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"Thank you. We're very excited about it but since her birth, I've struggled to keep up. As I'm sure you've noticed, taking so long to return your grades. Enrollment is up and the board is increasing my class size again next term instead of hiring additional staff." He huffed dragging his hand down his face. Raking his fingers through the tuft of hair on his chin. "Anyway… What I'm saying is, I need help. Now, I've never had a teacher's assistant before and I'm not known to be the easiest person to work with but it would be a great opportunity to add to your resume. And if you continue to perform as well as you have so far, I write stellar reference letters."
"You want me to be your assistant?"
He confirmed dipping his chin to his chest.
How could this be? She hadn't even worked as hard as she should have or put in the time she should have yet she'd exceeded expectations. All while taking care of Isaac and even getting to take some time off to have a little fun.
"Let me get this straight. All year, you've piled on the work, given us hell for even thinking about anything else. And now, you're asking me to devote time you'd have me believe I don't have to help you do your job so you can have more time with your family? That seems a bit… I don't know… Hypocritical?"
He leaned forward resting his forearms on the desk, his fingers still locked together. "What you need to get straight, Ms. Fosberg, are your priorities. You're entirely too hard on yourself. You've more than proven you can do the work when the pressure is on and the timeline is unreasonably tight. If you worked half as hard as everyone else, you'd still complete twice the amount of work as your classmates. And as far as my expectations go? They're high in order to get the most out of every student who honestly applies themselves in my classes. But at the end of the day, you choose whether or not to be affected by those expectations. It's up to you how you manage your time. I merely show you the consequence of those choices.
"I don't know what you've inferred but I couldn't care less about what you do when you're at home as long as you get your work done."
Katie's fingers ached when she released the death grip she'd had on the arms of her chair.
She said, under her breath, "I've had it all wrong."
"What's that?" The professor turned an ear to her.
"Nothing." Katie stood pacing in front of the chair once before heading to the door.
"Where are you going? You haven't given me an answer."
Katie looked back. The professor stood with his arms braced on the desk.
Her career had always been the most important thing to her. She'd accepted the fact she'd never have a social life beyond the one built into whatever job she had, like planning floor parties as an RA, office parties wherever she ended up working after graduation.
She'd gotten lucky finding a friend like Amber that didn't mind being ignored for weeks at a time when she got overloaded with school work and she’d accepted she'd never be so lucky as to find someone like her again.
Until she met Isaac.
He'd gone out of his way to get out of hers. Even after she’d offered and he’d accepted her help to take care of him, he'd tried doing everything himself. Until she'd demanded he let her help. He listened and respected the insane amount of time she devoted to her work.
She'd had something special with him and ruined it because it hadn't even occurred to her she had any other choice. Now, there was no other choice.
"You wouldn't start until fall semester but we would need a couple of weeks before classes start to go over your responsibilities. Will that be a problem?"
"No. I can make it work."
Chapter 43
Walking out of the computer science building, into the bright light of the midday sun, Katie finished writing her text and pressed send.
Katie: I fucked up and saying I'm sorry doesn't even begin to make up for it but I am sorry.
She struggled to catch her breath waiting for a response. The minute on her phone's clock ticked over. It was about to change again when the phone buzzed tickling her palm.
Isaac: You banked more than enough goodwill saving my life. What do you say we call it even?
Katie: I ghosted you for a month. You can't just act like it never happened.
Isaac: Sure I can.
Katie: Well, I can't.
Several minutes passed. She'd almost convinced herself that was the end of it when his message lit her screen.
Isaac: But what if you could?
