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“So you and Ellie are done, then?” Jane says, as if I haven’t spoken.
“Get out.”
She stands and walks to the door. I take a wide step to the other side of the room, making it clear I don’t want to touch her.
“I could tell the school about you and Ellie,” Jane says. “Just remember that. It wouldn’t be difficult. Maybe somebody saw you do something they shouldn’t have.”
“Nobody saw anything. You can’t hang that over my head.”
“Maybe somebody saw something, but they won’t remember until I remind them.”
I close the door behind Jane, resting my forehead against it. I can’t believe I was ever with her. It goes deeper than that. I wish I’d never touched her or touched any woman. I wish I could’ve known I would meet Ellie one day.
It’s not like I was some playboy, just a regular man trying to feel something. Lately, ever since I became a professor, I’ve let that part of my life die. Trying felt pointless. It doesn’t anymore.
A few minutes later, my cell phone rings. It’s Ben.
“Kelly’s run away,” he says. “Goddamn it, Max. I don’t know where she is.”
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
Ellie
“Are you okay?” Chloe asks, shifting in her seat, then wrapping her arms around her middle. “Ellie?”
“Are you okay?” I counter, leaning forward and lowering my voice so we don’t annoy the librarian.
“In class,” she whispers. “You and Professor Stellar… It was like you were mad at him or something. Did it have something to do with last week when he asked you to stay behind?”
“You’ve been jumping around like you’ve got ants in your pants. Is something up?”
She tilts her head and sticks her lips out. All the while, she’s fidgeting. “Yup, you’re determined to avoid the question. I got the timing on my meds wrong. I use medication for my lack of attention, ADD. You’ve probably heard of it.”
“Yes, of course. Are you all out?”
“Just a couple of days.” Chloe grins shakily. “A mistake. Clerical error or something. No big deal. I’ve always found it difficult to sit still. Am I being unacceptably annoying?”
“Not unacceptably,” I say, grinning. “Don’t feel bad or self-conscious or anything. I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Not sure if that’s the world. Does the world feel, simultaneously, intensely slow and intimidatingly fast to you?”
“You should write a poem about this,” I say.
She beams. “Come on…”
“No, really. That phrase. Intensely slow, impossibly fast… I like it. I can connect with it, and isn’t that what this is all about?”
“Were you thinking of a certain professor just then?” she asks with a knowing smile. “Sorry. I’m prying. Tell me to back off, please. Put me out of my misery.”
I lower my voice. “It’s nothing, really. Nothing. I…” What I should do is shut up. I really like Chloe, but we only met last week. I can’t risk telling anybody about this.
Then she places her hand on mine. “I’ll take anything you say to the grave. Morbid, I know, but I mean it. I swear.”
“Okay, well… I went to Max’s for a tattoo. Some craziness happened. Then more craziness happened. It feels weird to tell the entire story here.”
She squeezes my hand. “Come on. Let’s go to the café. My treat.”
We find a quiet corner of the café, and then I tell Chloe the story. It’s bad, but I feel better as I talk, explaining about the tattoo and hinting at the steaminess. I don’t mention the dirty talk, but I explain about Aunt Jane, except I leave out her allegation. I won’t tell anybody that until I know it’s true. It can’t be true, though, can it?
“You don’t know who that woman was,” Chloe says when I finish, “at his house. He had a friend over, you said. What if she was the friend’s girlfriend or something? You can’t jump to conclusions there.”
I let out a trembling breath. During these past five days, this dark period, I haven’t been able to even think about Max and me in a good light. I’ve only thought of the dark shades Jane has painted it in and Mom forbidding me. But Chloe gives me something I shouldn’t even want. Hope.
“Do you think so?” I ask.
“Who knows? But it’s a scary situation.”
“How so?”
“Well, in one scenario, he’s a lying sociopath who uses his students. In the other, your aunt’s a liar.”
I nod, letting out a shaky breath. “When you put it like that…”
Chloe reaches over and places her hand on my shoulder. I can feel her trembling, her body refusing to stay still. She meets my eye with a warm smile. “I know we haven’t been friends long, but I’m here for you.”
Later, I’m at the restaurant, almost unprofessionally groaning right in this man’s face when he asks me to repeat the specials again. I think he and his wife fought during the car ride over. He’s dressed sharply with neat gray hair. That’s funny. Max’s hair has some silver, but this man’s is gray. His wife wears a stylish dress, holds her handbag, and looks vaguely off to the side.
