“Sure. What do you need?”
“My Aunt Theresa is here, and I would like you to meet her.” She lowered her voice, “I told her how hot you are, though you don’t believe that you are.”
“I would love to meet her. Besides, I’ve had that request once tonight already. Connie’s mom wants to meet me. I’ll come over the minute I finish with them.”
* * *
The evening was not turning out to be as enjoyable as he had hoped. Sure, Brandi and the other ladies looked great doing their routine and getting the crowd excited, but that was part of the problem. She looked too good, so good in fact that she had taken his mind from the game. The Madcats were losing already 74 to 89, so that was a total wash. There was nothing to keep his mind occupied—other than staring at a beautiful, off-limits woman. Had he not promised two of his students that he’d meet their families, he would surely have left to drown in thoughts of which university position to accept, since they both offered a contract.
By game’s end Tim definitely felt a migraine happening, but stayed nonetheless to fulfill an obligation. The absolute last thing he wanted to do was act like a gentleman when he felt like a troll. An idea hit him: go to his favorite retreat, the pool, and work off some steam in the water. No matter what he did, however, Brandi would still be on his mind.
After the loss, the team and cheerleaders headed to the showers, and the spectators to the gates, all except the two families who stayed to meet him. He met briefly with Connie’s family first, saving the worse for last, Brandi’s. The group was awaiting him on the bench, and he slowly headed over.
Brandi met him halfway. “You don’t have to do this. I know you’re not feeling well.”
“How do you know?”
“I can see it in your eyes. Is this related to the accident the other day?”
“Not this one. I told you I would meet them. It’s not a problem.”
She was finally introducing Tim to her family. They walked over to the bleachers and stopped dead in front of her mother. “Mom, this is the man who saved my literal neck in English lit.”
He took Mrs. Miles’ hand. “I can see where Brandi gets her looks.”
“Thank you. You’re too kind, Dr. Polaris.”
“You and your husband have a wonderful, smart daughter.” Extending his hand to Mr. Miles was more than a notion for him, but did it for Brandi’s sake. “Good to meet you, Mr. Miles.”
Feeling much the same way Tim had, Jeff reluctantly shook hands, but stared into Tim’s eyes. The face was familiar, but from where, he wasn’t sure. “Tough loss today.”
“Yes, but they’re a good team. We’ve won the last three out of five. We’ll recover just fine.” He looked over at Brian. “Still want to come and play for us?”
“I could have helped the team win today!”
Brandi shoved him. “As if! You remember Brian from the other game?”
“I certainly do. Don’t worry, Brian, you’ll make it.”
“Yeah, if his mind grows as fast as his body does; that may never happen, though.”
Tim smiled at the exchange between Brandi and her brother, wishing he and Greg had that kind of relationship—any kind of relationship. He turned to Brandi’s aunt. “You must be Theresa. Brandi has mentioned you before.”
“Sure hope she did me justice, Dr. Polaris.”
“More than you know.”
Theresa looked over at her stiff acting brother-in-law and caught him rolling his eyes. “Brandi has mentioned you as well, and it’s nice to finally meet you.”
He released her hand. “Thank you. It was my pleasure to have met you all.”
Brandi kissed her mother’s cheek. “Give me a few minutes to shower.”
As they walked, Brandi noticed Tim going the same way she was. “Aren’t you going home?”
“I need a dip in the pool. That always relaxes me.”
“Is something wrong tonight?”
“No, it’s just that the water helps to relax me. It has healing powers.”
“Yes, it does. Enjoy it, and I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”
Still sitting on the bleachers, Theresa sighed in a wistful voice. “What a hunk! Imagine soaping him up.”
Brian smiled at his aunt, but his mother was disapproving. “Theresa, please. Brian’s here, watch your mouth.”
Jeff also had something to say. “We don’t need you corrupting our boy.”
“Oh, be quiet, Jeff. He’s almost fourteen. To keep my sister happy, I’ll close my mouth.” But several seconds of silence was about all Theresa could manage before getting back to Tim. “He sure is a hottie. No wonder Brandi has it bad for him.”
