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“I would,” the donor said, surprised Jamie didn’t agree with him. “The boy’s been embarrassed. You must know that there’s nothing more humiliating for us posh gits than to be embarrassed in public.”
Jamie had no idea whether the man was joking or not, since he followed his words with a hearty laugh.
Dr. Franklin laughed with him, though he mostly just looked brutally uncomfortable with the whole thing. “Shall we return to the table?” he asked. “They’ve just started serving dessert, and it looks like tiramisu.”
“Ooh, my favorite,” the donor said with delight in his eyes.
As soon as he and Dr. Franklin left, Jamie turned a mortified look to Dr. Epstein. “Sir, I can’t even begin to apologize for everything that has happened tonight,” he said.
“No, you cannot,” Epstein said, no traces of humor in his voice or expression. “But you had no control over Mr. Pulsiver’s behavior. The man is a spoiled arse of a sort that is usually reserved for incoming freshmen. Begging your pardon, Miss Keal.” He nodded to Dawn.
“Oh, I get it,” Dawn said, swaying closer to Jamie. “People my age are a right mess. No offense taken at all.”
Epstein cracked a smile. “Yes, but that man is not your age.” He glanced to Jamie. “He should know better.”
Jamie only flinched a little at the words. Whether Epstein meant them for him or not, he felt them. He should have known better than to let Ronny stay in his life after they’d broken up. He should have known better than to play with him after the break-up, or to allow any sort of familiarity between the two of them at all.
But what was it to be human if not to make mistakes? At least he wouldn’t make that one again. Where things stood with him just then, he wouldn’t end up ending a soured relationship with an egotistical muppet ever again, because the only man he wanted by his side going forward was wise and strong beyond his years.
“No doubt there will be talk about tonight,” Epstein sighed, not quite finished with Jamie yet.
“For which, again, I apologize,” Jamie said. He winced, then did the responsible thing by saying, “If you require my resignation, I can have it in your email by tomorrow.”
Epstein’s eyes went wide with shock. “You will do no such thing, Croft. Did you not just hear me say that you are an asset to this university?”
“But the scandal,” Jamie started.
Epstein snorted. “Some other great catastrophe will rise up tomorrow and snag everyone’s attention. That’s the way it’s been since I started working here forty years ago. But going forward,” he glanced between Jamie and Aled, “I strongly suggest that you keep your extracurricular activities off-campus. And, Mr. Keal, it might be wise for you to be assigned a different advisor.”
Jamie let out a breath. Honestly, it would be a relief. Then his and Aled’s relationship could exist completely separate from the university.
“I agree, sir,” Aled said, nodding to Epstein, then smiling at Jamie.
“Now,” Epstein said. “I plan to go have some tiramisu, and I suggest you do the same.”
They exchanged a few last words of goodbye before Jamie, Aled, and Dawn were left alone.
“Blimey,” Dawn said, still looking startled and a bit messy from her earlier crying. “And here I thought people outgrew causing scenes and embarrassing themselves after secondary school.”
Jamie huffed an ironic laugh. “You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.”
That made Dawn laugh.
A moment later, she asked Aled, “Do we have to stay here? Because, honestly, if we’re going to have tiramisu, I’d rather get it from the bakery ’round the corner from home and have it with some nice tea while sitting in front of the telly.”
Aled stepped around to pull her into a hug and kissed her forehead. “That sounds much better than finishing out the night here.” He sent Jamie a hopeful look. “You coming?”
It was a simple question, but it was asked with so much hope and anticipation. It wasn’t an order either. Aled wasn’t telling him what to do or doubting that he would make the wrong decision about anything. He was just asking, as an equal, if Jamie wanted to forget about the world to spend a few, quiet hours with people who truly cared about him.
There was only one answer, really.
“Of course,” he said, shrugging one shoulder and adjusting his glasses. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
He reached out and took Aled’s hand and started walking with him and Dawn across the hall. And no, he probably shouldn’t have declared his feelings or given the students nearby, who had watched the entire confrontation as if they were watching the latest Netflix drama, anything else to gossip about. But honestly, his heart was too full with the love that Aled, and also Dawn, clearly had for him and the acceptance they had of who he was—without conditions or boundaries—that he didn’t care. He’d found his people, and there was no place he would rather have been than with them.
TWENTY
It was notthe way Aled thought the evening would turn out, but as he sat on the sofa in his pajamas, watching a silly holiday film that was already taking Netflix by storm, even though it was barely November, Dawn in the middle with Jamie on the other side of her, both of them in pajamas too, he couldn’t have been happier.
