Coming In Hot

Chapter 3-1

3

"Need a little help there, man in black?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it was a Johnny Cash reference. I tend to assign students little monikers because I'm bad at remembering names. When you visited my class, you became the Man in Black, at least in my head."

"Big Johnny Cash fan here too," he said stupidly.

"Well, that settles it. Us Johnny Cash fans have to stick together. Let me help."

She crouched next to him, and suddenly they were face to face, and he was having a little trouble with his heart rate.

"Let me guess. Snack attack?" She smiled at him as she scooped up a handful of puffs and dumped them into the bag he still held.

"Something like that."

With all the cheese puffs back in the bag, he rose to his feet. She followed suit and they stood facing one another. He still felt tongue-tied, almost as if he were a student in the presence of a much smarter authority figure.

"So what do you think of Evergreen so far?" she asked patiently, almost as if she were talking to a student.

"Pretty campus. Good reputation. Still a few questions I need to resolve, but I'm impressed so far." Was he referring to Evergreen or to her? He wasn't completely sure.

"Well, if there's anything I can answer, go ahead. I'm not the best source, since I'm only a guest lecturer here. But I'll share what I know, and I can point you to the people with the real answers."

He tried to get his head back in the game. Drag out the conversation. Seach for confirmation. "Where do you normally teach?"

"Jupiter Point. It's a little town on the coast with a very high-quality community college."

Should he mention that he was born and raised there? No. He didn't want to tip her off to his hidden agenda.

"So do you have a kid considering Evergreen?" She gave him a swift up-and-down assessment with those soft blue eyes. It damn near gave him the chills. "You don't look old enough to have a college-age child."

"You're right, it's not for any kid of mine. No kids. Not married. Or ever likely to be." Why'd he go mentioning that? "I'm here for someone I care about," he added.

She nodded, her eyebrows arching. He must sound like a moron. He had to get it together before she decided he had a screw loose and refused to talk to him. When she surreptitiously checked her watch, he knew his time was running out. "I do have a few questions, as a matter of fact. Any chance you have some time later?"

"I have office hours this evening from five to seven. You're welcome to stop by." She gestured toward a building adjacent to the quadrangle. "First floor, last office on the right. But I suggest you talk to the Admissions people first. They're much more informed than I am."

"I'll do that. Thank you." She nodded politely and turned to go. He added, "See you at seven."

"Office hours are over at seven."

"Exactly. You'll probably be hungry by then."

She opened her mouth to object.

But didn't.

Instead she gave him a confused smile and hurried away from the Caf.

Sweet Jesus. Did he just come on to Aiden's crush? Did he just arrange a semi-potential date-ish meeting with her? Whatever it was, she hadn't turned him down flat. Did that mean she wasn't involved with Aiden? Did it mean she was toying with his little brother? Or did it mean he'd taken her by surprise and she didn't quite know how to react? She didn't even know his name. He ought to give her some dating safety tips. Could anyone just walk onto this campus and go to her office and talk to her? That didn't seem right.

He caught himself up. This was a peaceful college campus, not Afghanistan. No threat existed here, except from pissed-off older brothers of innocent kids who thought they were in love. Get a f*****g grip.