18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
We need to talk,” someone said in a low, angry voice.
I looked up from my breakfast to see Lois Fairfax looming over me.
This wasn’t the first time she had stood above me in an attempt to intimidate me and bend me to her will.
It had only been once before. After the disastrous dinner when she had forced us to pay for her meal and offered us jobs we didn’t ask for, she hunted me down on campus to confront me.
Now she was like a dark cloud hanging over my morning.
I assumed I had made some progress with Mason and gestured to the empty chair at my table.
“I want to start by apologizing to you,” Dr. Fairfax said after taking a deep breath.
I sipped my tea and let the older woman continue.
An apology wasn’t what I had expected, and I wasn’t sure it was genuine.
When I had been a student, she communicated with me through other people.
If it was related to my work, she went through Grace since she was my mentor.
If it was about campus accessibility, she went through my collaborators.
Mason was often her mouthpiece when she was displeased with me, especially when it was related to our battle over Mason.
The one time she had come to talk to me, it had been to do something she didn’t want others to know about.
“If you take this job,” Lois said that day when she loomed over me while I was in the quad reading a book after defending my dissertation, “I’ll let you sit on the space committee and you can help me rebuild this campus to be as accessible as you need it to be. I’ll even give you equal credit.”
That had been what had pushed me over the edge.
Her allowing me to take equal credit for research and work I had done.
That I would be allowed to participate. That it would be as accessible as I needed.
It all sent me into a rage that I brought right to Mason’s feet.
It had been what triggered out break up.
There were many things I thought Lois needed to apologize for.
As curious as I was, the reminder of that day made my anger rise again.
I might not be angry with Mason anymore, but I was still very angry at Lois fucking Fairfax.
“Years ago,” Lois continued, “I assumed you’d never have a career outside of academia. I made a point of letting Mason know how I felt and that you would drag him down. Obviously, I was wrong about your prospects. It’s nice to see you so highly regarded no matter where you go.”
This didn’t feel like an apology. “Thank you?” was all I could think to say. She didn’t wait for more.
“I have put a lot of work into molding Mason to be part of the Lacock State community. He thinks it all hangs by a thread right now as a final decision is about to be made about his tenure application. I still have plans for him within the university’s administration.”
I put down my tea. “Is Mason not getting tenure?” I asked, trying my best to pretend I had no idea he was at risk of rejection.
Lois’s fake smile fell. “I’m sure you’re pleased that his colleagues don’t support him. It’s their spite over my success on campus. They’re trying to hurt my efforts to make the university stronger. Mason’s unwillingness to change with the university is their only way to get back at me.”
“Exactly why would that please me?” I asked, drawing my eyebrows together.
I was amazed at her ability to ignore any blame she might have for his inability to get tenure.
It was someone else’s fault, not hers for forcing research expectations on everyone.
Were there other faculty who might fail to get tenure?
Lois’s face was red. Her perfectly cut graying hair and tailored suit might make her look put together, but her anger ruined that.
“We both know you have disdain for academics. You always have and you tried your best to convince Mason to leave academia even though you knew that was his dream. Now you lead an organization known for being aggressively anti-academia.”
I scoffed and held up a hand. “I need to stop you there because you welcomed that organization’s volunteers to your campus just six months ago and you’re at our biggest event of the year.
This seems a bit hypocritical of you. I’m not going to argue with you about the value of academics, but you should think about who is around us before you continue.
” I gestured around the hotel restaurant, knowing that several of my staff members were sitting in the room, many talking to volunteers.
I leaned closer and lowered my voice for a moment.
“You should know that an accusation of stealing someone’s research would be taken very seriously by this community.
They may value collaborative work and many may prefer to be anonymous, but theft and lies are the big sins. ”
Lois’s shoulders and jaw tensed. I remembered how often she did this when I challenged her in meetings. Mee and I regularly butted heads with her in the space committee meetings. I wasn’t going to take her abuse. I wasn’t a student dependent on her for a good grade or an employee she could fire.
“Mason knows you’ll block him from any job within the sphere for EncycloWiki,” Lois said, barely opening her mouth.
