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“Come inside, Miss McKenzie,” he says and holds the door open for me.
I pass by him, immediately noticing Zach seated in one of the chairs across from the dean’s desk. So it is what I think. Do they suspect that he helped me unfairly earn the apprenticeship? They can’t have any actual proof of the affair itself. All they have is hearsay.
Dean Dawson motions for me to take a seat beside Zach, who doesn’t look as ruffled as a man about to lose his career should. He smiles as I take a seat beside him. Maybe he’s putting on a brave face for my benefit. But I’m not completely ignorant of what’s happening here. I know that everything from this moment on changes. Our relationship, my education, my goals. All of it. And I’ll have to be able to change along with it.
All the secrets are coming out. And I couldn’t be more relieved.
“Do you know why you’re both here?” Dean Dawson asks.
“Something about Miss McKenzie’s apprenticeship?” Zach shrugs, his manner aloof already.
I have no idea how much scolding he’s already been subjected to before I entered the office. He had to have been in here for a while.
“As a matter of fact, it does have a little something to do with the apprenticeship,” the dean says, his tone mimicking Zach’s perfectly.
He turns his focus on me. ‘Miss McKenzie, I’ll ask you the same thing I asked Professor Hawthorne: how long have you two been sleeping together?”
I’m shocked by the bluntness of his question. I stand there, mouth agape, wondering how he even expects me to answer something like that.
“Miss McKenzie doesn’t have to answer that question if she doesn’t want to,” Zach answers for me, my silence speaking volumes to the sucker-punch I’ve just been delivered. “Especially since neither of our lawyers is present.”
Dean Dawson leans across his desk. “What do you need lawyers for, Hawthorne? California is an at-will state. You don’t have tenure here. I can fire you for any reason I want.”
“Wow.” Zach chews his lips. All at once he jumps to his feet. “Good to know. I’ll go pack now. Are we free to leave?”
“We’re not finished yet.”
Dean Dawson motions for him to stay put, but Zach remains standing while the interrogation pivots back to me. “Of course, Miss McKenzie, you realize you are no longer eligible for the apprenticeship. In light of these recent allegations.”
What recent allegations?
All he’s asked is if I slept with Zach. There hasn’t been any proof presented. Can someone’s life really be destroyed that easily? Sure, there’s truth to these allegations, but what if there hadn’t been?
I’m done fighting this.
I won’t apologize for what I did. It led me to Zach, to pure happiness, and more than I could ever have imagined would be mine in a lifetime. So he can take the apprenticeship, he can do what he pleases. I’ll find another way to get what I want.
“That’s fine,” is the only answer I give. After all of that, it’s the only answer he really needs.
“That’s fine?”
“Yes. I already had a backup plan in place in case I didn’t receive the apprenticeship.” Dean Dawson’s brow furrows as I speak, the deep wrinkles folding over her eyes. “Turns out my backup plan should have been more of a plan A.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Aly already has contributors interested in funding her organization,” Zach explains. “She’ll also have at least one volunteer therapist willing to help her with conducting assessments.”
“Well, with so much faith inAly’sproposal,” Dean Dawson grinds out my name for emphasis. “I’m surprised you didn’t recommend her for the apprenticeship.”
He what?
After all his pep talks, all his propping up, he thought Jackson’s proposal was still better than mine? Did he actually believe any of those things he said about my paper? Or was it all just an act to boost my ego?
“Like I said.” Zach stares down the dean, unflinching. “She didn’t need it.”
Or had Jackson said something to him?
If Jackson threatened me, it only stood to reason that he would go after Zach, as well. Especially, if he figured out who Zach really was. Zach could pay a lot more to keep things quiet than I can. He also has the power to make decisions that move Jackson ahead of me in the academic sphere.
