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“I see someone’s feeling quite full of himself,” Ronny said, sauntering across the room to meet Jamie just inside the door. “Is it because you knew I’d be here?” He lowered his voice to an inappropriate level as he came to stand in front of Jamie, blocking his forward progress.
“I was not aware you would be here,” Jamie said, the icy feeling inside him coming out in his tone. “Whatareyou doing here, Ronny?”
Alexandra was close enough to have witnessed Jamie’s arrival and Ronny swooping in. “He’s part of the fundraising committee,” she said, sounding like she wasn’t happy about it, but also like she wasn’t certain she should be getting involved in Jamie’s personal business. She knew all about Ronny, his and Jamie’s relationship, and the break-up.
“Yes,” Ronny said. “It turns out that when your obscenely wealthy parents attended an institution of higher learning but can’t be bothered to spearhead any fundraising efforts themselves, they send their disposable son to do their job for them.”
Jamie winced slightly. He had never been able to tell if Ronny was consciously aware of the way he paraded his fractured relationship with his parents in front of others or if it was some sort of manifestation of his ongoing, futile attempts to win their love at last.
“I trust you’ll do them proud, then,” he said, trying to step around Ronny to take a seat at the conference table.
Ronny moved to block him. “You’re looking radiant this morning,” he said, making the compliment sound like a threat. “Was that smile earlier for me?”
“No,” Jamie said, sighing and rolling his shoulders a bit. He wasn’t going to be able to sit down and concentrate on his job until Ronny stopped toying with him. Ronny was exactly the sort who would blurt private business as a means to wound him.
Ronny looked like he was waiting for Jamie to say more, and when he didn’t, he asked, “Are you seeing someone?” His smile pulled tight, and his eyes were filled with steel.
“That’s not really any of your business,” Jamie said, trying again to move around him.
This time, instead of blocking him, Ronny did something worse. He reached for the chair Jamie had his eye on and pulled it out from the table in a gesture that, to anyone else, would seem polite, loving, even.
Jamie sighed. As much as he wanted to pick a different chair to prevent Ronny from feeling like he had made the choice and put him in his place, the rest of the committee, including its chair, Dr. Epstein, the head of the Humanities department, were settling in so they could get started. To challenge Ronny’s dominance would mean making a scene, which might lead to questions.
Jamie decided to take the loss and sit in the chair Ronny had picked out for him. He cringed when Ronny pushed it in for him, like they were at some fine restaurant.
“We’ll talk more after the meeting, darling,” Ronny whispered against Jamie’s ear with uncalled for intimacy. He then took the seat beside Jamie.
Jamie sighed as he brought his tablet out of his satchel, turned it on, and adjusted his glasses, ready to take notes. And here he’d thought the only problem he would have with the new term was navigating a potentially inappropriate relationship. If the financial committee continued throughout the entire year, and if Ronny remained a part of it, he would have a whole other set of problems to contend with.
The meeting was about as interesting as meetings generally were. It was a new committee, so much of what they needed to discuss was basic and covered the parameters of how they would be operating. There was already some talk about specific fundraising events, how to encourage younger doners, and ways to reward legacy benefactors. Jamie had a hard time concentrating on any of it.
His one saving grace, particularly as the meeting reached the end of its time, was that Alexandra was seated on his other side. As Dr. Epstein began to wrap things up, Jamie subtly reached for one of the notepads that had been provided on the table, pulled it in close, and wrote, “I need a distraction,” on the bottom of the top page before sliding it over to her.
Alexandra nodded. A few minutes later, when Dr. Epstein officially ended the meeting, Jamie packed his tablet away, adjusted his glasses, pushed his chair back, and stood. He glanced once to Alexandra with a grateful wink, then took his satchel and peeled away, heading to the end of the table and Dr. Epstein before Ronny could stand.
“Ronny, I wonder if I might have a word with you about your parents’ new charitable foundation,” he heard Alexandra say behind him.
By the time Jamie reached the head of the table, Ronny had stood, but Alexandra had cornered him and prevented him from following. She even went so far as to steer him out of the room as Jamie waited his turn to speak to Dr. Epstein.
When that turn finally came, Dr. Epstein smiled at him. “Ah. Professor Croft. What can I do for you?”
Jamie suddenly wished he’d planned out what he wanted to say a bit better.
“I have a somewhat delicate question for you, sir,” he said, loathing that he even had to have the conversation.
“Yes?” Dr. Epstein turned to give Jamie his full attention. He was a nice, slightly stuffy, older man who had been at the university since King Kong was a monkey, but he’d always been fair, as far as Jamie knew.
“I need some clarification about the university’s policy on faculty-student dating scenarios,” he said, ripping the plaster off.
Dr. Epstein shifted his weight and crossed his arms, as if Jamie had asked him a deeply philosophical question. He had risen up to department head through the Philosophy department, after all. “Hypothetically, or do you have a student who fancies one of their professors already?”
Jamie winced. “I met someone over the summer, and unbeknownst to me at the time, it turns out he’s enrolled here.”
Dr. Epstein’s brow shot up. “Oh, I see.”
“He’s older and returning to his education after taking a break, so the age gap isn’t as pronounced as you might think. He didn’t realize I taught here either,” Jamie went on, praying Dr. Epstein wouldn’t ask for more details.
Dr. Epstein settled even deeper into his thoughtful pose. “Well,” he said, drawing the single syllable out until it felt like an eternity, “if everyone is of age, and if the relationship began outside of the university, while it might be a bit of a grey area, I don’t see how anyone here could stop it.”
