“Brandi Miles? Really? Her paper was that good?”
Dr. Moore raised his brow. “Yes, Miss Miles passed quite well, in fact. Why?”
“Nothing, really; she had some problems with her focus at first. That’s all.”
“Are you sure that’s all, Tim?”
“Yes, why?”
“She’s a very lovely young woman; no man can deny that, including you. I have seen how you brighten up when her name is mentioned. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Yes, she’s gorgeous, but…”
“I didn’t say ‘gorgeous’. I said she was lovely.” He put his pen down, and came around to Tim’s side of the desk. “I’m having a problem with your reaction to her. The car wash, for example, was a dead giveaway. You tried to hide it, but it didn’t work, not with me. You could barely take your eyes off her.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I’m not ‘getting at’ anything. You need to calm down, because we don’t need a scandal here, Tim.”
“I know this already, and there will be no problems. I value my job here. Look, you’ve known me for years, long enough to know that I would never cause any trouble for the school.”
“I know that. You’re a good man. I just don’t want you in any trouble. I know your life has been hectic— those attacks, your divorce and…”
“Charlotte is not the reason for anything I may be going through now, Derrick. I would rather keep her where she is, out of my life.”
“Just make sure Miss Miles stays out of it, too.” He pulled out her essay. “This A+ puts her at the top. Were you concerned she couldn’t do it?”
“No, she catches on fast.” Tim tiptoed around his next words. “You know a lot of the students will be at the hands-on with me, including her, and I want to you reassure you…”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her. She knows she needs to do well to keep that scholarship. I also know she’ll want to be there because of you and your class. She seems to like you a lot and trusts you. Just stay on your toes, Tim. I trust you to do the right thing for yourself and this university. Now go on and have a ball at the hands-on in Albany. And another thing you need to do…”
“What?”
“Lighten up. You worry too much!”
Good advice, but Tim was used to worrying; that was what he did best from the day he was born.
CHAPTER 11
The very idea of spending the weekend in Albany with Mr. Untouchable was driving Brandi crazy. She didn’t know how she would be able to stand it, but knew ultimately she had to make the best of it. The hands-on was important and she had to qualify for the next phase, the writers retreat in Niagara Falls. But the idea of the entire trip was making her anxious, and she looked forward to having it all behind her.
As if she didn’t have enough to worry about, her car was refusing to start. She gave it the gas, praying it would crank, because the bus to the Albany Convention Center would leave by noon. She pressed down on the pedal, waited, tried it again—still nothing. It was 40 minutes to get to the bus.
Both of her parents had gone to Brian’s hockey game and it would be after 12:00 before they returned. There was only one move to make: try and catch up with Tiffany. Then she remembered Tiffany was hitching a ride with her brother, who volunteered to drive her there on the way to his friend’s house. Brandi hadn’t asked early enough to ride with them, so they left. Her only other option was to page Tim, and pray he could pick her up. Either that or call Eric and ask him to take her up there. She killed that idea, because no way in hell was she going to ride that distance and have to endure him and hear his mouth. That left Tim!
After paging Tim, she waited for him to ring back. She looked up at the darkening sky. A big storm was headed their way. Everyone wanted to get to Albany ahead of it.
The phone started ringing and she answered without looking at the display. “Tim, thank God you called back.”
“Brandi. Why aren’t you at the bus?”
“My car won’t start. Can you pick me up? We should still have enough time.”
“Are you at home?”
“Yes, I’m ten minutes away from Madison.”
“Okay, but we will really have to hurry, because the bus will take off without us. Be ready to hop in when I drive up.”
“I’m sorry, Tim. Thanks a bunch.”
Fifteen minutes later, Tim pulled up and honked. He liked her outfit: an ice-pink, velvety jogging outfit that hugged her curvy, yet slender frame in all the perfect places. He knew he had to get his mind out of the gutter, because it was going to be a long trip up to Albany. Sweating over her would only make it longer.
