“Thank you, Dr. Lewellyn. I appreciate that.”
He nodded and faced me again. “You will be contacted for a meeting first thing on Monday morning. Please be ready. I will take Dr. Keaton’s words into consideration while I make my decision.”
“Thank you, sir,” I responded softly.
“You’re both free to leave. Dr. Keaton, your classes will be canceled today. Please clear out your office.”
“Absolutely.” Jordan stood, shook Dr. Lewellyn’s hand, and headed for the door.
I kept my head down as I scooted through the open door and down the hall. I didn’t even think about him being behind me. As thankful as I was that he was trying to do what was best for me, I was angry at him.
Yes, he’d initiated this. Yes, he’d backed me into a corner.
But I’d still agreed.
I’d still agreed to every single thing that happened between us.
There was no way I should have gotten away with that. Surely, I had to pay the price for my part? It didn’t seem possible that my squeaky-clean school record and his admission would get me through this. It seemed too good to be true.
I pushed the main doors open and breathed in the fresh air. It’d started raining at some point during the meeting, and the relief the cold water droplets gave me as they hit my face was welcome. I stood there in the pouring rain until I was soaked through, waiting to hear his voice or feel his hand on my back, his lips on my ear, his fingertips on my arm.
But none of it happened.
Jordan hadn’t followed me out of the building.
Jordan closed his office door with more composure than he felt. Although he’d known that it was coming—after all, it had been his grand plan to try to protect Darcy—it still stung. He’d come to love his job at the university. All he had now was the hope that his plan had worked. That Darcy would come out of this situation relatively unscathed.
He’d had to try. He’d put her in this situation, after all.
He’d thought that that would make him hate himself, but for the first time in a long time, he realized he didn’t. He felt guilty, sure. Maybe even a little regretful. But not hateful.
It was the strangest feeling.
He pulled two flat, cardboard boxes from his office storage. He’d even been prepared for his dismissal, something that had been, of course, avoided due to his resignation.
Better to have resigned than have a firing blot his record. He would have taken the firing if he’d had to, but he was thankful not to.
He looked out of his office in time to see Darcy’s little, black Hyundai pulling out of its parking space. He didn’t know if she knew, but her favorite area to park in had always been right behind his office. He’d seen her come and go more times than he wanted to admit.
She was mad at him.
He had seen it in her eyes when she’d glanced at him before she’d gotten up. She was angry he’d taken all of the blame when she could have shouldered some. That was the kind of person she was deep down. On the surface, she was hard and protective of herself, but once her defenses had been broken down, she was the sweetest woman he’d ever met.
He hoped she understood. She was smart enough to.#p#分页标题#e#
More than anything, he hoped he wouldn’t lose her.
She’d imprinted herself onto his life in a way he’d never thought anyone else would again. She’d opened his heart back up to the possibility of happiness that didn’t involve loneliness, and he was afraid that, with this new development, it’d be all over.
’Cause fuck it all—he was falling for her.
His phone rang, and he put the photo frame he was holding down. Briefly, he paused. It was a picture of him and Amanda on their wedding day. Her smile was so bright, so light and airy, before her addiction had fully taken hold.
He stared at it for what felt like an eternity before a smile touched his lips.
Darcy would never be Amanda; that was okay. No one could ever replace his first love, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t room for more than one woman in his heart. He didn’t want anyone to be Amanda. The years they’d been married and he’d battled as she’d fought with her demons had changed him irrevocably.
He didn’t want that again. He didn’t want to feel the constant worry that accompanied the mood swings, the dip in the savings he’d thought he’d hidden better, or the constant dance to hide the car keys. He was only happy that Amanda was at peace, because that’s what she’d given him.
Peace.
He just needed Darcy to see it. Not someone like her, exactly her. He needed Darcy to scale the walls he’d built and break through the army he had guarding his heart.