Calumet Page 5
but they said buying decorations makes more sense in
increments of five, so they went with it. As a man with a
doctorate in math, it really doesn’t make sense, but that
whole town is full of idiots, so you have to learn to let it go.”
She shook her head and he frowned. “I’m not going.”
“But why? It’s been years, Jax. It’s time to go back and
tell Margot all the stuff you haven’t yet. She deserves to
know before she starts popping out little Jaxons into the
world. Your family isn’t your fault, and she loves you. She’s
not your mother.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do. You know the hell my
parents put me through, and as long as they’re alive,
they’re not done. I’m not subjecting Margot to that kind of
bigotry, much less an innocent child we haven’t even talked
about yet, though Margot’s probably ready for one. How the
world treats us is bad enough, but when it comes from
people who are supposed to love you, it’s doubly painful.”
She pointed at him as she spoke. “Nothing conjures up a
single wonderful, warm, fuzzy memory, so I’m giving it a
pass like I did the first two times they sent an invitation. It
would be nothing but four days of forcing myself to be nice
to people I didn’t like, who didn’t like me.”
“I know, and you’re probably going to punch me in the
nose before all this is over, but I still think it’ll be good for
you to go back. It might get better, or it might not,” he said
softly. “Putting it to rest once and for all might be a relief.”
“I put it to rest already, but there’s one thing I don’t
understand. Why do you want to go? You’re the last person
in the world I need to be explaining this to. Your experience
wasn’t any better than mine. Why the sudden urge to fly
back and face the abuse you know is coming?” She gripped
the leather strap of her bag, wanting to be finished with this
conversation. Her day had been good until now.
Bert could be more persistent than a tick when it came to
something he wanted. They’d met when they both wanted
ownership rights of a book in the library. Bert had been the
class punching bag, but he hadn’t backed down when she
threatened to clock him. They’d been as close as siblings
ever since.
In school they’d participated in different activities, but
they’d always been there for each other, cheering their
triumphs no matter what. At their high school graduation,
they’d shared the valedictorian honors, but he had gladly let
the writer in their friendship give the commencement
speech. In college they’d been roommates once they moved
off campus, and their plan had been to end up on the same
faculty.
When he wasn’t teaching he’d come by and sit in her
class and listen. He often told her how much he envied her
passion in the classroom, and nothing she said made him
believe he was just as good. There was no way he’d be
teaching at one of the most prestigious universities in the
nation if he wasn’t excellence personified, but his impostor
syndrome refused to allow him to believe it.
Granted, his coeds didn’t look at him like they looked at
her, but Bert had his share of fans. They were usually more
in awe of his grasp of numbers than his looks, but they
loved him. She often teased him that it was because
literature and poetry were way sexier than algorithms.
She finally smiled as he seemed to be thinking of his next
best move.
“Come on, doesn’t a part of you want to go back and
show them up?” Trying to appear earnest, Bert put his
hands out to his sides and tried his best pleading
expression. “They all thought I’d shrivel up and die after
graduation, but I didn’t, and neither did you. We need to
show them what we’ve achieved.”
Pleading had never worked with her—he had a slow
learning curve on that. “Bert, that’s about the saddest thing
you could’ve come up with.” She started walking, and Bert
skipped to keep up. “If you’re dying to go, then go. I may
not understand your reasoning, but I won’t think any less of
you for going back to that hellhole. Besides, it’ll give you a
chance to check on your parents. Regular phone calls can’t
take the place of seeing you. They’re some of the few sane
people in that town, and it’s been months since they’ve
seen you.”
“But I don’t want to go by myself.”
Jaxon was waiting for him to stomp his foot and clench
his shoulders to go with the whine as he lengthened the last
word. “Does it really matter that much in the realm of all
things what those cretins think of you? Right now,
considering where you are and what you do, it means you
won. I doubt anyone else has been as successful. Look
around—this isn’t Hicksville, USA.”
Bert ran his hand through his hair, releasing a small
cloud of chalk dust. It was one of the endearing things about
him that went with the pocket protector. Why he couldn’t
purchase a pen case like everyone else was a mystery.
There was no reason to shove them all under your nose like
that. “Yeah, it matters just a little bit. Can’t we just go and
show them geeks can be really cool?” The pleading face was
back, and this time it softened her a bit.
He had to stop and turn to face her when she stopped
short. She smiled when he stared back at her with his hands
up again. “Bert, buddy, you’re my best friend, and I love
you, but you, my man, are not cool.”
