Chapter 26

Bethany

The rest of the day was a blur, and after watching the late night show, she fell asleep on her couch. Damon not calling or texting was something that would bug her all day no matter how badly she tried to shake it.

"Everything is fine." She leaned over the bathroom counter in the coffee shop beside campus the next morning. Dr. Tarrington had been out the day before when she finished making preps for his first day of school but wanted to meet the next morning to go over a few things. She couldn't deny him, even though meeting him meant getting up an hour earlier than she planned.

She walked out of the bathroom and brushed her fingers through her hair as he waved from the counter at the front of the restaurant.

"Bethany. Over here." His smile was warm, his face incredibly handsome. He had his glasses perched on his nose, which only seemed to make him more attractive. It was a dangerous position for him, and yet he must have loved his job enough to deal with the friction it caused.

"Hey, Dr. Tarrington. How are you?" She moved up to stand beside him, leaving a good bit of space between them. Kendal didn't need any drama related to possibly dating a student, and she was aware of how people talked when given a reason to.

"I'm great. Let me buy you a coffee and a muffin or bagel?" He adjusted his glasses and glanced back up at the menu.

"Sure. I'll take a tall vanilla latte and a blueberry scone."

"Nope. Only muffins or bagels." He winked at her and shook his head. "Just kidding. Give the woman what she wants."

She started to pat his back in a friendly manner and decided against it. She'd only heard a little of his story but wanted access to the rest. It was none of her business, and wouldn't do her any good, but after hearing him talk about his life being ruined a few years back, she had the odd sense to help protect him for the year she'd be working beside him.

Maybe it was because he was Damon's best friend.

She took a seat near the back of the coffee shop and pulled out her phone, checking for a missed message from Damon and coming up empty again.

"Waiting on someone?" Kendal stopped beside the table and handed her a cup.

"No. Just wondering why Damon hasn't called. We didn't talk at all yesterday. I had a message from him on the counter that could have been taken as controversial or even hurtful, and then nothing." She huffed. "I'm not bringing this up with you. We're here to get you ready for your first class this afternoon, not mull through my insecurities."

He chuckled and set his coffee down. "Let me grab our scones, and we'll chat about all of it."

"Fine." She took the top off her coffee and glanced up to find several of the girls around her focused on Kendal. She turned her attention back to the steaming caramel-colored liquid in her cup and blew softly. There was no saving the poor man from his stunning good looks. That was his momma’s fault. She smiled at the thought.

"What's so funny?" He sat down, his green eyes studying her as if waiting for some revelation to occur.

"I was just smiling at your situation. It's not funny, but maybe you should just change professions, or hey..." She reached across the table and squeezed his forearm, thinking nothing of it. He tensed under her touch. "Maybe you should find someone off campus to date." She pulled her hand back. "Sorry. I keep trying to make sure I don't act too comfortable around you."

"That's much appreciated." He leaned over and pulled his bag strap over his neck before digging out a folder. "Dating isn't as easy as it seems. You guys are still in college and surrounded by people your own age who are looking for a connection. That's not how the rest of the world functions, as I'm sure you already know."

"Very true." She took a tentative sip of her coffee. "Maybe Damon knows someone he can set you up with."

Kendal chuckled. "No, but thank you. All the women in his past have been bitches, pardon my French. You're the exception to the rule, I think."

"Thank you?" She laughed and put the top back on her coffee before taking a bite of the scone he pushed toward her.

"What was the note about yesterday morning?" He leaned back and crossed his legs in a manly fashion.

"This." She held up her left hand. "He wants me to leave it at home when I'm at the office, but anywhere else, I can wear it. It cost more than a car. I hate the thought of taking it off, even for a second."

"Because you might lose it?" He lifted his eyebrow, questioning her motive.

"Yes, among other reasons. Why are you not asking questions about this? Did he tell you already?"

"Yes. We had lunch yesterday. After seeing each other for the first time in a long time at your friend, Jake's, apartment, we decided to start having lunch once a month. It just happened to fall on Monday this week." He shrugged and took a bite of his scone. "These are awesome."

"Yeah, I love this place." Bethany pinched another piece off of hers. "And what do you think? Too soon? Too much?"

"Do you want to know?" He licked his lips as someone sighed close by.

Bethany turned to try and discern who it was, but Kendal tapped the table between them, pulling her back.

"What? Yes, of course, I want to know. I asked."

He chuckled. "Most people ask lots of things they don't want the answer to. It's prudent to ask, but it takes courage to receive the response."

"Wow. That's a lot of mental mumbo-jumbo you got going on there this morning, Dr. Tarrington."

