing his eyes back on her. “I thought I meant more to you than that. You just cut me off. No phone calls, no talk. The one time I tried to talk to you, you slammed the door in my face! I mean, if nothing else, I thought we were friends. Last year we could talk about anything. If you thought we shouldn’t see each other anymore, we could’ve talked about it. I loved you, Lewis! Even if we couldn’t date I would’ve liked the chance to be friends, but you couldn’t handle that. You think just cuttin’ yourself off from somebody ends it. I don’t understand that.”

  Phyllis allowed a moment’s pause, unsure if the young woman had more to say. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell Lewis?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Mandy said, staring deeply into his eyes. “I forgive you. Daddy says ya can’t let go of past pain unless you’re willin’ to forgive the person who hurt you, even if they don’t ask for it. I think he’s right. So, I forgive you. For hurtin’ me. For not bein’ a good friend.” Her voice was starting to break a little.

  “What would you like from Lewis now?” the mediator asked.

  “I wish. . . . I wish we could still be friends,” she said slowly. “Even if we can’t date. I wish that we could talk to each another again. I miss that.”

  “Is that all?” Phyllis asked, to which Mandy nodded, never taking her eyes off her former lover. “Lewis?”

  He was still trying to recover from Mandy’s expression of forgiveness before he could recall what he had planned to say. He took a deep breath and met her moist gaze. “I’m sorry, too. You were a great assistant. By the way, the book has been accepted for publication and you’ll be acknowledged in the forward.” She smiled in gratitude for this gesture. “And I’m sorry I hurt you. I guess I’m not good with closure. A bad breaker-upper. But I want you to know that I meant everything I ever said to you last year.”

  Knowing that he could not look her in the eyes and recite the rest of his speech, he now focused his gaze slightly beyond her head, at a light fixture mounted on the wall. “But, the reality is that I was going through a really rough time last year. I leaned too heavily on your friendship and let things get out of control. Rules are rules. We can’t see each other, and I don’t think we can really be friends at this point. I—we—need a clean break.” He tried to avoid the tear now flowing down Mandy’s cheek. “However, I don’t want us to hate each other. So, if we should pass each other on campus, I guess we can say ‘hi.’”

  He had little else to add. Phyllis asked Mandy if those terms were acceptable to her, to which she just shrugged and whispered, “I guess.” Phyllis did most of the rest of the talking. As she spoke, a few times Lewis and Mandy locked eyes again. The counselor could now easily interpret their eye-snogging exchange. Had these two been in therapy, she would have advised them to deal with their lingering emotions more directly. As it was, she was in mediator mode, there to resolve the immediate conflict at hand, not the personal root causes of the dysfunction. If they chose to live their lives through unfulfilled glances, so be it.

  The meeting ended with Mandy and Lewis shaking hands, trying to avoid any lustful orbital exchanges. It’s a shame, Phyllis thought as she headed across campus. She would write up her notes for a formal report, but as a courtesy, decided to drop by Jane’s office to let the person who had hired her know of the outcome.

  Jane was anxiously awaiting the results of the meeting. Gary had called her three more times to see if she had heard anything, even though his office was closer to the room and he could just have looked. She was surprised when Phyllis appeared in her doorway, boldly bypassing Isobel.

  “I just wanted to give you a quick rundown,” the mediator told the Chair, getting right down to business. “It went well. She’s dropping the complaint. Denies any wrongdoing on his part. They both apologized. I think it went a long way towards healing some hurt feelings.”

  Jane breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps everything really was over.

  Phyllis shared another purpose in dropping by. “Since you hired me, can I be blunt?” Jane nodded. “I understand why the university instituted this No Fraternization Policy, but as a therapist, I think it has the potential to do as much harm as good.”

  “How so?” Jane asked.

  Phyllis continued. “First let me explain. My job as a mediator is to facilitate the end of a conflict, which I think we succeeded in doing. As a therapist, however, I sometimes see things that go beyond the immediate dispute. What I’ve seen with this case is that two adults fell in love, they’re still in love, and are being forced to give up that relationship because it might harm one’s career. If these two were in therapy, I’d work on trying to get them to decide if the job was worth sacrificing the relationship. As a mediator, I can’t do that, but what I can do is advise this university that it may want to rethink the wisdom of this policy. I think it could have the potential to drive away good people who choose personal happiness over career advancement.”

  Jane nodded, noting, “Dr. Burns has chosen his career.”

  “Apparently so,” Phyllis agreed.

  “Well, just put your views in the report and we’ll take it under advisement.” Phyllis could tell she was talking to a brick wall. Jane believed that career success required personal sacrifice. In her mind, the new rule had the positive effect of weeding out scholars who were not dedicated enough to the university.

  Sensing their different philosophies on the subject, Phyllis turned and started to leave, only to be surprisingly called back as she retreated out the doorway. “I understand you still practice family therapy,” Jane said, which Phyllis confirmed. “Do you work much with teenagers?”

