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  “Wow, really? They weren’t married long.”

  “Just seven years.”

  “I wasn’t expecting that.” A ray of hope slipped into her mind, but she quashed it. She wasn’t about to think that Nick saw anything in her like that, and there was no way that he was in love with her. They had just spent a night together; it wouldn’t do any good for her to dream about possibilities that would never happen. And how would she explain Dominick? There simply wasn’t a way to do it.

  “Yeah, neither was I,” said Oscar. “They seemed so happy, but they got married quick.”

  “Did they have kids or anything?” she asked.

  “Not sure. Maybe the rumors were wrong. All I know is, they didn’t marry that fast because she was pregnant.”

  Rosalinda forced herself to laugh along. “That’s probably good. At least it would make splitting up easier.”

  “That’s what they say.”

  “I know, I know. Neither of us has ever been divorced.”

  “Nope. I’m too happy and you’re happily single.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with a good single life.” It felt almost like another lie. This conversation was littered with them.

  “Hey, if it works for you, who am I to judge?”

  “Yeah, it works pretty well for me. I have my own life and a lot of freedom.”

  “You still have a kid.”

  “Ok, not that much freedom,” she smiled. It was a truth that she had accepted when those two pink lines had shown up on the pregnancy test.

  “And a job.”

  “And even less freedom.”

  “And you spend your weekends at home.”

  “Stop making me sound pathetic,” she protested with a laugh. “You spend your weekends at home too.”

  “That’s because I’m just as bad as you are, but I just choose to be that bad with someone else.”

  “See, so stop making me feel terrible about it,” she kept laughing. She was starting to feel a lot better about Nick, now that her brother was joking around with her.

  Maybe she could just meet with him and not talk about the boy. Maybe he didn’t have to know that he was a father. Maybe she could control herself and her feelings, and catch up with an old friend. Maybe she could make it all work out somehow.

  But then again, maybe she couldn’t.

  “I’m not trying to make you feel terrible about it,” said Oscar.

  “You say that now,” Rosalinda teased her brother.

  The response was met with a soft chuckle. “You still haven’t changed.”

  “Why should I let adulthood change the fact that I am the best sister in the world?” The best sister didn’t sleep with her brother’s best friend, but she wasn’t going to ever admit that, so it was going to be fine.

  “You are the best sister, you know that?”

  “See, you can’t even argue that point.”

  “Why would I?” She loved hearing her brother this happy. That was what she needed to focus on, not the fact that there was a man in town with whom she had a history. She couldn’t talk about that history, or that he was the father of her son. “You’re the best sister. And I can’t wait to catch up with Nick. We lost track of each other for a while.”

  “Why didn’t you guys just use social media like everyone else?” Rosalinda asked.

  “We did for a while, but we just kind of slipped out of touch.”

  “Did one of you unfriend the other?”

  “I don’t know what happened with that.”

  “Maybe it was the wife?” She didn’t mean to sound hopeful, but she did.

  Her brother must have ignored the hint of pleasure in her voice. “That might explain why they broke up, if she was cutting him off from his friends.”

  “That sounds like a bad spot for him to have been in.”

  “Why are we focusing on the bad stuff that may have happened?” Oscar sounded like he was chastising himself more than he was correcting her. “For all I know, he’s perfectly happy and they just fell out of love.”

  “Yeah, probably. It’s probably fine. I mean. We shouldn’t gossip.”

  “When do we not gossip?”

  Rosalinda shook her head with a soft titter of laughter. “I don’t know. You’re a big gossip.”

  “You take that back.”

  “I will not.” They were laughing and joking once again. “But I do have to go. I have some papers to grade tonight.”

  “When do you find time to grade papers?” Oscar asked.

  “I sacrifice my sleep.”

  Within moments, she was off of the phone with her brother. Rosalinda walked inside to sit at her laptop and get to work on the stuff that needed doing.

  But it was hard to get to work, because her mind was stuck on the man that she had shared herself with so many years ago. She didn’t want to think about him, and worked to force him out of her mind, but it didn’t work perfectly. She ended up working well past midnight because she couldn’t get herself to focus. “Stop it. Get back to work,” she kept having to remind herself.

  4

  Class Dismissed

  Nick gathered up his books. There were far too many of them. “You don’t need all of these to teach a class,” he groaned at himself. “Just the powerpoint, and then start talking.”

  “You sure don’t,” his TA laughed. “They should have their own books.”

  “And take notes.”

  “See, you remember being a student.”

  “Hey, just because I remember being a student doesn’t mean I get the other side of things,” said Nick.

  “You’ll get it down. Just about everyone does.”

  “From what I remember, not every professor does.”

  “That’s why those guys get to teach high-level classes. They don’t work with people that aren’t majoring in the subject.”

  Nick guffawed loudly. “That makes a lot of sense.”

  “I don’t see you being shuffled off there any time soon, though.”

  “Probably because all those spots are taken up by guys with tenure.”

