20. Stephen
20
STEPHEN
Files were strewn atop my desk and all I wanted to do was shove them in a drawer, and forget about them for the rest of the day. If the semester wasn’t starting on Monday, I’d probably do exactly that.
Late nights with Jansen over the last week had taken a toll on my sleep, but I wouldn’t have given up a single one of them. I planned on taking advantage of any time I had with him before the season started. The hockey schedule could be crazy, and knowing there might be a week or two at a time that I wouldn’t see him, I wanted to get my fill of him now.
The phone on my desk rang for the millionth time that morning. I glared at the damn thing before picking it up.
“Stephen Forrester,” I answered without even thinking.
“Very formal today, are we?”
I slumped back into my chair. “Shannon, you’re probably one of the few people I can talk to today without wanting to throw something across my office.”
“Don’t speak too soon.”
“Whatever it is, I don’t want to know.”
“Well, you need to. I’ll be over in a minute. I just wanted to make sure you were in your office.”
She hung up before I had the chance to question her further. Shannon knew I’d ask twenty questions until I got the answer. Whatever it is, it couldn’t be remotely good if she needed to talk to me about it in person.
My cell rang. I gave it a quick glance and saw it was Serilda. As much as it pained me to do so, I sent the call to voicemail. I had to deal with whatever issue Shannon was bringing me first.
About ten minutes later there was a knock on my door. Pamela knew Shannon was one of the few people who didn’t need to be announced first. The door opened and Shannon stepped into the room, two iced coffees and a paper bag from the coffee shop in her hands.
“This really can’t be good if you’re bringing me coffee and snacks,” I said, eyeing the bag in her hand.
Ignoring me, she brought the bag over to the coffee table on the side of my office. “If we weren’t less than a week from the start of school, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but right now it might be.”
Sighing, I joined her at the table and dropped down onto the couch. “At least let me have a sip of coffee before you drop whatever it is on me.”
“Someone needs more sleep.” If she only knew.
She handed me the cup and opened the bag, showing me the chocolate croissant. I took it from the bag and after a bite and sip of the coffee, I braced myself for the problem. “All right. Lay it on me.”
“Apparently, Professor Marks wants to use a textbook he’s written for his calculus classes this semester.”
“ This semester? As in next Monday? And he didn’t think to mention this at the start of the summer when we ordered new textbooks for the store?”
She fidgeted with the strands of hair that hung around her face. “That’s what I asked. According to him, he wanted to make sure he finished it in time.”
“And he doesn’t understand that in time would have been July, not the end of August?” I set the croissant down and rubbed my eyes with my finger and thumb. “Tell him absolutely not. We do not have the time or budget to print new books. He should have thought of this before we placed the book order at the beginning of the summer.”
Shannon’s face scrunched up. “I already told him that.”
“And?” Now, I really felt like I was dealing in twenty questions.
“He’s refusing to teach the class with the current book. He said if we won’t use his, he’ll teach without one.”
I groaned. Teaching a college level course without a book never ended well. Even as most textbooks had moved online, there was still a format for students to follow and study from. Classes without consistent texts caused too many variations from course to course. “If he does that and make his courses simpler than the other professors teaching calculus, we’ll have a million drops and adds and even more student complaints.”
Shannon picked up her coffee and pulled a sugar-topped blueberry muffin from the bag. “Which is exactly why I came over in person. I figured between the two of us, we could figure out a solution.”
And right to work we went. I ignored multiple calls from both my cell phone and desk phone. Of all the issues I had to take care of, this happened to be the most pressing at the moment. Two months ago, this would have been much simpler.
By the time we had a solution Professor Marks was willing to accept, the coffee and bakery treats were long gone. I leaned back in my desk chair and looked at Shannon, who peered at me from the chair across from my desk, weariness in her expression.
“Well, that was one way to make the day go fast,” she said, glancing down at her phone.
I looked at my own phone and saw it was almost two in the afternoon. There were a ton of missed texts and calls, mostly from Jansen. I swiped the phone open, wanting to apologize for not responding sooner when the buzz of my desk phone distracted me.
I hit the speaker button. There wasn’t anyone on the other end whose conversation Shannon couldn’t hear.
“Hello?”
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Pamela’s voice came over the line, “but, Mr. McKenna is here to see you.”
Shannon sat straight up in her chair; her eyes fixed on me.
“You can send him back. Thank you, Pamela.” It had never occurred to me to put Jansen on the list of people she could let back automatically.
“You’re dying over there, aren’t you?”