  “Of course,” Phyllis replied, adding that they formed her largest client base.

  “Well,” Jane admitted reluctantly, “my husband and I have been having some issues with our daughter. I was wondering if you might be willing to talk to her, as a counselor.”

  Chapter 20

  Summer Love

  The Sunday after their first night together, Mandy left to visit her parents for a week. After two days with each progenitor, she impulsively decided to spend some time alone at the farm, calling Lewis on her way to invite him and Clint along. She knew she risked the hired help revealing the presence of her guest, so she preempted the leak by mentioning to Rick that she might have a male friend visit. Well versed in the ways of heading off scandal, her stepfather was discreet enough not to ask questions. She knew he would find a diplomatic way to inform Katherine without revealing anything important.

  Lewis raced to get to the farm as soon as he could. Mandy met him in the driveway of the ranch house, throwing her arms around him as soon as he stepped out of the car.

  She gave him a tour of the house, including her bedroom, still decorated as if inhabited by a 12 year-old, with a canopy bed covered in stuffed animals. Mandy confessed that she had never had the opportunity to bring a boy into the room. As their playful tickling turned into kissing on the frilly bed, Lewis started to feel strangely uncomfortable. Sensing his hesitancy, she asked if something was wrong. “For some reason this room makes me feel like a pedophile,” he confessed.

 
“Just imagine you’re a horny 14 year-old instead,” she advised.

  They kissed for the longest time. He had forgotten what it was like to just make-out without having sex. They finally fell asleep in each other’s arms, disheveled but fully clothed. As they lay napping, Lewis awoke to the familiar sounds of a snoring Clint, who had slipped into the room and was sleeping loudly on the end of the bed. Lewis had gotten used to his dog’s rhythmic noise, but feared Mandy might find it less than romantic. He had made a point of keeping Clint outside during their previous date. He started to rise up and shoo the dog away when Mandy, still with eyes closed, told him to leave the poor mutt alone. “Sorry. I hope his snoring doesn’t bother you,” Lewis said.

  “I like it,” she replied, still not opening her eyes. ‘Reminds me of my Mammaw.”

  “You mean your Pappaw,” he corrected.

  “No, I meant Mammaw,” she clarified, smiling to herself at the memory of the beloved old woman’s turbulent nocturnal thunder. As if on cue, Clint momentarily rose from his slumber to yawn loudly and shake his head before collapsing back into place and resuming his noisy slumber.

  They spent the rest of the week enjoying the countryside, taking long walks with Clint, making love under the stars and generally just basking in the joy of being together. Lewis liked looking around the ranch-style house, which gave off a very retro vibe. Mandy explained that she wanted to leave the house decorated much as it had been when her grandparents lived there.

  Lewis noticed that there were several old photographs around the house of Mandy’s grandparents, herself as a child, her parents and friends, but none of her stepfather. She explained that there was a closet of portraits that came out whenever her mother and stepfather entertained, but when Mandy was there, she preferred for the home to be her home, filled with memories of her real family.

  There was another reason for hiding the photos. Mandy had told him that she was going to be working at the capitol over the summer, but had said very little about what her job would actually be. One morning, while looking for something to write with, Lewis searched through a desk in the kitchen until he came across several leftover pencils from a political campaign, each embossed with the slogan: “Re-elect Rick Benedict—Keep the Capitol Running Right.” Suddenly he flashed to the photograph in Mandy’s bedroom of the familiar-looking man with the perfect silver hair. Now sober, Lewis finally connected the dots. Rick Benedict—majority leader of the state senate and Mandy’s stepfather, the one “into politics” as she so casually described. He was not sure which was more embarrassing—that he had not connected the dots or that he paid so little attention to state politics that he could not recognize one of the most powerful men in the legislature, drunk or sober.

  Lewis entered the bedroom rolling the pencil around in his fingers as Mandy emerged from the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. “So,” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me that Rick Benedict was your stepfather?” She looked slightly unbalanced as he held up the writing instrument. “I remembered seeing his photograph in your room. At the time I couldn’t place him. Is he the one you’re working for this summer?”

  “Yeah,” she answered, ferociously combing through the wet hair as if her life depended on it.

  He wasn’t angry that she hadn’t told him, just curious. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She looked right through him. “I told you, he’s not my father. Momma only married him five years ago. Sometimes people get a little weird when they find out who he is. Since we’re not really close, there’s no reason to mention it.”

  “Okay,” he replied. “Fair enough. Hey, at least he’s giving you a job for the summer.”

  She finished her combing. “It’s good experience for me, that’s all.” She debated whether to mention that she had told Rick she was bringing a male friend to the farm, but decided against it. Right now she did not want any reminders of parental units. Throwing off her bathrobe, she stood directly in front of Lewis. “I gave the yardmen the day off. Wanna do some nude sunbathing by the pool?”

