by Nina Lane
I glance up to find a small boy across the aisle watching me. I pull my palms apart and hold up the web of string laced between them.
“It’s a rabbit,” I tell him. “See the two ears?”
He studies the pattern for a moment, then nods and gives me a gap-toothed grin. The woman beside him smiles.
I unravel the string and push it back into my pocket when Liv approaches.
“All done,” she says, slipping her hand into mine as we walk back out to the car. “Can you drop me off at the bookstore?”
“Sure. I have a few meetings on campus, but I’ll pick you up when your shift ends.”
I drive to Emerald Street where the Happy Booker bookstore is located. After walking Liv to the front of the store, I start toward campus and detour through a residential neighborhood close to the lake. Older homes and bungalows sit close to the mountain, then give way to larger houses as the streets wind toward the town.
I stop in front of a newer, Colonial-style house with a columned front porch and painted white shutters. It has a large yard bordered by trees and sits above a hill overlooking Mirror Lake. Well-maintained, expensive homes line the entire street.
A woman is waiting on the front porch. She waves at me as I approach.
“Dean? I’m Nancy Walker. Thanks for contacting me.”
“Sure.”
We shake hands. She gestures me to follow her into the house. It’s a huge, four-bedroom place with gleaming hardwood floors, cherrywood cabinets, and stainless-steel appliances. There’s a redwood deck overlooking the backyard with a view of the lake, a three-car garage, and a great room with a picture window. A study lined with built-in bookshelves sits just off the living room, which is dominated by a marble fireplace.
Nancy gives me a complete tour and discusses all the amenities of the house. The school district is excellent, she says, with the highest test scores in the county, and the owners recently landscaped the front yard.
“If you’d like to make an offer, I can write it up this afternoon,” Nancy tells me as she opens a door to show me the laundry room with a state-of-the-art washer and dryer.
“My wife needs to see it first,” I reply. “But it looks great.”
She beams. “It’s really a perfect family home.”
Yes, it is. Reminds me of my parents’ perfect family home.
I shake off that thought. My family will have nothing but the best.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I tell Nancy as we walk back to our cars.
She gives me her card and we discuss a potential offer strategy before parting ways. I head to the university and walk to my office in the history department.
“Hello, Dean.” Frances Hunter, professor of American history and chairperson of the history department, stops next to me. With short, gray hair and a charcoal-colored suit, Frances wears her role as one of the most respected historians in the country with ease.
“Afternoon, Frances.”
“I just sent the announcement about your IHR grant to the university newspaper,” she says with a smile. “It’ll come out in next week’s issue, so expect a lot of phone calls and emails, both of congratulations and from prospective students.”
“Thanks.”
“You deserve this, Dean. You’ve done great things for this department in a very short time.” She hands me a file folder. “You have a light class load this semester, but you’ve already got waiting lists, especially for the undergrad course. That’s your current list of students.”
She continues down the hall. I go into my office and leaf through the lists—one lecture course and one seminar, plus my continued planning of the interdisciplinary Medieval Studies conference King’s University is hosting.
I open my briefcase to take out my papers. There’s a note resting on top of a folder:
I never knew before now that Liv has a talent for drawing. I wonder if she even realizes she’s a good artist.
“Professor West?” One of my grad students, Sam, knocks at the half-open door. “Hey, didn’t know you were back yet. Have a good Christmas?”
“I did, thanks.” I tape the note to my computer, which faces away from the rest of the office. “You?”
“Yeah, went skiing up on the Point last week.”
“Come on in.” I clear a pile of folders off a chair so he can sit down. “How was the snow?”
“Powder, but thick. Beat my own speed record. You get out this year?”
“Not yet.”
“Bunch of us might head out again for a weekend before the semester starts, if you’re up for it.”
“Too busy, but thanks.” I don’t want to leave Liv even for a weekend now. I eye Sam’s backpack. “So what’s going on? You get any work done yet?”
“Believe it or not…” Sam digs into his backpack and removes a sheaf of printed-out paper. “First chapter outline.”
“Really?” Impressed, I take the papers.
“I focused on the medieval city structure and guild system,” Sam explains. “I found a great essay about how the power structure of the guilds affected city planning.” He pulls another paper out of his backpack and passes it across to me.
We spend the next hour discussing the outline of his thesis, the further research he needs to do, the narrowing of his hypothesis. I loan him a couple of books and promise to email him copies of my own papers on medieval city planning.
After he leaves, I organize my notes for the Words and Images conference, which will involve over three thousand scholars. Between presentations, dinners, seminars, poster sessions, banquets, and an exhibition of medieval manuscripts, we’re booking venues all over the university and in town.
A second knock sounds at the door. Another graduate student, Maggie Hamilton, looks in. There’s a guarded expression on her face.
My jaw clenches. “Hello, Maggie.”
“Professor West.” She shifts, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “I just saw Sam at the library, and he said you were here. Can I… can I talk to you a minute?”
“Come in. Leave the door open, please.” Wariness floods me as she walks in.
