‘Alright, Ivor, we’ll be moving on now, before you try and steal my girlfriend,’ he said, giving him a wink.
‘Yes, yes, off you go. Mingle. Don’t forget to speak to the Chair of the University. Make sure she knows how important this site is,’ Ivor said sagely, before wandering off to the tea and coffee table, manned by one of the cafe’s immaculately dressed staff.
‘You should go and speak to them,’ Laurel said, but he really didn’t want to let go of her. She was his safety blanket here in this annoying academic-slash-corporate world.
‘Nate, I need to go and make sure Robin isn’t hitting on anyone inappropriate.’
‘Alright, but if I give you the look, you need to come and rescue me,’ he said, giving her a brief kiss.
‘You don’t need rescuing, Dr Daley. This is all you,’ she said, and his chest swelled at her belief in him.
Laurel wandered off into the melee to look for Robin, and Nate took stock before heading into battle. Alex was still pointedly at a right angle from him, across the large conference room, near the table with all of Nate’s publications.
To obtain funding, you had to put on a show, and people bought into the person rather than the site. If that person (or persons) had a very well-received, famous even, paper that had led to television appearances, that had possibly altered the collective thought of how, say, the Picts were perceived, then it did well to have that spread out everywhere. Nate had managed to rein that in to one table by the coffee and tea area, with the backdrop picture of the stylus and the dig site, rather than the backdrop picture of him and Alex sitting on the breakfast TV sofa Jess had organised.
There were his lesser-known papers as well, his PhD dissertation, his journal articles, his body of work. Yeah, he was proud of his work, his passion, but he didn’t want to flaunt it. The archaeology on the Little Willow site should speak for itself. He shouldn’t need to drag all his previous stuff out to sell the new dig.
‘Dr Daley, lovely to see you,’ the Chair of the University intoned as he reached the little group where she was holding court. ‘I am looking forward to your talk later. Well, in about ten minutes.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Dr Daley will be presenting with his British Archaeological Liaison, Alexander Woollard, who is another one of our graduates. It’s so good to see our graduates out there, making a difference in the archaeological world,’ she went on.
There were brief introductions and Nate plastered a smile on his face that he knew was brittle and tight, but he hoped would do. He played the role as well as he could, answering their questions appropriately, talking up the university and the site, and trying to catch Laurel’s eye across the room without being too obvious about it. She would be much better at this. He could hear the tinkle of her laugh as she moved Robin towards Jack and Bill, away from a blushing Sylvie and the shabbily dressed archaeology students.
‘Ah, and here is our other eminent graduate, Alex,’ the Chair called. ‘Do join us.’
There was a hesitancy about Alex as he caught Nate’s eye and he glanced longingly at the publications table. He sauntered over to them.
‘Alex, how are you?’ Nate said, extending his hand.
He hadn’t spoken to Alex, except via terse and difficult work emails, since that ill-fated weekend barbeque at Jess and Owen’s, but there was no way Alex was going to drag him down to his level.
‘Good,’ Alex said, shaking his hand firmly, before turning to ask questions of the Chair and be introduced to the other members of the little group he had infiltrated.
Nate knew full well when he was being sidelined and frankly, he didn’t care one little bit. If that’s what Alex needed to do to make himself feel better, then that was absolutely fine. Nate was secure enough to not give a shit. His work, the site and the finds stood for themselves, and no matter how much Alex tried to make it about him, he was just a liaison. He didn’t pull anything out of the earth. Actually, he hadn’t done an awful lot. Alex was just the personification of the British Archaeological Society and yes, the backing of the Society pretty much guaranteed funding, but it could have been anyone. It just happened to be Alex.
Nate was listening to Alex drone on about the Society’s work and how invested he had been in the Little Willow dig site, when a hiss of feedback cut him off.
Laurel stood on the raised platform that served as a stage, a projector screen behind her and the table with his notes and laptop to her side.
‘Hello, and welcome to Little Willow Farm. I’m Laurel Fletcher, and this is our family’s farm.’ She beamed at the congregation. ‘It’s nearly time to welcome Dr Nate Daley and Alex Woollard to the stage to present the finds here at Little Willow, so please do take your seats.’
There was a bustle of movement as people meandered to the folding chairs put out before the stage. Laurel waited until people were settled before she continued.
‘I’d just like to let you know that there will be a buffet and drinks after the presentation, made on site with our local produce grown and farmed here at Little Willow. If you have any questions about the farm itself, please do have a chat with me, Robin, Jack or Bill over there.’ She pointed to the sheepish Fletcher men. Bill stood straight and stoic. Robin and Jack both shuffled nervously by their father’s side. Alex snorted and Nate shot him a warning glare.
Laurel caught his eye and gave him an encouraging smile.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, if you could put your hands together for Dr Nate Daley and Alex Woollard.’
Nate steeled himself and strode to the stage to tepid, academic applause, putting his coffee cup next to his laptop and accepting the microphone from Laurel. Alex followed shortly behind, taking some battered cards out of the inside pocket of his jacket. Laurel gave Nate a quick wink as she headed down the steps and to the back of the room.
He touched his laptop to bring it to life and checked that the title slide of his presentation was showing behind him.
‘Hello, everyone, and thank you to Laurel and the Fletcher family for welcoming us to their farm.’ There was scattered applause. ‘You’re all here to see what we’ve found here at Little Willow, so let’s get to it.’
Laurel