  The offer had the desired effect of halting Lewis’s questions. “As long as you make sure my privates don’t get sunburned,” he teased, chasing her to the pool as he shed his own clothing.

  Later on, as they lay uncovered in the sunshine, fully slathered with SPF 50, he could not resist bringing up the subject again. Mandy was lying on her back, trying to rest. Lewis flipped over onto his stomach, leaned up on one elbow, and jokingly asked. “Hey isn’t your stepdad a big supporter of No Fraternization? I wonder what he’d think of this.”

  She squinted at him through her dark, oversized sunglasses. “Does it matter?”

  “Only if he finds out, I guess.”

  “So he won’t find out,” she insisted. “Don’t ask, don’t tell. Besides, technically I’m not a student right now.”

  “Ah, spoken like a future lawyer.” She smiled in response. “But you will be a student again in August,” he pointed out. “What’re we going to do then?”

  “That’s three months away. We might be sick of each other by then, so don’t worry about it.” With that, she sat up, leaned over, and kissed him deeply. “I’m hot,” she whispered. “Wanna play in the pool?” She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him in the water, which quickly became hotter than the sunshine above.

  Back home, they settled into a regular routine of seeing each other almost every day and texting often. She usually spent the night at his house, though some nights he stayed at hers. They had privacy either way, as the housemates were rarely around. Blanca was only home on Friday and Saturday nights, working as a counselor at a nearby summer camp Sunday mornings through Friday afternoons. Julie was spending June and July at a naval nurses training program. Gus had landed a role in the latest Rodriguez movie as a one-legged hitman. He actually had three lines of dialogue, a step up from a grunting zombie. Between the movie and his other projects, he seemed to come home only to change clothes and catch a few quick naps.

  Mandy started her job at the capitol, mostly conducting research on public policy issues for staff and mailing out voter surveys. Rick was rarely in the office. Since the legislature was not currently in session he spent most of this time in the Metroplex and on the campaign trail for party members facing reelection. Despite, or perhaps because of, the nepotism behind her hiring, Mandy took her job very seriously. She had purchased a new professional-looking wardrobe which, combined with an updo and more refined makeup, made her look at least five years older. The first time Lewis saw her leave in the morning, he commented that she looked ready to step into a courtroom. He found the look very enticing.

  For his part, Lewis taught a couple of summer courses that met every day, while working to revise his book using Mandy’s research. He hoped to have a contract before the final vote on his tenure that fall. Rather than being distracted by his new romance, he found himself energized. He worked diligently throughout the day, trying to maximize his time so that when he was with Mandy he could focus entirely on her and not think about work. He had never had that freedom with Laura, so intertwined had been their personal and professional lives.

  Lewis sometimes worried that he might be smothering Mandy, since they spent so much of their free time together. She merely pointed out that, without her housemates around, she had more free time to spare. Occasionally she would go out with fellow interns for a happy hour or have a Saturday girls’ night out with Blanca, but mostly she was enjoying her time with him. Once she joked that as soon as the housemates were back and school began, she would have no time for him. It was one of the few times they ever mentioned the fall.

  By July, both had chosen to stop thinking about the inevitable. They spent the Fourth apart, with Mandy flying out to see Julie, and Lewis visiting his older brother, then went to the coast together for a few days. Larry found an island bed and breakfast that had some open rooms during the week, including a romantic room overlooking a peaceful bay. Mandy talked him into trying kite boarding
and windsurfing, but that was the extent of his daring adventures.

  It was on this trip that Mandy took the soon-to-be-infamous photo. She had risen early one morning and already returned from a run before Lewis awoke from his slumber. Seeing him lying in bed half-covered, full and erect, with the morning sun beaming down on his body, he looked like a statue from antiquity, celebrating the male form. Mandy quietly observed for awhile before deciding to capture the moment in time: the moment she realized that she was in love with Lewis.

  Of course, she had to share with her girlfriends, so she sent the photo to Julie and Blanca almost immediately after saving it. Lewis never even realized she had taken it.

  Chapter 21

  Consequences

  February arrived with a cool blast of arctic air, followed by a quick-thawing warm front. Throughout campus, human behaviors were following suit. With the mediation complete, Katherine withdrew her complaint against Lewis. All parties seemed relieved and satisfied that the crisis had apparently passed.

  Jane was still dealing with security issues around Hammond. Following their evaluation, campus police issued a memo suggesting all faculty use laptops and remove them when their offices were unoccupied. For some older professors still struggling with the transition from typewriters to computers, the idea of lugging one around did not go over well.

  Lewis was feeling much more content since the mediation. There was still the matter of his postponed tenure review, but he felt pretty confident about it now that he had a second book contract and this personal matter was resolved. He still ached for Mandy, but his brain told him that he had done the right thing. Still, he often caught himself looking for her on campus, hoping he would get the chance to say “hi” and show he was sincere about being friendly. But he had not seen any sign of her since their conference.