Page 860 of One More Kiss
After nearly a decade of high honors and part-time teaching and loyalty and the blood, sweat, and tears she’d poured into two theater productions annually, she’d earned tenure. And she wanted it more than anything she’d wanted in her twenty-seven years. She needed to show her family they needn’t be ashamed of her. That she could have made them proud.
Lu fiddled in her handbag once more, fished out a pinwheel mint and popped it in her mouth in hopes it would cover the tang of whiskey lingering on her breath. She snapped her bag shut, stood at her full height, spine erect and chin held high.
She opened the door to the dean’s offices with chin held high. His secretary Doris greeted Lu with a warm smile. “Mornin’, beautiful,” she chirped in a sweet, high voice.
Her tone was a little too sweet for Doris’s normally gruff morning demeanor. Lu had known Doris for all her years at Asheville College, and she was never this cheerful at this hour.
Lu narrowed her eyes at her friend. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing!” Doris waved her hand at Lu and got up to escort her to the heavy double-doors signifying the entrance to the esteemed dean’s quarters.
“Dorie, what are you doing? I know the way!”
“Oh, honey!” The tiny woman threw her arms around Lu’s body, her curly red hair tickling Lu’s nose. Now things were getting weird.
Lu tugged Doris’s arms from around her body and stared down into her face. “Go get more coffee. You’re not quite yourself this morning.”
Doris nodded, but when she looked up, her eyes shimmered with something like tears. This woman was not a crier. Something was wrong, but Lu would have to ask later what was troubling her friend.
“I need to go.” Lu tipped her head at the doors. “But we can talk when I get out.”
Doris nodded and ran to her desk, sniffling all the way. The distinctive honk told Lu Doris was blowing her nose. Lu shrugged and then rapped lightly on the imposing door before her.
“Come in.”
Lu took a deep breath and pulled the heavy door open with all her strength. Behind the dark walnut desk sat the dean, white-haired and distinguished still in his tailored suit, even if the buttons of his crisp white shirt strained from the expanding girth of his waistline. He stood up and taking stock of her in her new heels, straightened up so he could be a little taller. He still fell a couple inches under her chin, were she gauging correctly across the ten feet of floor space separating them.
“Miss Danvers, please do come in.”
“Please, call me Lu, Dean Clark. We’ve known each other for years.”
Nearly ten, since Lu had first applied to college and at the behest of one of her tutors from the maternity home, Dean Clark had interviewed Lu in his role in admissions at that time.
“Alright then, Lucinda, sit. Did Doris offer you anything? Coffee, water, tea?”
“Oh no sir, I’m fine.” She patted her pocketbook, wishing for a swig of fortitude from her flask.
Dean Clark took his seat and pulled forward until his soft belly pressed against the edge of the desk. “You must be wondering why I called you here today. Well, likely not. You applied for tenure to replace Professor Anderson, and I cannot begin to tell you how happy that made me.”
Lu smiled and nodded as her belly flipped and then flopped.
“Of course, we wanted the most qualified person to fill Anderson’s rather impressive shoes. And you have been such an asset to the school. From the moment I met you, you had a certain, what’s the phrase I’m looking for?” He snapped his short fingers. “Je ne sais quoi, as the French say!An exceptional student, you’ve always been, and invaluable as a teacher assistant and now drama instructor.”
Oh goodness, would he get to it? An urge to wave her hands for him to hurry besieged her, but Lu kept them primly folded in her lap, as expected.
“And the shows! Your productions are always killer-diller. What is it you’re doing this semester?”
Lu smiled at his attempt to sound modern despite his use of dated slang that went out almost with the end of the war a decade ago. “Much Ado About Nothing, sir. One of my favorites. I am so excited to do one of the comedies.”
Dean Clark steepled his fingers and nodded. “Ah, yes. Shakespeare. The Bard. Excellent choice.”
A loud knock on the door startled Lu nearly straight out of her chair.
“Righty, then. Perfect timing!” He grinned broadly at Lu.
Perfect timing? By whom? Why would Dorie interrupt them?
“Come in.”