Shannon pressed her hand to her chest. “Me?”
“Yes, you.” I stood and opened the door to see Jansen making his way down the small hall. He had a bag in his hand.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” I smiled and stepped back to let him in.
Jansen stopped in his tracks; his eyes trained on Shannon. “I didn’t mean to interrupt a meeting.”
Shannon stood up. “Nonsense. We just finished what we were working on. I’m Shannon.”
I placed my hand on his back and ushered him farther into the room. Even with our size difference, he moved easily at the slightest touch.
“And this is Jansen McKenna. Jansen, Shannon was my partner in crime when we both taught history.”
“You don’t teach history anymore?”
Shannon gestured toward me. “Not since this guy made me the Dean of Academic Affairs.”
“I’m guessing you miss teaching as much as Stephen does then.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close.
She eyed me knowingly and laughed. “You have no idea.” She collected her bag. “I’ll make sure everything is taken care of. You two enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Jansen said as Shannon waved, walking out the door.
She shut it behind her. I turned to Jansen, pulling his face down to mine and stealing his lips. The taste of him was exactly what I needed after the almost disaster this morning.
“Hello to you too,” he said when I pulled back. “Rough day?”
“That’s an understatement. What brought you over here?”
He took my hand, leading me toward the couch. “I figured you might not be having a good day when you didn’t answer my call or texts, so I brought you lunch.” He set the bag on the table. Cena di Familgia was written on the side.
I rubbed my thumb over the top of his hand. “You’re the most kind, thoughtful man I have ever met.” I kissed him again. “Lunch sounds fantastic.”
We sat down on the couch and Jansen began pulling the take-out containers from the bag. “Have you eaten today?”
I reached for the one he handed me. “If you count two iced coffees and a chocolate croissant, then yes.”
“I guess you could.”
I opened the box and the scent of Bolognese hit my nose. “Compared to this, it definitely does not. This smells delicious.” I went to the mini fridge next to my desk and grabbed two bottles of water. After setting them on the table, I sat down and picked up my fork.
“Why haven’t you eaten much?” Jansen asked, digging into his food.
“Just a professor who thinks that changing the curriculum and textbook the week before classes start is a great idea.”
Jansen stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. “He actually tried?”
“He did and then threatened to alter the class without the book, which leads to an entirely different set of problems.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t fire him after that.”
“College and tenure doesn’t exactly work that way. His book is good, according to the other professors, but printing it and making students rebuy books isn’t really an option. He’s one of the favorite math professors in the department. Shannon and I were able to come up with a compromise that makes everyone happy.”
“Good. Then I guess I showed up at the right time.”
“You really did.” In more ways than one.
Jansen and I continued to eat, the food extremely delicious, especially for takeout. More often than not, food lost something when it was transported from one place to another.
“This is just as good as when we ate there.”
“I heard their takeout was as good, if not better, than their in-house menu.”
Finished, I set my fork and container down and leaned back against the couch. Jansen followed suit a few moments later. “Feeling better?”
“Much.” I lifted my fingers and ran them over his cheek. With the stress of the day settled, I realized I didn’t know why he’d called earlier. “You never told me what you were calling about.”
“We’re having a team dinner and I was hoping you’d join me.”
“Just me?” I might be older than Jansen, but the thought of sitting down for dinner, surrounded by only his teammates, made me a little nervous.
“Everyone is bringing their significant others.” He took my hand in his. “I want you to meet my friends. They already know about us.” He grinned.
I tried to push my nerves aside with a joke. “I guess I shouldn’t pull out any of my jerseys that aren’t yours.”
“Nope. You’re only allowed to wear mine from now on.” He tried to keep the serious line to his lips, but a smile crept in.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The thought of meeting everyone at once had the pressure caving in on me. I knew Jansen saw these men as his family. Would they think I was too old for him? Or maybe that it was weird he was dating his ex’s father?
Jansen’s concerned gaze locked on to mine, bringing me back to my office. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It’s not mandatory.”
I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek. “It’s not that. I worry they’ll think I’m wrong for you.”
“No, they won’t. I’ve already talked to the guys and none of them care about you being Serilda’s dad. You can’t help who you’re attracted to.” He leaned forward, kissing me. “Besides, there’s no way you didn’t see the news about King and Hayes. Their relationship with Jamie will get more attention than anything the two of us could be doing.”
“Well, it has kept us out of the media since then.”
“Of course it has. What do you say? Want to join me for dinner?”
“Count me in.” I said it with much more confidence than I had. Hopefully, I was worried for nothing.