Maggie was a masters student at King’s before I was hired. When the previous medieval history professor retired, Maggie became one of my students. I learned soon that she had been admitted to the program because her family has strong ties to the university, and her father continues to make large donations. Maggie’s lack of scholarly aptitude manifested itself in her poorly written thesis proposal, which she and I have argued over for the past year.
Last semester, Maggie approached Liv to ask for help getting me to approve her proposal. When Liv refused, Maggie made some slanderous implications about my integrity. I wrote Maggie an email telling her I could no longer be her advisor. She never responded.
Until, I assume, now.
“I… er, I wanted to apologize, you know, for last semester.” Maggie’s face gets red. “It was really inappropriate for me to approach your wife like that.”
“Yes, it was. Have you turned in the paperwork to change advisors?”
She turns a beseeching gaze to me. “I don’t want to change advisors, Professor West. I can’t! I’ve already done all the coursework for Medieval Studies, and you’re the only medievalist on faculty right now.”
“We talked about this last semester, Maggie. Given our disagreements—”and your damn lies “—I can’t advise you any longer.”
“But my father is expecting me to graduate this year so I can start law school next year! I’m already scheduled to take the LSAT. If you stop advising me, I’ll have to go to Professor Hunter, and she’ll make me take a whole semester of coursework, plus summer school.”
“Professor Hunter won’t make you do anything, Maggie. This university has specific requirements for graduation. No one is exempt from them. Not even you.”
Her head jerks up. She glares at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. No one is exempt from the requ
irements.”
“I never said I was!”
“Good, then you know what you need to do.”
“Look, Professor West, I don’t think I have a free ride because of my father.” Maggie steps closer to the desk. Anger flashes in her eyes. “I’m here because of him, yeah, and because he’ll cut me off if I don’t graduate this year and get into law school, but I’m not Daddy’s little girl.”
“Maggie, I can’t help you anymore. I’m writing a letter to Professor Hunter, as department chairperson, explaining we’re at an impasse and you should seek another advisor.”
“Can’t we start over? Let me go back and review the research, and I promise I’ll—”
“Maggie, it’s too late. I won’t advise you any longer.”
She heaves a sigh and steps back. “All right, look. What will it take?”
Unease hits me. “What do you mean?”
Her gaze meets mine. There’s a calculating gleam in her eyes that I don’t like.
“Your predecessor wasn’t above allowing a student a little extra credit,” Maggie says. “I’m sure you’re not either.”
We stare at each other. Anger simmers in my blood, but it’s not directed at her. Suddenly, against all reason, I feel sorry for her.
“Maggie, don’t.” I stalk to the door and pull it open the rest of the way. In case anyone happens to be in the corridor, I keep my voice professional and courteous. “Stop by the registrar’s to get that paperwork taken care of. You’ll hear from Professor Hunter within a week.”
She doesn’t move. She crosses her arms and looks at me, as if she’s trying to figure out another angle.
“Good-bye, Maggie.”
For a second, I think I might have to be the one to leave, but then she grabs her backpack and brushes past me out the door. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then I sit down at my computer and type up the letter to Frances Hunter. Only after it’s printed out and in Frances’s office mailbox do I feel somewhat better.
I take out my cell phone and call Liv.
“Hi, professor.” Her voice, smooth as silk and laced with affection, dispels some of my unease.
I swivel my chair to stare out the window. “Still at the bookstore?”
“Still here. Allie has a bunch of returns to deal with, so I’m staying to help. I thought I’d make spaghetti tonight, okay?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll walk home so I can stop at the store. Anything you want me to pick up?”
“Can’t think of anything.”
“So... why’d you call?” Liv asks.
“Just because.”
“Oh.” She pauses, obviously trying to work that one out since I’m not the type of husband who calls just because.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
It’s a question I don’t know how to answer.
I take a breath. Two things. My wife and work. Nothing else matters.
“Yeah,” I finally say. “Everything’s okay.”
“Good. I’ll see you tonight, then.”
“Don’t lift anything heavy.”
“They’re just picture books.”
“I mean it, Liv.”
“I know. I’m being careful.” She sounds a little exasperated, as if she thinks I don’t trust her judgment.
“Humor me,” I suggest.
“Why else do you think I married you?” she retorts, then disconnects.
A few seconds later, a text message from Liv buzzes on my cell.
U & me 2gether 4ever. Signed with a little heart.
I respond with OK & R2D2.
I switch off the phone and toss it onto my desk. Ice crusts the edges of the window. My office is on the seventh floor and overlooks the snow-covered quad and bare trees. The frozen lake is in the distance. Dusk has fallen.
I turn from the window. I keep a framed picture of Liv beside my computer. I’d taken the photo when she stayed with me during winter break of the first year we met. She’s sitting on an old plaid sofa, her hair loose and messy, an unguarded smile lighting her face. She’s wearing a white, buttoned-up shirt too big for her slender shoulders, but no one else looking at the picture would know that it’s my shirt and that she’s naked underneath. Only I know the reason for that look in Liv’s brown eyes.
Only I know that when I took that picture, I’d already fallen hard for her.
