Tenure Track (37 page)

By the time the lights came up, everyone was appropriately freaked out. Julie went to go make popcorn while Blanca ordered Gus to start
Dawn of the Dead
. It was now approaching midnight and Lewis knew he could not stay up all night again. “Well folks, sorry to bug out, but my fairy godmother said I needed to be home by the stroke of midnight!”

“
Dude’s tryin’ to be funny!” Gus noted, giving the professor a knowing nod and smile.

Mandy walked Lewis to his car, holding his hand and fully aware that the nosy trio was probably watching their every move. Lewis leaned with his back against the driver’s door, unsure what to do next.

“
I had a nice time. Thank Blanca for inviting me,” he said.

“
Yeah, my friends are real subtle,” Mandy noted. “I hope they didn’t bug you too bad.”

“
No, no. I like your friends,” he said, honestly.

He took both of Mandy’s hands in his and they just stood facing one another for a moment. She fingered the spot on his left hand where his wedding ring once sat. As if to thank him for removing it, she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. In one smooth move he turned and pressed his mouth to hers, then paused for a half second to gauge her response. After briefly looking into his face, she responded by kissing him back, first in a series of small pecks, then more eagerly. Their bodies shifted into a tight embrace as their lips parted. Lewis could not remember the last time he had kissed a woman this passionately.

For Mandy, his kiss was a revelation—sure and confident but not too overeager—far unlike most of the sloppy sucking she had experienced with randy high school and college boys.

Lewis was a bit surprised when he was the first to come up for air. Rather than push things further than would be prudent, he said his goodnights with one last tight hug. Pulling away from the curb, he turned up the radio and began to sing along with the sappy love songs, loudly and off-key while Mandy entered her house to a chorus of whoops and high fives.

For several days after zombie movie night, Mandy and Lewis both avoided seeing one another, but stayed in touch via text messages. Without ever stating so, they came to an understanding that they would not see each other again socially until the semester ended. A week before finals, they bumped into one another in the very public copy room, where Lewis shook her hand and thanked her for her help. “You may now officially consider yourself done as my assistant,” he declared within Isobel’s hearing range.

As they parted ways that day, Lewis caught a glimpse of Dr. Stevens sitting alone in the faculty lounge reading a newspaper, her walker next to the couch. She normally did not lounge in the lounge, but he was glad to see her. He greeted her in a friendly tone and asked about her plans for the summer. “I shall enjoy life!” she declared.

Although she did not ask about his plans, Lewis mentioned that he would be teaching summer classes. Before stopping himself, he asked, “So, is Ms. Dejean going to be working for you this summer?”

She shot him a knowing glance over the top of her reading glasses. “I believe she has other employment for the summer months.”

Lewis nodded, then used the opening as an opportunity to talk about his new friends with someone who actually knew them. “Have you ever met the other roommates? Gus and Julie? They’re quite a foursome.”

Still eyeing him over the glasses, she affirmed, “Yes, I have.”

“
They’re a really amazing bunch of kids, aren’t they?”

Removing her glasses and leaning her chin against one wrist, she carefully assessed Lewis’s demeanor. He continued, a bit more nervously, “I mean, they really seem to have it all together, know where they’re going, that sort of thing?”

“
Dr. Burns, where is this conversation going?” she asked plainly.

“
Uh, uhm, just making conversation,” he tried to explain.

“
Come here,” she entreated with a wave. He obeyed, approaching her carefully. When he was finally close enough, she ordered him to stop. “May I please borrow your arms?”

Realizing why she had been sitting on the couch for so long, he obeyed, carefully helping her up from the seat. She leaned her body first against his arms, then shoulders. For a split second he felt a sensation that had never before emanated from Dr. Stevens—vulnerability. Then, with one hand on the walker and the other still leaning against his shoulder, she offered in a low voice, “They are a fine group of young people. You would be enriched by their company, but tread carefully if you venture into those deep waters.” She straightened herself upright, leaning heavily on the walker for support.

“
Thank you,” she said, though he was equally grateful for her personal support. Lewis watched as she left the room and made her way to the elevator, making sure she would be okay without offering more help than her dignity would allow.

Lewis knew exactly when Mandy’s last final ended. Grading graduate research papers at home, he thought of her as the clock struck the final moment of the testing period. One minute later, he called her cell phone. She had been done for 20 minutes, but was still debriefing with some other students. Seeing his I.D., she excused herself to find a private place to talk. He asked how the test went.

“
Okay, I guess. I think I totally bombed the second question, but from what I can tell everybody else did, too, so hopefully the curve’ll fix it. Are you done with your grading?”

“
Not yet. I have to turn in my final batch by Thursday morning. It’ll be a busy couple of days.” He took a deep breath. “So what are your plans for the week?”

“
Blanc’ and Jules are done, so we’ll probably go out ‘n’ celebrate tonight. Next week I’m goin’ home, then back for work right after Memorial Day.”

“
You’ll still be in town Thursday night?” he asked nervously.

“
Uhm, yeah. I have to work Friday and Saturday. Grad weekend’s usually pretty busy.”

He cleared his throat. “Well, I was wondering if I could make dinner for you on Thursday.”

“
Make? Like, cook?” She stifled a smile.

“
Yes,” he laughed. “I would like to make dinner for you, Miss Taylor, at my home. Consider it a partial “thank you” for a job well done and a celebration.”

“
Celebration of what?” she asked.

He had been waiting all week to announce confidently: “I received my final divorce decree this week. I’m officially a single man.”

Her face broke into a smile so wide that he could see it over the telephone line.