Brandi hopped, in bouncing to whatever was playing on her headset, and smiled at him. “Thanks, Tim. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
He spoke louder so she could hear him over the music. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you caught me. I was at the bus doing the head count and didn’t see you. That made me…”
She snatched the headphones off. “Okay, I can hear you better.”
“I didn’t see your car in the lot, nor you on the bus. I got a little worried. Then I got your call.” He checked his watch. “I told them to take off at 12 whether we were there or not.”
“Why? Don’t you want us to be there?”
“Of course I want us to be there, Brandi. I know the way. In case we had problems, I didn’t want the others to miss out on the presentations.” He pulled into gear and headed west on the expressway.
“I hope you didn’t mind me paging you?”
“I gave you the number in case you needed me, and you did, so don’t sweat it.”
A CD case rested on her lap. “What are you listening to?”
She teased. “Something you wouldn’t know about.”
“Really wise, Brandi. I did manage to crawl out of the caves of Europe to learn music.”
“Just kidding. I’m sorry if that bothered you.”
“Nothing Brandi Elaine Miles does bothers me. So, what is it?”
“Unwrapped volume two. It’s good, so is volume three.”
“Isn’t Jeff Lorber on parts of one of them?”
“You do know a lot to be a cave dweller. Yeah, you want to listen? We can put it on yours.”
“We’ll be at Madison shortly, so keep listening. Enjoy yourself.”
They arrived at the school by 12:16, and the bus was gone. That unnerved him to no end. “Damn it!”
“I’m really sorry, Tim. I went to the university bookstore and picked up my paycheck, thinking I had enough time to go back home for some things. This is all my fault.”
The only thing on his mind was deciding what route to take. Seeing her brood over the situation made him feel bad. He turned her face to his, feeling baby soft skin barely kissed by pink blush. Her skin was so warm and tantalizing. “Come on. It’s not the end of the world. I know the way up there. We can take the same route the bus took.”
“We should be on that bus. I went back home to get music that I could have lived without until after the trip.”
“Brandi, don’t worry about it. I’ll gas up, and we can get started. The storm is not supposed to hit until later in the day, anyway. We have plenty of time. Take out ‘Hidden Beach’ and let’s hear it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a long trip, so we’d better listen to something on the way up there. What do you have?”
“Everyone.” She flipped open her leather case full of CDs and showed it to him.
Erykah Badu was the first thing he saw. “Let’s hear her.”
“You like Erykah?”
“Darn right I do. Anything smooth and mellow gets my attention.”
Around 1:00, they had to pull over to the side of the road. The wind gusts were practically pushing the car. The rain was blowing so hard the wiper blades couldn’t keep pace. He wished the truck had been out of the shop; it could take this kind of weather better than his Mercedes Coupe.
They sat by the side of the road under an underpass and talked. “Brandi, take that disc out so we can hear the weather reports.”
The radio repeated that the storm was ahead of schedule, and that flooding was expected. Tim had never seen rain like this in his thirty years of living. He was concerned, because he knew they would never make it on time to the convention center. What also worried him was the people on the bus. He didn’t let on to Brandi just how concerned he was, because she looked concerned enough herself.
2:30. The seminar had started. They were not going to make it in time for the main event. He hoped Monica and Daniel Lang had made it. They were his back up, had an extra set of his notes, and knew the program well. Some of the students had taken their own cars, and he wondered if they were able to make it.
Finally, there was a break in the weather and they pulled off in the direction of Albany. They had gotten a good start, but the main road to the convention center was flooded. Tim stared straight ahead. “Christ!”
Brandi had dozed off but was awakened by his sharp tone. “What’s wrong?”
“The main road is flooded, and the rain is picking up again.” He looked around. “Where’s the bus? It couldn’t have gotten through this.” He turned the radio up and heard the announcer forecasting tornado watches everywhere. “We’d better back out of here and try another route.”