“You’re really welcome. I wanted to make amends for being a little abrupt with you in your group session on Monday. It wasn’t my place.”
Ade dipped her head. “I was glad of your interference.”
Sylvie laughed. “But that’s what it was. Interference.”
Ade looked pained. “That’s not what I meant. I’m glad you saved me from anything worse, to be honest. They’re a great bunch, but they can be energetic.” She put her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. “How do you do it?”
“Handle students?” Sylvie asked, and Ade nodded. “I speak clearly and set out my expectations..”
“Don’t take any nonsense? Probably where I’m going wrong. Clarity isn’t my strong point. I’m not often sure what I want from a situation. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always steered clear of the teaching roles.”
“Then why are you here? Why put yourself in this position for the whole year?”
Ade shrugged and looked away. “Everyone was looking at me to do something with my life. My bosses pretty much said that my PhD was untenable unless I took on some teaching hours.” She sighed. “My dad said if I passed up this rotation, I should probably start thinking about getting a regular job.”
Sylvie held the silence between them, sensing there was more to say.
“My sister, Steph, said Dad wouldn’t follow through, but I got the sense that he’d cut me off just to make me stand on my owntwo feet.”
Sylvie sat back. Despite their growing commonalities, here was a glaring difference between them: no one was bankrolling Sylvie’s academic career. She was the solo funder of her ambition. Hearing Ade talk about her dad pulling his funding reminded her of the decade between them. She sipped her wine. “We should finish up here.”
“Absolutely. This was a really lovely evening. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me, Ade. It’s what colleagues do.” She raised her glass. “Well done for making it through the first half of the semester. Here’s to a well-earned reading week.” They clinked their glasses together.
Ade brushed her hand over her short hair. “I’m so glad of a week without any face time. You’ll find me locked in the lab if you need me.”
“I’m heading to my parents’ house for the week to catch up on some marking. So sadly, I won’t be here to distract you.”
Disappointment flickered on Ade’s face. “That’s too bad. I would’ve put down my tools for you.”
Sylvie bit her tongue, avoiding the temptation to flirt.
“Where do your parents live?” Ade asked.
“Not too far. About an hour in the car. They moved from Paris a while ago to be nearer to my mother’s family along the coast. They live in a little town called Sète. It’s beautiful in its own way.” Sylvie slid her finger around the rim of her glass. “How about you? Do your parents live in California?”
“That’s right. Monterey born and raised. My dad and pops met in San Francisco, but they moved out of the city when they were pregnant with us.” Ade’s brow furrowed. “I mean, when my birth mom was pregnant. Obviously.”
Sylvie hesitated. “Do you and Steph know your birth mom?” She didn’t want to pry, but Ade had brought it up, and she was always curious about same-sex families and how they came to be.
“Yeah, we know her. We’re not all that close, but she’s in ourcircle, if you know what I mean.” Ade nodded to her cell on the table as if her mom’s details were in its memory. “Our dads were pretty open about where we came from, and they encouraged us to have a relationship with our surrogate mom. When we were young, we saw her at birthdays. But in the end we drifted, because she has her own life. We were always a gift to our dads, and they’re our parents, for sure.”
“It’s good that they didn’t hide anything or keep you from seeing her though. I’ve seen plenty of kids troubled by family secrets.”
“It’s a pretty hard question to dodge when you have two dads,” Ade said. “The first thing you become aware of is that everyone has a mom. People would ask where our mom was if Steph and I were alone in a room or at the park.”
Sylvie imagined the strength it must take a little person to defend their family make-up, over and over.
“I guess Dad and Pops wanted to head it off by never making an issue of it.” Ade sighed as if the conversation had drained her energy. “We keep in touch, and we know we can reach out if we needed her for anything. Like medical background checks and stuff like that.”
The tapestry of Ade’s life was revealing itself to Sylvie slowly. Every time they talked, she unfurled another image of the slightly awkward Californian who preferred animals to humans. Tonight she’d learned that musical notes, in the right arrangement, spoke to Ade’s heart. The more she discovered, the more she wanted to know. Then she remembered how much younger Ade was, and how dependent she still was on her parents’ wealth. She was barely out of grad school and needed a coach and mentor, not a friend.
Sylvie had to focus on proving her worth to Paul and the faculty powers-that-be. That would take all her energy for the rest of the term. She had no time for distractions. Even the most handsome ones.
CHAPTER TEN
Ade sanka satisfying line into the large tank she was working on. She’d arrived just before dawn to get a head start before any of the staff came in. She scanned the sandy tank bed for old food and poop and vacuumed it up through the clear tube. Then she flossed through the old whale bone, which provided a habitat for her two elephant fish.
