“And what is that?” She looked at him over the rim of her reading glasses. She was forty and had the strongest strict-librarian vibe Jax had ever encountered. Part of Jax—a small part who was still a seventeen-year-old boy—wondered if she’d punish him for being naughty.
“My advisor. The college hasn’t cleared that up yet—whose name I should put, Grayling’s or Greenwood’s—and I don’t want to put in the wrong name and have things delayed.”
“Surely that’s a question for Greenwood. She has, after all, taken over his workload.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t know either—”
“Jax?”
He turned to see Rebecca Grayling standing in the doorway to the admin office.
She looks old. Her dark brown hair was shot through with gray that hadn’t been there two years ago, and lines were etched near her eyes and mouth. But though she looked tired, a bright smile slowly transformed her face.
“I thought I heard your voice.”
“Yup, it’s me.”
“Are you busy? Why don’t you come see me in my office?”
“Well.” Jax looked at the admin and then back at Rebecca. “I’m filling out forms, but I’ve hit a wall. So….”
“You’re all mine. Come.” She motioned for him to follow her out of the office, down the hall, and into hers.
Jax hadn’t spent much time in her office on campus—he’d seen it, of course, and spent too much time in her home, but he hadn’t had much cause to spend time in the department head’s personal office when she wasn’t his advisor.
“How have you been?” She settled into one of the chairs in front of her desk, and Jax took the other.
“Oh, you know, same as everyone else, probably. Busy and then not busy.”
She gave a wry smile. “Yes. I heard you did good work on statistical models up north.”
Jax snorted. “You know, London is barely farther north—”
She narrowed her eyes. “Barelymeans that it is. Don’t try to outpedant me, kid.”
“Never.” Jax, Rebecca, and Chris had spent more than one evening, after the kids had gone to bed, debating the semantics of pretty much everything. The devil was in the details, and they all loved to debate the absurd as much as anything else.
She asked more about his life in London until, several minutes later, he’d exhausted that topic almost entirely. He looked down at his knees, took a deep breath, and said, “I’m sorry. For not—” Calling? Coming back sooner? He shrugged helplessly.
“Not what?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know. Being here?”
“Oh, Jax. I don’t blame you for going home or for not calling. I know how much Chris meant to you.”
“Thanks.” He blinked furiously. “But I should have—you were alone—”
She held up a hand. “Jacob Stirling Hall, you stop thinking that right now. You did not leave me alone. I have a fantastic brother and sister-in-law who basically moved into my house to help me cope. I had all the support I needed during what was the worst time in my life, and I made it through that awful first year.”
Jax hadn’t known that. Probably because he hadn’t talked to Rebecca since days after he fled the country.
“Yes, I missed you and would have loved to have you around. But don’t think for a moment that I wasn’t relieved that you were north of the border.” She clenched her hand into a fist. “Chris was too. We didn’t have to worry about you too much.”
Jax’s mouth trembled. “Rebecca….”
She stood and he followed suit, and then she was wrapping her arms around him. “I missed you, but I didn’tneedyou here.”
Minutes later they settled back into their seats, both of them rubbing their faces. “Now, tell me about your admin troubles.”