  “Gotta cut your teeth somewhere,” said the TA.

  “I feel like you have more experience teaching than I do,” said Nick, grinning right back. He was feeling good, even if there was a lot to be done.

  “Just take your PowerPoints and remember your lecture notes,” the TA pointed out.

  “I should know how this works. I’ve been to college.”

  “Teaching is a whole different ballgame.”

  “You should teach a class about it,” he laughed loudly as he put down the stack and pulled out his notes.

  “Someone should. You have no idea how many of these instructors have no idea how to teach a class.”

  “I’m not that bad, am I?” Nick smirked.

  “No, you’re actually pretty good once you get over your nerves,” the TA said encouragingly. “You just look like a deer in the headlights when you first get up there.”

  “Thanks. That means a lot,” Nick sighed in relief. It was good to have someone who had his back.

  “I’ve seen much worse.”

  “How long have you been here?” Nick suddenly got curious about this guy. He wasn’t even assigned to Nick, but he made himself useful anyway.

  “This is my last semester before my doctorate,” the young man shrugged. “Been working hard at it.”

  “That’s pretty good.”

  The TA chuckled. “That’s one way to congratulate me in finally being done with school.”

  “I mostly did research.”

  “I don’t mind my time in the lab.”

  “Good on you.”

  “You don’t even know what to say most of the time, do you?”

  “That’s me, awkward scientist,” said Nick. “We’re super good with people.”

  “They really should give better lessons on that.”

  Nick grinned. “I should get myself ready for class.”

  “Don’t let me h
old you up,” said the TA, and he ducked out of the room.

  Nick took a deep breath and gathered up his books and flash drive. It was time to get himself into the classroom. Classes didn’t wait for nervous guys, and the students wouldn’t wait either.

  It was just about time for class to start, and he didn’t want to make students who were paying for classes wait too long. Plus, if he remembered college, the second that a teacher was late for class the students began to discuss whether or not they could leave.

  He laughed a little to himself as he remembered those days. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that he was in college. He was only thirty. Being that young didn’t help him in the classroom, but it was a job that he could do. He had heard rumors that there were other young science professors, but he hadn’t run into them yet. There were simply too many faculty to meet and know them all, at least not right away.

  He did manage to get there on time to begin his lecture. Once again, Nick had the same problem of being incredibly nervous at the start of it; but within minutes, he was doing just fine, talking to the class like there was no other place in the world that he belonged.

  He finished out his class with a flourish. Well, maybe not a flourish, but the joke he told seemed to land with most of the students that were willing to find him funny. That was good enough for him, but it was exhausting.

  He had thought that teaching would be easy enough, easier than the work he did in a lab before. But the truth was that dealing with people was proving to be more difficult than he thought. Not that the challenge was unwelcome; he was thrilled to be living a free life again. To be able to do what he wanted, and when he wanted it. Even if the freedom could be terrifying at moments.

  He sighed as he loaded his stuff back on his desk. He shuffled through the pile, trying to figure out the most efficient way to spend his time that wasn’t spent lecturing about the combustion and IUPAC naming systems.

  Nick hated the habit that he had grown of getting stuck in his own head. It wasn’t that bad before he had moved to the west coast, but a marriage that didn’t work seemed to make it all that much worse. His wife had complained about the amount of introspection that he had done. It was a bad habit.

  A shake of his head, and the TA was back in the office. “How’s it going?”

  Nick jumped at the surprise voice. “Where did you come from?”

  The TA laughed at startling a professor. “Down the hall. How was your class?”

  “Pretty good,” Nick said with a smile. “Did you minor in ninja skills?”

  “I wish I could. Man, if they offered classes in that it would be full of all the nerds.”

  “Aren’t we all some of those nerds?” Nick shrugged. “Ninjas are cool. Doesn’t matter much who you are.”

  “I don’t think that anyone would ever admit to liking them if they wanted to look like an adult.”

  “Looking like an adult is boring,” the TA said, waving it off. “I would definitely take that class.”

  Nick thought for a second. It was odd that the man had shown up the moment that he finished teaching. “Are you spying on me?”

  “Not really. Just got word from some of your students,” the TA said. “And my own class just ended. So, I figured yours was over too. They tend to start and end most classes around the same time.”

  “They probably have some kind of schedule. I guess I never thought about that.”

  “It’s not really something that people think about, I’m sure.”

  “I was gonna say that I hadn’t seen you sneaking into my classes.”

  “If I did, I would be the one hidden in the back of the class with a hood up and pretending to be asleep.”

  “I’ve got a couple of them.”

  “Every class does,” the TA laughed. “You’ll get used to it. I’ve even had a couple of those students who aced every single test.”

  “That hasn’t changed since I was in school,” Nick smiled. “What brings you around?”

  “Figured you might need a little help with everything,” the guy shrugged. He must have been nearly six years younger than Nick, but seemed to navigate college instructing so much easier than Nick did.

