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ROSIE
Rosie Zanetti was tagged in a new post by Rachel:
‘Lecherous Lecturer: university awards night ends in controversy: Dean and vice-chancellor asked for comment after allegations of a senior lecturer’s behaviour with students and staff interrupted his surprise wedding proposal.’
Amanda finally released me as Tom retreated from the kitchen.
How had his hug been so powerful, and so different, from my best friend’s? How had his embrace wiped out Richard and tonight’s events from my mind for a moment? How had he made me feel so safe?
“I thought you were at the research awards night tonight.” Amanda reached for wine glasses from the sideboard. “Tell me what happened.”
I hugged myself. “Richard and I are over.”
Amanda swore and pulled me in for another hug. “What the hell happened?”
“You can watch what happened if you like. I made a video.”
Still rattled by Tom’s hug, I wriggled out of her arms and found my phone in my pocket.
“You filmed your break-up?” Amanda exclaimed.
“Inadvertently. I filmed my speech at the awards night, and then Richard walked up on stage, interrupted me and asked me to marry him in front of everyone at the dinner.”
“But that’s good, right? You’re already engaged.”
I shook my head, laughing harshly. “No, and yes. We never were really engaged. It was an understanding. Richard forbade me from going public. He even said I shouldn’t tell my parents, but I couldn’t keep it from Mum, and she told everyone she met.” I sighed, a pang of envy stinging deep in my chest. “I told Mum not to say anything out of respect to you and Stuart for your engagement news, but truthfully, I’d been buying time with Richard to get a straight answer about whether we were together or not.”
“Oh, Rosie. I’m so sorry.” Amanda moved to hug me again, but I shrugged her off. She took a step back and raised her eyebrows. “So he proposed properly at the awards dinner?”
“In a way. I’d challenged him about something at work. We hadn’t spoken for more than a week. Not that we’d been together for a month.” I laughed bitterly, walking from one end of the kitchen to the other. “It’s such a mess.I’msuch a mess.”
Amanda poured us a glass of wine from a bottle decanting on the kitchen bench. “I have a feeling you need this.”
I slid into a kitchen chair. “Is that the 2012 vintage of our Shiraz?”
“Yep. An exceptional year.”
“I was in my senior year of high school when we picked this. It was my first vintage. I managed the harvest and the ferment and bottling mostly by myself. Dad broke his ankle that year.”
The irony is that this wine represented my ability to run my family’s business, especially after tonight. “Mum and Dad were there tonight. Surprised me by turning up. Dad was in his tuxedo he wears for the opera, and Mum was in her best dress. They were furious about what I did tonight.”
Amanda silently watched as I swiped my phone screen, brought up a video and hit play.
Watching over her shoulder, I appeared on the screen, standing at the podium as Richard got down on one knee. He’d just asked me to marry him over the sound system, and the crowd was gasping and clapping. I was looking into the crowd, nervous, about to run, when the projection screen came to life.
A female voice spoke.
You all know Dr Richard Collins for his work in biodiversity and viticulture. Dr Collins knows some of you better than others. He’s very good at cultivating relationships that overstep the boundaries of appropriateness in a workplace setting.
I fell for it. Several others did, too.
Text messages appeared in the video of several women Richard had been texting, asking for nudes and setting up times to meet.
Did you know he was planning an engagement when he was sending these texts? I didn’t know about the texts either until I accidentally saw one. He insisted we stay a secret, and I suspect he asked the same of you, too.
Dr Collins also clarified that your grades can significantly improve if you do things for him.