I drag my hands through my hair, turn off the computer, and pack up my stuff. I head home and park on the street in front of our apartment. Cold scrapes my face, bites through my coat. Lights shine against the balcony windows. A gust of warmth hits me in the foyer. The smell of marinara sauce fills the air.
I step inside, all my unease disappearing at the sight of my wife. Her hair is pulled back into a messy knot as she stands over the stove, stirring a pot of sauce. She’s wearing a red pullover sweater, a white shirt, and jeans that hug her curved ass. I drop my briefcase and coat. Move to haul her into my arms.
She gives a squeak of surprise.
“Give me a kiss, beauty.”
Her surprise melts into a smile as she turns to press her mouth to mine. She tastes like tomatoes and oregano. Her breasts crush against my chest. I hold the sides of her face and deepen the kiss, sinking into her, breathing her in. When she eases back to look at me, I rest my forehead against hers. My heart’s pounding.
I kiss her again, sliding my tongue across her lower lip. My cock swells. Liv responds with increasing urgency, squirming against me before she breaks away with a breathless little laugh.
“Wait, I have to…”
“Come on.” I grip her hips. Fire flares in my blood. “Let’s fuck.”
Shocked arousal fills her eyes. “Oh, Dean…”
I back her up toward the kitchen door. “The good doctor gave us permission. We’d find it more enjoyable, she said. We need to prove her right.”
“Wait… wait… turn off the stove.”
I release her for all of two seconds while I switch off the burners, then hurry to get her into the living room. I tug her hair free of the knot so I can run my fingers through the thick strands. I shift my other hand under her sweater to the small of her back. I ease my fingers into her jeans, past the elastic of her cotton panties. She rocks her hips and steps back to lift her arms.
I pull her sweater over her head, my cock twitching at the sight of her full breasts stretching her white button-down shirt. Her sensible bra is visible beneath it. She puts her hands on my chest and pushes me back onto the sofa. Then she puts a leg over my thighs, straddling my lap. She slips her tongue into my mouth. Her teeth graze my lower lip.
She eases back to make room between us. I rub my hand over the curve of her belly, look at her breasts beneath her blouse. Nice.
“Undo it.” My voice is hoarse.
She reaches out to tug at my loose necktie and pull it from my collar.
“I meant your shirt,” I say.
“I know.” She works the buttons on my shirt instead, her cool hands going to the waistband of my trousers. She pauses to cup my erection. Pressure tightens my lower body, my spine.
“Liv.”
She lifts her hands to her shirt and unfastens the buttons. Her breathing is getting faster, her hair a heavy mass around her shoulders. She flicks open the front clasp of her bra. Ah, fuck. Her breasts are so white, so round. She squeezes them together, plucking at the hard nipples. I could come just by watching her.
She glances at me, her eyes hot. I grasp her hips and shift her so she’s lying in my lap, her back against the sofa cushions. Her breasts jut from between the open folds of her shirt. My prick throbs against her ass.
She wiggles, drives a hand into my hair, pulls my head down. I fasten my lips around her nipple and palm her other breast. She gasps, her hips bucking, her fingers gripping my hair. Her little panting noises flood me with heat.
“Dean, I’m… could you…”
I put my hand between her legs. Press my palm against her. She’s warm even through her jeans.
I unzip and pull them over her hips, then drop them to the floor. Rub my hands over her smooth thighs. She arches up to meet the pressure of my fingers. The feel of her makes me burn.
She eases away just enough to be able to get at my fly. She unzips it and takes my cock in her hand. I stop thinking. She sits back on her heels. Her breasts are reddened from my mouth and hands. She’s all flushed, pretty, and hot.
I can’t stop staring at her. I wind a swath of her hair around my hand and pull her in for a deep kiss. Her tongue swirls against mine, her fingers closing on my cock. She slides her lips down my jawline, my neck, over my chest and down. She envelops the head of my prick in her mouth.
“Ah, Liv…” I tighten my hand on her neck. It’s tense and explosive, her going down on me.
Urgency fills my blood as she works her mouth on me, licking and sucking and tasting. I thrust harder, wanting to fuck her mouth. Tension collects along my spine. I dig my fingers into her scalp in an indication that she needs to stop or I’m going to lose it. She pulls back and glances up at me.
“How do you want it?” she whispers.
“You under me.”
Liv pushes away from me and heads for the bedroom. She stretches out on the bed with her legs over the side and props herself up onto her elbows to watch me. She’s like some sort of goddess with her hair all loose and tangled around her shoulders, her brown eyes glazed with arousal. A faint smile curves her gorgeous mouth.
Damn, but I missed her.
I climb onto the bed beside her. Run my hand over her breasts, the swell of her stomach, down between her legs. She’s warm all over. She shifts a little and sighs. I roll my tongue around her nipple, tasting peaches and Liv. She bucks up against me, spearing her hand into my hair.
“Dean, I’m ready. I want…”
“I know what you want.”
I move to stand beside the bed and stare at her flushed face, her eyes glazed with lust. I run my hands over her soft thighs, pressing them apart, watching her open for me. She gasps and twists her nipples, arching her hips. I ease my prick into her. She’s wet, and so fucking tight that one more squeeze and I’m done for.