He frowned as he looked her up and down. The minute
Margot had gotten her to commit, she’d had to agree to
stop seeing other women and stop shopping for her own
clothes. The women were a given, but Margot really enjoyed
shopping for her, so the white shirt, dark brown suede
jacket, and comfortable jeans were all thanks to her loving
partner.
The only thing she’d been allowed to keep was the pair of
well-maintained cowboy boots. The footwear was
commented on by her students when she’d sit on the desk
at the front of the class and swing her legs. Margot had told
her they pretty much cemented how cool they thought she
was. Plus, Margot thought they were sexy.
“Doesn’t this school have a dress code?” Bert followed
her into the English department. He straightened his tie and
smoothed down his own slightly wrinkled shirt, oblivious to
the ink stain at the very corner of the front pocket. It clearly
hadn’t prevented him from putting it on that morning,
though, because it didn’t appear fresh. Yet one more reason
for the pen case.
“No shorts,” Viola said with authority as Jaxon dropped
into her chair in her office. “Boy, don’t you know they pay
her to look like that? Dr. Jaxon’s a star, and her looks keep
those kids packing those classrooms. She’s what t
hey call a
cash cow over in the business school. All the girls want her,
and the boys are all praying that they’ll get a glimpse of
Margot.”
“Viola, stop tormenting Bert.” The stack of pink message
slips Viola handed her made her sigh. She tried to put faces
with some of the names, but for once most of them weren’t
from students. If they didn’t leave a reason for calling, she
threw them out.
“Thanks, Jaxon.” Bert stuck his tongue out at Viola.
“That would be my job,” Jaxon finished the joke. “Now,
beautiful one, what’s on my schedule for the rest of the
day?” Today and Thursdays were her long days, and she’d
been in class except for the hour she’d spent at the coffee
shop.
Viola held up her appointment book and opened it like
she was getting ready to read from some holy book. “You
have office hours for the next hour, but don’t worry, I’ve run
off most of the ones who think they’ll be the next Margot
Drake. After that you’re expected downstairs for a faculty
meeting. Once that’s done, Margot will be waiting for you
out front. I’m sure you’ve conveniently forgotten that you’re
having dinner with her and her parents tonight.”
“But…” Damn, she had conveniently forgotten that.
“But nothing, Dr. Jaxon, you’re going, so don’t even try
your shenanigans. You don’t go, and I’m going to get
blamed.” Viola put her hand up and shook her head. “Don’t
give me any bullshit. Every time you don’t do something,
you blame it on me, and the people you lie to believe you
because of those dimples of yours. Margot Drake can be
scary when she wants to be, and I’m not going to be the
first person she runs over with her car.”
“I don’t blame you—I blame work. There’s a difference.”
“Uh-huh. Did you know she’s got the most popular hair in
America?” Viola cocked her head to the side and smiled.
She almost fell over when she leaned her chair back too
far. “What? Is that some sort of trick question?” She
dropped her feet and narrowed her eyes at Viola. “Wait, let
me guess, the rag that pretends to be news strikes again?”
Jaxon was convinced she was the only English professor in
America who had an assistant hooked on tabloid news.
“Don’t knock my favorite publication, Doc. At least
they’re giving her good press, unlike some of her costars.
Did you know that one girl on the show’s got a coke
problem?”
“I didn’t need help from the news toilet bowl to figure
that one out. The fact the woman stumbles through her
lines and is constantly sniffing gives it away. Now back to
this dinner. There’s no chance Margot’s working late tonight,
is there? I love her parents, but I’m not going over there
alone.”
Viola rolled her eyes at nearly the same time Bert rolled
his. Neither of them understood the way Margot’s father
liked to torture her, and no one in their right mind lined up
for torture. She was many things, but masochist wasn’t on
her list.
“If you knew Wilber, you wouldn’t want to go over there
either. That’s who taught Margot all her scary ways, as you
put it.”
“What’s it you people from the south call it? Scaredy-
cat?” Viola laughed when she frowned. “She wrapped up for
the day an hour ago and called. If you’re worried the
general is planning to beat you up, don’t worry. You won’t be
going into the lion’s den without backup. Margot made me
promise to mention she’d be there to protect you as a way
to keep you from running away from home.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better? Send in the
first victim, taskmaster,” Jaxon said to Viola. “As for you,
whiny boy, will it make you feel better if I said I’ll think
about it?”
“It’s not no, and I’m not giving up.” Bert slapped his
hands together, stood, and wiggled his hips in some sort of
happy dance. Either that or he was having some kind of fit.