On Thursday evening Mandy arrived five minutes early and sat in her car just collecting herself. She had been anticipating this moment for days. She had gone shopping the day before to select the perfect outfit—a cream-colored, open-backed casual dress set—and a bottle of California wine the Chug’s head bartender had recommended. She double-checked herself in the car mirror one last time before approaching the front door.

Lewis had been watching her from the window, but waited a beat before answering. Like her, he had been looking forward to this date all week. He also had thought carefully about his attire, but went the opposite route. Trying to appear more youthful, but not immature, he arrived at the door wearing an untucked denim shirt, rolled up at the sleeves with the top three buttons undone, along with khaki shorts. As Mandy entered the house, they both assessed each other with sly looks of approval. He longed to kiss her right then, but held off.

He gently touched her back as he invited her to make herself comfortable on the couch and offered to get her something. She asked for a couple of glasses in which to pour the wine. While she waited for him to return from the kitchen, she noticed the stained glass window. She was still sitting against one arm of the couch staring at it when he returned, handing her the glasses and a corkscrew. As she opened the bottle and poured, she offered mini-lessons on proper wine-serving techniques she had mastered at the Chug.

‘
Of course, most of our customers prefer cheap beer, but it’s a good skill to know,” she said, leaning back against the arm of the couch.

Sipping the wine, they silently examined the window. “I like it,” Mandy assessed.

“
Thanks,” he replied, moving in to lean against the couch right next to her and slipping an arm around her waist. “It’s kind of my spiritual guide.”

“
Mhmm,” she mused, “Lewis’s Church of the Stained Glass Window. So
that’s
your religious preference.”

“
Yeah, weird, I know,” he admitted.

“
Hey, I’ve seen stranger things,” she replied. “At least it’s not snake-handlin’.”

Taking another sip, she nervously asked what they were having for dinner. He described the chicken pasta salad he had made a few hours earlier, explaining that it was meant to be served cold, to let the flavors marinate. There was something seductively dirty about the way he pronounced the word
marinate.

“
So you don’t have to keep rushing back to the kitchen?” she asked, her trepidation beginning to show.

He shook his head, rubbing her back and moving his hand up to her neck. As their faces began to get closer, she leaned her forehead against his and sighed. “Lewis, what are we doing here?”

He knew what she meant. For so many reasons this flirtation of theirs was wrong, but he had come to the conclusion that for so many reasons it was also right. He took both of their wine glasses and set them down on the coffee table. Then, wrapping one arm around her waist, he entwined the fingers of their free hands, then looked straight into her eyes and echoed her own words. “Look, Mandy, I really like you. I don’t do hookups. I haven’t seen anyone since my wife and I split up and for ten years before that I was never with anyone else, so I’m a pretty dependable guy. In a lot of ways, this year has been pretty awful for me, but you’ve been my bright spot. I think about you all the time. I mean
all
the time. Just seeing you and hearing your voice makes me smile. If you aren’t comfortable with this, that’s fine, but I’d really like to keep you in my life.”

He kissed her hand, then slowly looked up as their lips touched. Mandy turned her face away for a moment, then took both of his hands in hers and led him over to the couch. Without saying a word, he moved in next to her. She took his face in her hands and kissed him back, hesitantly at first, then more urgently and passionately. Their lips parted, sharing the warm taste of their mouths. The kissing seemed to last forever. Whenever one of them would pause to catch their breath, the other would move to continue.

Lewis let Mandy take the lead, not wishing to go further than she was comfortable with. His reticence only made him more desirable. After an eternity of kissing, Mandy finally took the next step, carefully unbuttoning Lewis’s shirt and caressing his chest and ribs. As her hand moved along his waistband, she could feel the rock hard mound of his desire. She let her hand caress the outside of his shorts. As she did, he moved his hand up the open diamond in the back of her dress and around to the front. Slipping his hand over one firm breast, his excitement rose further as the nipple hardened in his fingertips. She carefully slipped a hand up through one pants’ leg to stroke him. They continued kissing and fondling one another fully dressed as their pleasure rose.

Without even thinking about it, they slowly began to undress one another. Soon they were sitting on the couch completely naked. Upon realizing this, Lewis sat back a moment just to gaze at her nubile young form as he ran his fingers around the outline of her breasts. “God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

Visually assessing his body, she returned the compliment. And she meant it. Lewis had kept himself in very good shape. There was something about his mature figure, with it’s smattering of chest hair and firm tone that just seemed more fully formed than that of guys her age. This was indeed a man, not a boy.

Looking at his naked form, she supposed he wanted what most guys her age did. Kissing down his neck and chest, he stopped her as she started to move her mouth past his waist. “No,” he whispered. “Let me.”

He carefully parted her legs and bent down to taste her womanly sweetness. She was a bit taken aback at first, simply because no one had ever performed that particular act on her before. No guy she had ever dated had even suggested it, though they often tried to convince her to perform a similar act on them.

As his tongue carefully caressed her tender female tissue, she felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation. It took a few moments of uncontrollable gasping and shrieking before she realized that she was having her first orgasm. Sensing her pleasure, he continued, moving his tongue deeper inside her as he slid his hand up to caress her nipples. Mandy had never experienced such a loss of control before, making squeals and sounds like something had possession of her body. She grabbed the back of Lewis’s head with both hands, holding on tight to his hair. At one point she thought she just could not stand anymore. It felt
too
good.

Satisfied that he had achieved the goal of his many erotic dreams, Lewis finally came up and slowly kissed his way upwards, stopping to suck on one nipple, to more gasps of delight. He then leaned back and lifted her body to straddle him. “Get on top,” he breathlessly ordered.