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“This won’t take long. I was just wondering about the two remaining college lectures with missing speakers. Is either of them music-oriented inany way?”
Elise turned to glance at him before striding ahead again. “As a matter of fact, one of them is especially so. It’s the annual Dr. Ralph J. Havisham Lecture that our department sponsors in honor of the first chair of the music department when our college was still in its infancy. The professor who was supposed to be the speaker had a heart attack over the weekend, and we have no one as yet to take his spot. We’ve never had this happen before and normally one of us would substitute in the event of a cancellation, but so far, no one is biting. I would do it myself, except I did it last year, and I’d prefer to let my staff share the limelight.”
She stopped for another moment, turning to ask, “Are you interested in filling the gap, Jax? I know everyone in the department would be happy, not to mention relieved not to have to do it.” She chuckled as she moved off again. “Apparently, I’ve inherited a bunch of shrinking violets. Still, it would be a useful way to get your feet wet in our lecture series.”
That hadn’t been where Jax’s head had gone, but he hedged, not wanting to refuse outright. She was right, after all, and as he was, in fact, the new kid on the block, it behooved him to show that he was a team player. A lecture would also give him the chance to show his mettle in ways other than musical performance. And anyway, he had to run the idea by Noah before he even hinted at having a possible new recruit.
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “It might help me decide if I knew what this year’stheme is.”
“Shoot me an email and I’ll send you thedetails.”
He spent the rest of the day prepping for his classes, including sending out the emails to the students on the finalized class lists with his syllabus and practicum requirements for upperclassmen, as well as his office hours and the like. Lunch was a hurried sandwich before he had a department meeting, in which the subject of the lecture was raised, and his name was fronted as a possible substitute.
He resisted the urge to be irritated. Elise Mann was his boss, after all, and if she gave him a direct order, he wasn’t going to refuse. It wasn’t worth it at this stage of his life to pick fights about minor matters. He knew she respected his professional autonomy. He listened as his colleagues cheered as though his agreement was a foregone conclusion and pasted as genuine a smile as he could muster on his face when he received a few back slapsfrom some.
He hadn’t had a chance to check his text messages before lunch, when he’d seen that Noah had left at ten, so he’d be home already. He cleared his desk after the department meeting and agreed to go out for a final before-we-meet-the-students drink with a few of his single male colleagues. He didn’t want to be alone for longer than he had to be. Being with Noah had been a wake-up call about how lonely he was and how much he wanted to have him as a constant companion inhis home.
When his cell phone rang, an hour into his hangout session, he excused himself to take the call outside. It was Noah, and Jax didn’t want anyone listening in to his conversation.
“Hey, babe. How was the drive?”
“I made it home in under three hours. Not even a cop in sight, and no one driving like an idiot to tie up thehighway.”
Jax chuckled. Noah was impatient with the way his fellow drivers handled their vehicles around him, and his irritation with the highway patrol was no less acute.
“I’m glad you’re safe and unticketed. There’s something I’ll need to talk to you about but I’m out with colleagues right now. I’ll call you when Iget home.”
“Sure. Enjoy yourself. Talk later.” He was gone before Jax could answer.
“Everything okay?” Ted Parsons, one of the piano professors, asked.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” He picked up his beer, signaling that he was done talking about his call and thankfully, they followedhis lead.
“So, Jax, a few of us were wondering what made you choose to come here. After all, where you were previously is among the best music schools in the nation. Up there with Curtis and Julliard.So, why?”
Jax had been surprised that the question hadn’t come up over the weekend, when he’d had a prepared speech to answer it. Now, two beers and the memory of some sweet lovemaking in, he was damned if he could remember the finer points. He went with the easiestresponse.
“I needed a change, and I wanted to stay at the same level. This was a no-brainer. Same high standards, less competition, more time to do what I love.”
“Small college town universities can be as messy as big city ones, though,” Stuart McKoy, another younger colleague and a flutist, said. “It took me a while to get used to everyone knowing mybusiness.”
Jax’s ears perked up. “Your business? What doyou mean?”
McKoy grinned. “I’m gay. I wasn’t sure how well that would be received outside of the music department, which thankfully is honestly inclusive. Turns out, that wasn’t what I should have been worried about.”
The others laughed at that, and Jax turned curious eyes to McKoy. “Whatshouldyou have worried been about?”
“Matchmakers. Everybody’s mother, grandmother, aunt, and even a few grandpas suddenly knew a guy. I kept having to head them off at the pass. I even thought a little bit about hiring someone to pretend to be my man, so they’d stop accosting me in the supermarket to ask me how my date was, because of course they’d seen me the one time I was with a guy.”
He was laughing as he told the story, but Jax could feel his frustration. He understood the feeling, though he didn’t get it from outsiders. He got that from his family, particularly his mom.
“So, how did you escape that?”
“I gotmarried.”
Jax’s eyes shot up in astonishment. “What? You just up and married some random dude?”
McKoy laughed long and loud. “Nope. I fell for my husband at first sight, if you can believe that, but he’s an older man and I didn’t think he’d be interested. Turns out I was wrong. Eighteen months later…” he held up his left hand, “I’m matchmaker-free and loved up by a silver fox I wasn’t even looking for.”
