Chapter 11 #3
“Good.” General Block looked between them, then to us, and back. “Is there anything else to discuss here, or shall we return to my office to finalize details?”
“Doctor Wallace?” Dean Phillips asked.
I shrugged. “I have the feeling that a lot was discussed without me, but what I heard sounds fine. I get to keep teaching at a reduced capacity and with temporary accommodations until we can finalize transportation for in-person classes. My research requirement will be met by the work I do here, and publication requirements are waived for now. Did I get all that right?”
He nodded. “All the administrative stuff, yes. I’ll leave it to you to figure out how to handle your research students.”
“I’ll probably do what I’ve done all summer. Doctor Brown has been helping them when I’ve been unavailable, and I’ve been teleconferencing with them weekly or more if necessary.”
“I’d prefer you to have more regular contact with them if possible. But given the circumstances…” his eyes shifted to Eashai.
“Understood. I’ll see what I can do.”
He turned back to me and gave me another nod. “Let us know when you are ready to discuss options for the spring semester.”
“Will do.”
He turned to Eashai. “It was… ummm… it was nice to meet you…” There was a pause. “Apologies, I forgot your name.”
My gorgeous mate laughed. “I am Eashai.”
“Thank you. I may struggle with names, but I know that the rest of our meeting has been memorable.”
Floyd snickered from where he waited with the general by the door.
“Eashai,” Bob said, sticking out his hand. “I hope I get to see you again as we figure out what needs to happen to get Gene safely to and from my land.”
Eashai smiled. “I can make no promises. We have agreed to some terms that limit our movement; however, that might need to be adjusted temporarily.”
Bob laughed. “I should expect so.”
Both he and the dean then headed toward the door.
“Gentlemen,” Floyd said. “If you’ll follow us, we’ll return to the administration building.”
He then paused in the doorway and turned to us. “And you two. Go enjoy the rest of your fucking honeymoon.” A pause. “Or the rest of your honeymoon fucking. Either way, I don’t want to see you in this building again until tomorrow. Is that clear?”
“Uh, ok,” I replied.
Eashai laughed. “We will do that.”
Floyd gave a long sigh, then followed the others out.
Eashai and I looked at each other, then it was like a weight was lifted. I closed the distance and slumped against him.
“Gene?” he asked softly.
“Did that really just happen?” I murmured. “Do I get to have everything?”
He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple. “That was my impression.”
My breath caught in my throat as my emotions couldn’t decide whether to cry with relief or shout with joy.
In the end, my warring feelings left me trembling in his arms for several minutes.
I didn’t have to leave the job I loved in order to have a life with my mate.
Eventually, my emotions settled again, and I took a moment to simply enjoy how he’d held me when he knew I needed it.
“We should go before Floyd returns,” he murmured. “We did assure him that we would not be in this building until tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Ok.”
“What would you like to do with the rest of our… honeymoon?” he asked, his inflection indicating that he was unsure about using the word ‘honeymoon.’
I chuckled against him. “Option B sounds nice?”
“Option B?”
I lifted my head to meet his gaze. “Enjoy the rest of our honeymoon fucking.”
A smile spread across his face. “I also like that option. We can put the dry sheets on your bed, then test them.”
My cock perked up. Between sleep and the trip from Lyll, it had been at least sixteen hours since I’d been intimate with him.
Far too long.
I straightened, took his hand, and started toward the door. “Let’s go. I don’t want to waste another minute.”
He laughed as we strode out into the hall. “It seems it will be a thorough test.”
“Very thorough,” I agreed.
My cock was hard again as we headed toward our room, but I didn’t care if anybody noticed.
It was only interested in one man, and he’d be on the receiving end of it soon enough.
∞∞∞
It was like the universe had decided that I deserved all good things.
I’d gone to the leasing office for the apartment complex to ask about subletting options since I was in the middle of my term.
Instead, the woman who’d run the office for as long as I’d lived there probably broke several policies when she gave me the option of breaking my lease without any penalty—provided that I was out within the week.
I was so shocked that I almost missed her explanation that there were always people looking for last-minute availability at the start of the semester. She knew they could re-lease it—and, if I had to be honest, probably at a higher rate—if I was out fast enough.
