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"I will," I said. I got the distinct impression he didn't approve of me changing my name. Or, maybe he had something against the Marshalls. I wasn't sure. I didn't want to be paranoid, but I just felt he treated me differently once he learned I married Luke Marshall of the Marshall Family fortune.
Luke came back into the office and handed me a soda. He pulled up a chair and sat beside me, glancing at my laptop screen to see what I had written.
"What should I title the email?"
I showed him the options and he shrugged. "Direct is best. I like Grade Appeal Request personally. It says it all."
"Is my email too terse?"
I glanced at him to see his response.
"It's terse, but I doubt he'd want it to be long winded. Maybe if you indicated that you really enjoyed the course and was surprised that your grade was so low, he'd feel a little more inclined to give you a better mark. Can you ask to rewrite it to his specifications?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I honestly don't know."
I revised the letter and subject matter.
SUBJECT: Grade for International Relations: Directed Reading
I received my grade for your class and was surprised at the final mark of B+. I really enjoyed the class and felt that the paper deserved a higher mark. I have a straight A+ average in my graduate work so far. If you could let me know how I could improve the paper in order to receive at least an A, I would be more than happy to rewrite as soon as possible. If this grade stands, it will have a significant effect on my ability to keep my scholarship.
Thank you for considering my request.
Sincerely,
Alexa Dixon Marshall
"What do you think?" I asked, chewing on my thumb nail.
"It sounds both slightly flattering but at the same time, pleading. I really don't know. It's your call. What does your gut say about how to deal with him?"
I exhaled. "My gut says to suck up to him. Maybe I should really lay it on thick."
I revised the letter, adding on how glad I was to have him as a directed reading professor, that I read all his papers on the subject matter and felt honored to have his input. I truly felt that way, so it wasn't a lie.
I was totally crushed that he thought my paper was only worth a B+. Maybe that would be fine for an undergraduate course, but not at the PhD level.
Luke read the final letter over and I took in a deep breath and sent it off.
"There goes nothing," I said and closed my laptop. "I wish I could have a beer instead of this," I said and held up my bottle of lime soda.
"Once you're done breastfeeding, you’ll be free to get tipsy if you want on date night, which I imagine won't happen for the first year." Luke had a gleam in his eye, like he enjoyed my enforced sobriety.
"We'll both be exhausted for the first year, I expect. That's what Dana said about having baby James. Although, Eric wasn't too tired to screw around on her..."
"Speaking of Eric," Luke said after a long pull on his beer. "I never told you, but I came out of the office and thought I saw someone watching me from across the street. I went to him and demanded he tell me who he was, but he told me to go to hell, in as many words. So I had someone from the security company to tail him. I just got back a report on the man. He's a Private Investigator. You'll never guess who hired him."
"Not Eric," I said, my jaw dropping. "Why would Eric hire someone to follow you?"
"I honestly have no idea. What could Eric possibly want to know about me that he couldn't just ask? I thought that maybe Eric wanted to know my daily routine so he could hire a hitman and knock me off, or maybe know when I was in the office so he could confront me, or maybe when I was gone so he could have someone break in and steal stuff."
"Do you think he wants revenge? It was because of you seeing him with his girlfriend or escort or whatever she was that he and Dana split..."
Luke shrugged. "Could be. He may just want to hurt me in some way. Whatever the case, I had Pete send a letter to him, warning him that I knew he was following me and that I would get a temporary restraining order if he kept it up."
"Good. He's a bastard. I feel bad for Dana that she's on her own, but she's better off without him. It's just too bad that little James will grow up without his father in the house. It's hard on young kids to not have their father around or a father figure in their lives. Maybe Dana will meet someone soon and James will have a stepfather."
"Maybe," Luke said. "She doesn't have a good track record picking men, so I'm not that optimistic."
