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A groan goes up from the other littles, and I flop down on the floor in defeat. A shadow falls over me, and I look up to see Daddy standing over me, his hand outstretched.
Grinning, he pulls me up to stand beside him. “Good game, little professor.”
“Where’s our next adventure?” I ask, knowing his choice will be something we’ll both enjoy. I step into his arms and let myself be wrapped up in his warmth.
“Upstairs,” Daddy says in a low voice, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “I picked out a special room for us.”
Chapter 9
Violet
“Happy Wednesday, Sally,” I greet the department secretary as I enter the spacious sunlit room where Etienne’s photographs now cover the walls. “How are you?”
“I’m surviving,” she says cheerily from her desk in the corner, where she has a view of her entire kingdom. “I just emailed you confirmation that the cameras you and Professor Martin ordered have finally been shipped.”
Etienne and I decided it would be easier to order new Polaroids instead of hunting for vintage ones. Plus, they’ll be available for students to use in their projects.
“Awesome!” I exclaim, excited that our plans for parents’ weekend are coming together. “I’ll tell Etienne.”
“I bet you will,” she teases, grinning broadly at me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I glance around to ensure no one is in the office with us.
“You two seem awfully smitten with each other.” She leans across her desk and says conspiratorially, “I saw you two walking out of Champs last Saturday. Hand in hand.”
I internally roll my eyes at the annoyance of living in a small college town—you run into people you know all too frequently. It makes it extremely difficult for a little who is trying to stay hidden. When I lived in Philadelphia, I never ran into anyone I knew. I never had to hide.
“Please don’t tell people,” I ask. “It’s new, and we—”
“I’m no gossip,” she interrupts. “But I get you. People will judge. Not him because he’s a man, not to mention hot.”
I can’t help but giggle. “You think he’s handsome?”
“I said hot.” She grins, taking a stack of paper off the desk and fanning herself. “Maybe I should order more water for the workshop in case the women are extra thirsty.”
“How are we on the refreshments?” I ask, welcoming the conversation's change in direction.
“I put in the catering order, and everything will arrive before the lecture.”
“Great!” I walk toward the bulletin board on the wall. “How’s the signup sheet for students staffing the photography club table on Saturday?”
She chuckles mirthlessly. “I’ll mention it again in this week’s department newsletter.”
The signup sheet has been hanging there for over a week and only has two names. Unsurprisingly, it is my two best students, the president and secretary of the photography club.
“Thank you. I can’t be in two places at once.”
“Not to mention it’s their club, not yours,” Sally commiserates, rolling her eyes.
“True, but let’s be realistic. Half of them join for the field trips, not because they have a keen interest in photography.”
“Now they’ll join because Professor Martin’s co-chairing. You should’ve seen the waitlists to transfer into his courses once he arrived on campus.”
I was happy to relinquish the club when the department chair suggested that Etienne be my co-chair this semester and take over fully next year. That will give me more time for my scholarly pursuits and to improve the academic standing of the department.
“Some of the girls are going to be very upset by their grades at the end of the semester,” I can’t help but tell her gleefully. My Daddy’s a hard-ass and takes his art seriously.
I make my way toward the wall of department mailboxes. Today, mine is filled with papers and textbooks sent by publishers in the hopes I’ll use them in my courses. Little do they know I’m writing and publishing my own so that students aren’t forced to buy an exorbitantly expensive book they’ll only look at before their exams—not to mention I plan on offering an e-book version.