“I’m so glad you’re so optimistic. It’ll make it easier to
pop your balloon later when I say no.”
“Will that be unequivocally no?” Bert asked and laughed.
“It’ll be no punctuated by me kicking your ass.”
* * *
Margot spread cleanser on her face, more than ready to
shed her television persona. The thought of a few days off
was making her tingle. All she had to do now was talk Jaxon
into having one of her grad assistants take over her classes,
and she would have nirvana. It had been weeks since they’d
had any significant time together. All she wanted was a long
weekend somewhere where there was room service. They
had plenty to talk about, starting with whatever was
bothering Jax. She’d denied it repeatedly, but there was
something rattling around that brilliant mind, and it wasn’t a
good thing.
“Big plans for tonight? If you do, change them.” Britt
Anderson sat in the chair next to hers and dipped his fingers
into the jar she was using. “I have tickets to a new show in
town and decided you’re the lucky girl who gets to go with
me.” He snapped his fingers and winked at her in the mirror.
How any man could pack so much obnoxiousness and so
many clichés into such a short frame was a mystery.
With a disgusted look, she tossed the jar of cleanser in
the trash. Judith sat next to her and put her hand on her
forearm as a way to calm her down before she said
something that’d require intervention from HR. Judith
seemed unable to hold in her laugh at Britt’s never-ending,
always unsuccessful quest to get her to notice him. Maybe
one day he’d come to accept that Jaxon wasn’t just sleeping
over because it was her job to clean the pool.
She’d told him on numerous occasions that she wasn’t
interested because she only dated women. Gossip on set
spread faster than the plague, but there was one item Britt
hadn’t latched on to because he refused to believe it.
His biggest problem was that she’d been the pursuer in
her relationship with Jaxon. Her lover was brilliant, but not
too many people knew she was actually shy. Margot
would’ve grown old waiting for Jaxon to make a move if she
hadn’t taken the initiative. All it had taken was patience and
a slew of sexy underwear.
Jax had lasted about two weeks after her graduation
before saying yes to their first date. She’d never wanted
anyone as much as Jaxon, and she’d been a pest until she’d
given in. At first she’d thought Jax was just appeasing her
while she was busy changing her phone number and taking
out a restraining order. Fortunately, that hadn’t been the
case.
Jaxon had finally agreed to go out, but she’d insisted on
making the arrangements. The picnic on a private stretch of
beach was one of her favorite memori
es, and the most
romantic date she’d been on until then. Jaxon Lavigne was a
Southern gentlewoman who’d swept her off her feet even if
she had been the one who’d technically asked Jax out.
A year and three months had passed since then, and
Jaxon hadn’t had a chance to utter a no yet, and if Margot
had her way, a negative response to the life she wanted
with the professor wouldn’t be coming until death robbed
one of them of breath. She’d argued away every one of
Jaxon’s objections until she’d gotten her first real good night
kiss, followed by more convincing so they could move in
together.
“Britt, go back to your own trailer and leave Margot
alone. You insisted in your contract you had to have one, so
go there and lock yourself in.” Judith crossed her arms to
signal there’d be hell to pay if Britt didn’t get up and move.
He harumphed dramatically and flounced out. The click of
the door closing made her and Judith laugh. If she was
lucky, Britt heard them as he skulked away.
“Cretin.”
“Honey, methinks you’ve been hanging around Jaxon too
long.” Judith plopped down in the seat Britt had been using.
“I think cretin’s a perfectly acceptable term. It is, after
all, used by someone who has a doctorate in English.”
“Uh-huh, and you would explain the use of Jiminy Cricket
as a curse, how?”
Margot laughed, thinking of Jaxon sitting in front of the
television invoking the name of a beloved animated
character to show displeasure at everything from sports
scores to the news. The funniest part was, with Jaxon’s
inflection, it was almost as good as telling someone to fuck
off. “There are two reasons for that.”
“Yes?”
“She’s a little nuts and a lot adorable.”
“With the way she feels about you, I’d have thought
you’d be sporting a big ring by now. Once you say yes, think
how much easier it’ll be to keep fools like Britt at bay.”
Judith laughed at her own joke but stopped when Margot
didn’t join in.
“If you think I’d say no if she offered, you’re more
delusional than Britt. I can never be sure, but I think she
holds back a little because she’s afraid. Of what I don’t know
for sure, and I try not to let it hurt my feelings. Jaxon can
take all the time she wants to figure out what she wants,
because in the end, I know whatever those decisions will be