"Right? I do my best thinking first thing in the morning. It's disturbing." He cleared his throat. "It's too soon for something as big as an engagement. You guys have loads of hurdles to climb over, and you both know it. The note asking you not to wear the ring shows that Damon is starting to consider some of them."

"The hurdles?"

"Yes." He lifted his hand. "That doesn't mean that he doesn't think he's in love with you, or that he doesn't want a future, but you guys aren't a normal couple."

Heat brushed up the center of her chest. "And who has the right to judge what normal is?"

"Exactly." He let out a soft sigh. "Her name was Ana, and she was so beautiful. Sweet and kind and only four years younger than me, but none of that mattered. Our situation wasn't at all what you might call normal. She was my student, my best student, and the university, my friends, her parents, fuck, everyone threw stones at our budding relationship. You don't get to define normal, Bethany. They do." He pointed to the restaurant and waved his hand about as his words deflated her.

He was right. They had far too much stacked up against them to simply walk into the office and announce their engagement, but something about hiding it felt wrong too. The worry that Damon wasn't proud that she belonged to him tried to creep in, but she pushed it back. It was stupid. He'd told their families, the people that mattered most that they could all take a hike if they didn't want to support their budding relationship.

He wasn't ashamed of her.

"That sucks." She glanced around and wrapped her free arm around herself as she nursed her coffee. "It's unfair. Not right."

"Agreed, but it is what it is." He shrugged.

"What happened to Ana?"

"She transferred to A&M in College Station and is probably the head of some big four firm right now. She honestly was one of the most brilliant accounting minds I'd seen at the time, or since. She made me think." He chuckled before letting out a soft grunt. "I would say that I miss her, but it's been six years, and after making the decision to walk away, I didn't turn back."

"And the university just popped you on the hand and let you go?"

"Sort of. They knew how close our ages were and that the relationship was consensual."

"I thought you said that the girl finally pulled back the charges. What charges?"

"That wasn't Ana. Another girl in my second year of teaching stayed after for tutorials late one night and came on to me. I told her no. She got pissed and filed a claim with the university that I'd raped her in the fucking classroom." He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and shook his head. "I kept thinking that I should just leave this place, that nothing was worth all of this shit."

"But after being in school for six years for your doctorate, you decided differently?"

"Exactly. I fought hard as hell to get it. I had them check the cameras, and they did and counseled the girl to pull back the charges, but word had already gotten out on campus. They asked for my resignation, and I refused. I threatened to sue them, and that shut them up. I've had a TA or two ever since, and all of my rooms are monitored with cameras, including my office. I'm not sure what they think they're going to find, but they're full of shit. I never touched that girl or anyone else since Ana. She was my one and only mistake." He lifted his eyes and pressed her with a hard stare. "I'll never, ever make the same mistake again."

"Can't say that I blame you." Bethany nodded toward the folder. "Let's go over your syllabus for this week since classes start in an hour. We can finish up this lovely conversation another time if you're up for it."

"Good plan. I like a girl with focus." He smiled and pushed the papers across the table. "Tell me what you worked on yesterday and we'll go from there."

"One more thing." Bethany let out a soft exhale. "Matt mentioned to Damon while we were on vacation that he needed to be careful in throwing around the idea that he was in "love." I guess he told Bridget that he loved her too-"

"Yeah, on the third date. We still give him shit over that, though we really shouldn't. The poor guy hasn't dated much due to some family stuff he's still dealing with, but I'll let him tell you about that when he's ready." Kendal shrugged. "I would assume he means what he says, Bethany, but like any of us, he's looking for a relationship that probably doesn't exist. How nice would it be to find someone where you don’t have to think about anything but them, but it just doesn't work that way. Not in this world."

"Well, this has been thoroughly depressing." She snorted as he laughed.

"I'm sorry. Ignore me. I'm going through my own shit right now."

"Why? The semester just started."

"I know, and I saw a girl yesterday in the Dean’s office that I would sell my soul to take to dinner. It took all I had to turn and walk away." He shook his head and glanced down toward his hands.

Her heart contracted in her chest as he fiddled with his fingers.

"You can't date someone in the master's program either?"

"No." He glanced up. "No one from the university. Period."

"No other professors?"

"Nope. No one." He shrugged and pulled the papers back toward him. "All right so let's talk about this thing so you can get on with your life."

She nodded, but let the question she wanted to ask die on her tongue. What about his life? How did he 'get on with it' when he was stuck in the past? Regret and sorrow sitting on him so comfortably that he looked five years older than he was?

It was beyond unfair. So much so, that she couldn't help but try and work through a way to help him overcome it. Something had to give, it just had to.