  Nick regretted not working as a TA in college. He had chosen instead to spend grad school in the lab doing research, but there wasn’t a lot of research to do outside of the colleges in this part of the country, at least not if he wanted to stay this close to his family. He nodded. “Everything is right. Probably with everything.”

  “I heard you haven’t done much teaching before.”

  “Can’t say I have,” Nick shook his head. “Thanks for helping me out.”

  “I don’t really mind.”

  “You probably have a lot going on.”

  “Eh, it’s not so bad. I’ve gotten a lot of it done already,” the man said.

  “I mean, it’s your last semester for your doctorate. Should be pretty busy.”

  “I keep on top of stuff, and manage my time pretty well.”

  “I was always running at the last second when I was in school.”

  The TA grinned. “I mean, that’s a lot of folks. Time can run away with you pretty good.”

  “Thanks for helping me out,” said Nick.

  “You’ve said that already. What were you about to work on?”

  “Lots of stuff.”

  Another laugh. “Anything in particular?”

  Nick quickly made a mental list of all the tasks that he had to do that day. True to form, he was already behind on the necessary parts of his lessons and powerpoints. “I was gonna get some coffee, then start setting up lectures online.”

  The guy nodded. “Sure. Sounds good. Want me to get started while you do that?”

  “Sure. Want me to get you some?”

  “Nope. Already went by there. Where’s your answer key?”

  Nick laughed. “It’s in that pile over there.” He shuffled through folders before revealing the right one. “I’ll head out, then. Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick.”

  “Yep.” The TA grinned at him, then made a motion like he was tipping an invisible hat before sliding into one of the chairs near the desk.

  With that, Nick made his way out of the building, and toward the nearest coffee shop. While he traveled, he found himself wondering. He had never gotten the TA’s name. “Have to get it later,” he reminded himself. He cut through the nursing building to get into the coffee shop. It was easier than walking all the way around the large building.

  It was there that Nick saw her, standing in the line. She must have needed coffee too. His breath caught, and he stopped.

  He hadn’t realized that she had stuck around, but there she was, picking up a cup of coffee. Rosalinda; a woman with whom he had shared an amazing night long ago, but had never seemed to want him.

  He had never pushed it, but he couldn’t get his mind off of her when he had left and found that feeling in the arms of another woman. It hadn’t worked. Instead, he had found himself in a situation that wasn’t meant for him at all.

  Nick’s hands shook as he looked at her, but he kept enough sense to slip out of sight, listening to her greet her friends. That dark hair; those gray eyes. They were everything that he wanted to see.

  One night hadn’t been enough, but there was no way to say that anymore. It was too late. He slipped out of the coffee shop, trying to quell the beating of his heart thumping in his ears.

  Another coffee shop. Nick wracked his brain for anything that would help. He hadn’t been on campus in years, but he remembered that there were a couple of other coffee shops on campus. One was in the student union, almost all the way on the other side of campus, but Nick headed there so that he didn’t have to see the one that got away.

  On his way, he pulled out his phone and opened the campus website. He had to be sure that he had seen the right person. A part of him hoped that he would be proven wrong, that it was just wishful thinking about someone who looked impossibly similar to Rosalinda. But
a few clicks showed him that he was wrong. She was working there. “Physics department,” he noted.

  He smiled, remembering how she used to help him with the physics classes that he had to take. Even though she was a couple of years younger than him, she had been brilliant in the subject. A beautiful mind that could explain things easily to even the most stubborn soul.

  5

  Coffee Chat

  “They burned the coffee,” said Rosalinda, looking down at her cup.

  “Yeah, they did. But it’s not too bad,” her friend grinned at her. “If you want good coffee, a campus coffee shop isn’t a great place to go.”

  “Speak for yourself, you always burn your coffee.”

  The woman sitting with her held up her cup in mock defeat. “My coffee is the best there is.” Her name was Emmie, and she was one of Rosalinda’s best friends on campus. Emmie was a professor from the English department, and nearly a decade older than the younger woman.

  “You keep saying that to yourself,” said the young physics professor, shaking her head. “If it works for you, you should stick with it.”

  “I’m sticking with it because it’s the truth,” said the slightly older woman, laughing at her own defense.

  “I’ve had your coffee,” said Rosalinda, who was smiling broadly as they giggled and joked around.

  “That’s just the pot in my office,” said Emmie.

  “I think it destroyed your ability to taste good coffee.”

  “We’re on a college campus. There isn’t good coffee here. They serve college students.”

  “I think we all just want our caffeine fix,” joked the physics professor.

  “We all need a caffeine fix,” Emmie agreed.

  “So, what have you been up to?”

  “Work stuff, mostly. Doing a lot of work.” Rosalinda motioned to the small folder she had with her. “I have to plan a bunch of lectures.”

  “More classes this time?”

  “This semester is kind of rough, yeah. I have to work a lot later.”

  “That’s less time with your son, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, kind of is, but it’s not too bad.”