Chapter Forty-Six
Sadie
I arrive half an hour early for my meeting and sit in my car—which I’ve parked in the little hidden carpark at the back of the building—until the last possible moment. The fewer people I run into, the better. At least uni isn’t back yet. And at eight in the morning, even the few who might be around today are unlikely to be in yet. Hopefully, it will be over quickly, and I can be out, and on my way home before anyone else arrives.
It took me two days to choose the right outfit for this confrontation. I mean meeting. I swung between funereal, businesslike and my regular style. In the end, I stood in my power and went with my regular style. Although I did deploy some bold lipstick.
In the past couple of days, my anger has morphed. Shifted. If there was a leaderboard of who I’m angriest at over this shitshow, Ethan would now be at the bottom. His hands were tied. I accept that. Riley will always hold the top spot. Right now, Jennifer and I are vying for second place. It’s a close contest, but there’s plenty of blame and anger to go around.
Ma’at and the gods must be having a good laugh at my expense because the first person I see as I get out of the lift is Garret. Which means Riley is potentially around.
“Sadie. Oh my God. Are you okay?” He wraps me in a warm hug.
“No. Not really.” No point lying. “What are you doing here? Wasn’t the dig supposed to finish up this Thursday?”
“We finished a week early. I’ll let Ethan explain.”
Then I hear yelling. One of the voices sounds remarkably like Ethan’s. My heart thumps so hard I’m worried it will crack my ribs.
“What’s going on?” A door slams.
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, Jennifer is not happy.” Garret frowns towards the source of the yelling. “And when we find out, I suspect we won’t be either.”
“Great. Can’t wait to put myself in amongst that. I’ll see you on the other side.” I straighten my shoulders and take a deep breath.
The hallways is empty as I attempt to stride confidently towards Jennifer’s office, although I’m afraid it looks more like a nervous creep. She’s in there alone. The blinds on Ethan’s office windows are drawn, and there’s no sign of him.
“Come in, Sadie.” Jennifer’s tone is cool, but not as frosty as I kind of expected. “Firstly, I’d like to apologise for dragging this out. I have an agreement with my wife that there will be no work calls or emails when we’re on holiday. She’s quite insistent. And as much as I would’ve liked to clear this up, I wasn’t prepared to compromise my marriage.”
“I understand.” It pisses me off, but I do understand. I’ve seen how hard Jennifer works during the uni year.
“I’ve just met with Ethan. He’ll be joining us shortly. However, I asked him to give us a few minutes for you to tell me the story from your point of view.”
She folds her hands on the table in front of her and looks at me expectantly. I have no idea what Ethan has said, but I’m going to be honest. How much worse can it get, really?
So I start at the beginning, minus the X-rated stuff.
“Ethan wanted to tell you right away, but I begged him not to. Because of my parents. I didn’t want to be turned into a joke. A meme.”
Jennifer nods for me to continue, and I do. I give her everything.
“So, in your opinion, you were not shown any favouritism on the dig?” That’s what she’s bothered by?
“I don’t think so. No.”
“Hmm. That opinion seems to be borne out by the emails I’ve received from three Cambridge students, Garret and Ashraf. Although they do all mention your exceptional enthusiasm and knowledge.”
“That’s very kind of them.”
“It’s an honest assessment, I think, based on my experience of you as a student. I also have another complaint here from Garret Brown.”
“Garret?” This is a surprise. What on earth would he be complaining about?
“Seems he’s unhappy about some bullying on the dig. He has cited several incidents of Riley Hall bullying you. Is there anything you’d like to say?”
It takes me a moment to process what Jennifer has said. I would never have thought Garret was capable of a move like that.
“I wouldn’t say it was bullying, precisely …”
“Did you report any of these incidents to Ethan?”
“No. Riley was just being … well, Riley. I didn’t take any of it seriously.” Which, as things turned out, was probably na?ve. “Ethan did ask if I wanted him to speak to her, but I said no. I didn’t want to make it worse.”
And if I’m honest, after what she told me in the museum, I had some sympathy for her. Briefly.
Jennifer presses two fingers to each temple. “Jesus. It’s not even eight thirty, and I have a headache already.”
I sit silent for a few moments while Jennifer seems to process. Until I can’t stand it anymore. I’ve given Jennifer a clear, calm account of what happened. The facts. But I need to have my say.
“Professor Stone,” I start, because for sure this is not a friendly, personal chat. “I realise, in hindsight, that Ethan was right, and we should’ve come to you and explained things at the start. But as I said, my family situation caused me some hesitation. However, I would like to express my dissatisfaction with the way this has been handled. I feel like I’ve been the only one to suffer any consequences. It’s always the woman who gets blamed. And that’s not fair.” As much as my mother is a challenge to deal with, she bore the brunt of the fallout when she took up with my father. Which is why she’s such a nightmare. Who could blame her for being angry?
Jennifer’s expression goes from irritated to surprised and back to irritated. When she says nothing, I barrel on.
“It’s obvious I won’t be able to continue to work here. I’ve done some research. There are three PhD programs overseas I might be able to apply for. I think, under the circumstances, the least you could do is recommend me for consideration.” I lay the printouts I’ve done on her desk.
Her lips purse as she looks over them.
“Sadie, nobody is blaming you. For any of this. Save perhaps not having come forward in the first place. You and Ethan are consenting adults. The inappropriateness of your behaviour relates to him being your PhD supervisor and to the accusations of favouritism levelled by Riley Hall.”
“Having been sent home in disgrace, it doesn’t feel like that. Anyway, these are my preferred options.”
“There’ll be no need for that. You can finish your PhD here under my supervision. I take it you and Ethan haven’t spoken since you left Egypt?”
“No. I needed some time to cool down. To work out how I wanted to move forward. I don’t think I can stay here. It’s too humiliating.”
“Hmm. I can imagine, but I hope you’ll reconsider. Perhaps before we go any further, there’s something you should know. Ethan”—she holds up a single sheet of typed paper—“has just resigned.”
And with those words, one rope in my Gordian knot starts to loosen.