Mrs. Miles spoke up. “What do you mean?”
“Anyone can see she likes the guy.”
Jeff butted in again. “So long as it stays a crush.”
Both his wife and Theresa turned to him and, in unison, said, “Cool it, Jeff.”
* * *
Instead of getting into his usual lecture the following Tuesday morning, Tim briefly read over his notes, then looked up at his class. He held a pile of papers in the air. “As everyone is well aware, Madison is going to a writers retreat in Niagara Falls next April. Your essays will be submitted to the literature department there. The top papers will be presented at the end of the retreat. You will want to do your best on this. I can’t stress this enough. If you need help, you know you can make appointments to see me or Miss Shang. Are there any questions?”
There were no questions, so Tim continued. “As you also know, not everyone will qualify to go. The hands-on presentation in two weeks will determine who will be going. Today, you will be submitting samples of your writing. You will select a topic from the list on the board. This is something like a pre-test to see who will get to participate. Spaces are limited since other schools are competing. So I need you to do well today. Miss Shang went over part of this the other day in my absence. Any questions before we get started? No? Okay, you have one hour to show me what you can do. Make this good, people. I want Madison well represented.”
After the exercise, Brandi stayed behind to talk to him about the next paper due, and the retreat. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. You need more information on the retreat?”
“I’m set with that.”
“How do you think you did today?”
“I think I did really well.”
“Good. What can I help you with?”
She was taken aback by his professional tone, since no one else was there. “Do you have any notes on Charles Dickens? I’ve decided to do my paper on him.”
“I do, but since you did so well on your other papers without my help, other than the first one, I think you can do it again without me. Bookstores have a wealth of knowledge on Dickens, as well as other great authors. Which of his books are you doing it on?”
“A Christmas Carol.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t pick that one.”
“Why not?”
“It’s been done to death in movie after movie. There’s got to be nineteen thousand movies on that book.”
“That’s why I’m doing it. I need notes so I can dig deeper into the characters. I’ve seen it so many times, I know it by heart. Even the Flintstones have done one.” She hid her face behind her folder so he wouldn’t see her laughing.
“I still think you should do…” He thought about her comment. “The Flintstones, Brandi? Come on, at least graduate to X-Men if you like cartoons. I’m serious, though. Do something that hardly anyone does—something that’s not been on television.”
“I guess that rules out my second choice, The Time Machine?”
“It won an Academy Award in 1960 for special effects; everyone has seen it. I want you to think beyond the box. You have a good mind; use it. Go on-line for information. As I said, bookstores and the campus library are good sources. Dickens is very easy to find. You haven’t needed my services for some time, and I only tutored you once. That means you can do this without me. Right?”
“I know what you mean.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re too smart to take the easy way out. Use that beautiful mind of yours to your advantage. I have some things that you can use but you’ll have to come to the office for them. I don’t want you in my house again.”
“What?”
“I don’t mean it to sound mean, but I don’t want to risk your safety. Something is going on there, and I don’t know who is behind it.” He closed his briefcase. “By the way, don’t tell Eric anything else about what we do.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t told him anything, other than you tutored me once on a paper.”
“Even that’s too much. I don’t trust him. I think he can and will try to use anything to get me—or you for that matter—in trouble. I would just feel better if you said as little as possible to him about me.”
Keeping her own suspicions to herself, Brandi reassured him: “Fine, but you don’t have to worry about him.”
“Good. Hope it stays that way.”
* * *
The following week Dr. Moore, the English lit department head, called Tim into his office. He held the fifteen passing compositions for Tim review for the hands-on trip the following weekend. “I’ve picked the best three from each of your four classes, some from Dr. Graham’s, and some from Elliot Dumay’s classes. I’ve decided to select the reserves from Alan Ford’s freshman class. I figured you’d appreciate seeing the list, since most of them are your students. From your Tuesday and Thursday classes I’ve picked Joan Dorsey, Tiffany Jackson, Ronald Lawson, Jean Dunlop and Brandi Miles…”