It meant scrambling, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
My thoughts were racing as the elevator climbed to my floor. Floyd had said that there was some red tape around the Army assisting me in my move, but he was looking into available options since the circumstances were unique.
I also had no idea what Eashai’s and my housing would look like on base. We’d been told that the renovations on a line of townhouses were almost complete, and we’d be assigned one. But we were given no information about the number of rooms or square footage.
That would make it harder to decide what to take and what to sell or donate. Especially since anything I was taking would have to be stored until our housing was sorted. But I figured I could at least come up with a game plan.
The elevator doors opened, and I strolled to my apartment. But I’d barely slid the key into the lock when the next door opened and Sam barrelled out.
“Gene!” he cried, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I chuckled and ruffled his hair. “How you doing, Sam?”
“I missed you!”
I smiled down at him. “I missed you, too. Did you read all those books already?”
He stepped back and grinned. “I did! And the lady at the library saw what I was reading, and showed me even more cool books!”
“That’s fantastic! Did you learn a lot?”
He nodded enthusiastically.
“What was your favorite thing to learn about?”
He bit his lip and fidgeted, his toes turning inward. “You won’t be mad, right?”
I blinked. “What would I be mad about?”
“I liked the history books the best.”
“Really? What parts?”
His stance eased. “I liked the story about Darwin and how he traveled and looked at plants and animals. That was my favorite. It was a science adventure!”
I grinned. “It’s a good story, isn’t it? Can I tell you something?”
He nodded.
“Remember the part about the different birds, and how he was able to explain how the birds adapted to their environments?”
“Yeah?”
“The work I do today can be traced back to those ideas. I look at how people like you and me change over time and adapt. It’s changed, but we’re still doing science looking for the same things.”
“Wooooow!”
I laughed, then knelt to look him in the eye. “Can I tell you a secret?”
He nodded as his eyes grew wide.
“If you like history, you like history. There’s nothing wrong with that.
If you like science, you like science. If you like science history, you like science history.
Find something you like, and learn all you can about it.
And if you like something different next year, that’s ok too.
The world—the universe—is huge, and there are so many things to learn about that even if you dedicated every day of your life to learning, you still wouldn’t learn it all.
So don’t let anybody tell you that you shouldn’t learn about something because they might like something else better.
Everybody is allowed to like different things. Ok?”
He nodded again. “Ok.” He paused, then, “You’ll help me learn about everything, though, right Gene?”
I let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, Sam, but I won’t be able to keep telling you all the cool science things and giving you books to read.”
His lip quivered. “Why not?”
I reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m moving. The Army needs me for longer. Long enough that I need to move where they need me.”
“Who’s going to help me find books?”
I smiled. “Remember the nice lady at the library you mentioned?”
“Yeah?”
“I bet she’d help. Library ladies love helping people find books. And I bet she knows all the best ones. And if she doesn’t, she probably has other friends in the library who do. There might even be special presentations or groups that will help you discover new things.”
I racked my brain. “And your teachers will know good books. All you have to do is tell them what you want to learn about, and they’ll help you find a book.
Teachers get so excited when they know you want to learn about things.
They won’t be able to teach just what you want in class; they have to still teach things like spelling and math to everybody.
But if you ask them for books to read at home, that'll make the best teachers happy.”
“Ok,” he sniffled.
I pulled him into a hug. “I’m proud of how much you’ve already learned. I know you’ll keep it up, even if I’m not here.”
He hugged me back. “Do you have to go?”
I released him and looked him in the eye.
“I do. But I believe in you. I can already tell you’re going to grow up to be a great man.
” I paused and took a deep breath. “Saying goodbye is part of life. Sometimes it makes you sad, and that’s ok.
Be as sad as you need. But try to turn this goodbye into a hello.
Find a friend who wants to learn with you, or another trusted adult who wants to see you succeed.
Just promise you’ll still be awesome. Ok? ”
He sniffled, but nodded. “Promise.”
I stood and ruffled his hair again. “Is your mom home yet, or is the sitter still there?”
“Mom’s home.”
“Why don’t you get her for me, and the two of you can come over for a bit. Ok?”