“You need to make it clear to him that his future is in the university administration. If you can do that, I won’t stand in your way of being together again. I’ll even give you a job.”
I blinked, baffled by what she was doing.
What? I was ready to admit that Lois and I were a lot alike.
We both fought for what we wanted and wanted to shape the world to reflect our values.
We had both done that to Mason all those years ago.
He stuck with her because she handed him what he wanted.
Now she was trying to hold on to him by offering a role that would make him miserable.
I wasn’t going to fight Mason’s fight for him, but the audacity of her to ask this of me was too fucking rich. “You want to give me, who you just said is anti-academia, a job? You do know I’m responsible for this entire organization, right?”
Lois at back and crossed her arms. “I need someone like you to keep us moving forward. I’ve always thought you’d be the perfect leader for a university.”
I remembered some of the young women on campus who had adored Lois as an advisor.
In spite of her antagonism toward me, she typically supported women’s efforts to enter fields that might be aggressively unfriendly to them.
She started many initiatives on campus to create a support system for various groups of women and often helped students get jobs after graduation.
It took me a while to understand why she had failed Mason. Has she been using him to get to me?
It wasn’t until right before graduation and our break up that Mason revealed she hadn’t been his original advisor.
That man had been diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before classes started and stepped back.
He had survived and was thriving from what Grace had told me, but it had taken nearly two years for him to get back to work.
When we had started our programs, Grace had said something that I had dismissed right away.
She had been laughing when she told me how Lois had tried to bully her into swapping.
Grace would advise Mason and Lois would advise me.
My friend had refused, but I had assumed she had wanted the swap because I was highly independent and wouldn’t need the department chair to do much work.
Watching Lois now, I wondered if I had misinterpreted her motivations.
I thought she found it easier to hand Mason things he needed rather than mentoring and guiding.
I thought she saw an easy win when he made it clear he wanted to be at a university that valued teaching over research output.
When she had offered me a job, upon becoming provost, I thought it was a pat on the head to make him happy.
Had I been the prize she had wanted all along?
I narrowed my eyes. “Lois, does Mason want to keep working for Lacock State?”
She said nothing and didn’t move.
I took a deep breath, ready to let out all I was feeling, but also trying to be professional.
I needed to focus on what she was doing to Mason now, not what she had done in the past or what she wanted in the future.
“Dr. Fairfax, I think you’re in a bit of a clusterfuck when it comes to Mason.
I don’t think either of us understood what he wanted, but if you still don’t, then you’ve failed him.
He wanted a job where teaching was a priority, and it was until it was too late for him to make changes. ”
I let out the last air in my lungs and gave her a sad smile before continuing.
“I’m willing to bet that he’s seen the writing on the walls and is trying to move on.
We broke up because he trusted you. You told him I would destroy his career and you stole my work.
He took your side because the job gave him almost everything he wanted.
Why would I help you and why would he trust me? ”
Dr. Fairfax opened her mouth, but I held up my hand.
“Please let me finish,” I said. “Heather was more than happy to tell me that you convinced Mason, yet again, that I would destroy his chances to get what he wanted. This is an organization that he dreamed about creating himself. You stopped him from building it with me and now you’ve stopped him from taking the reins.
You can put the blame on me, but don’t come here pretending to apologize.
You took my work and used it to leverage your career without giving me credit.
Mason always told me that citations were needed anytime I went off on a rant.
Does he do the same to you? Did he ever call you out on your theft?
I’d be more than happy to shine a light on it if you really want to go to war. ”
Dr. Fairfax was silent now. “You’re very clever,” she eventually said. “I remember when I realized I had underestimated you. I guess you haven’t changed.”
I smirked. “I hope Mason doesn’t get tenure. I hope he fails. Then maybe he’ll be free of this bullshit.”
Dr. Fairfax raised an eyebrow, and I turned around to see Mason stomping away. Well, fuck. I didn’t know how much he overheard, but he at least heard me threaten Lois with a war and hope he failed.
“I’m afraid he only heard that you hope he doesn’t get tenure,” the older woman said with a smirk of her own.
Well, fuck.