Page 17 of Here in My Heart (Here Together #2)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“No one gets banned from the library, Madison.” Sylvie quickened her pace down the long corridor, eager to escape the clutches of the American student.

“But, ma’am, they said I had a three month ban because I hadn’t returned a weeklong loan. I mean, how was I supposed to know it was a short loan? The whole thing was written in French.”

Sylvie stifled a groan. “You’re here studying in France, my dear. A prerequisite is a working knowledge of French.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s so much harder here. There are just so many more words. Back home, I understand French.”

Sylvie turned on her heel, intrigued. “Who taught you French?”

“Mr. Clarkson.”

“Et voilà, ma chérie. You’ve learned French from a non-native, what do you expect?

” Sylvie held a stack of textbooks to her chest. “No one is going to slow down for you just because you’re American.

” She entered her office, assuming the young student would take the hint and rejoin her friends, but her footsteps followed her all the way to the desk.

“Ma’am, I really need to complete that assignment for next week, and I can’t get it done without my library access.”

Sylvie found a space on her cluttered desk for the heavy pile of books and collapsed into her chair.

She was lurching from one problem to another, troubleshooting for everyone else except herself.

This particular drama was Ade’s to solve, but she’d been off campus since their boat trip on Monday. “Why isn’t Ade helping you with this?”

“I tried to message her, but Scott said she has a lab shift today, and she’ll have her phone on silent, so she doesn’t disturb the animals.”

Sylvie nodded. Always putting the animals first.

“Could you like, put a call in to someone, or write me a pass?” Madison flicked her long blond hair away from her shoulder, as if she had better things to do than hang out in Sylvie’s office begging for access to the library.

“Trust me, Madison, I have more pressing items on my list today.” She bit her cheek.

But the quickest way to get rid of this particular nuisance was simply to deal with it, so she fired off an email to the head of libraries and printed Madison a copy.

“Take this to the front desk. Tell them I have given you special dispensation. But no repeat offences. Do you understand?”

“Absolutely. Thank you, I really am so grateful.” Madison stuffed the paper in her bag and ran for the door.

“And hit that deadline.”

“Will do.”

Sylvie took a long breath. She had a mountain of work to do before the day was out. There was a disturbance outside her classroom, and Madison called out another apology.

“Knock, knock. May I come in?” Paul came in without waiting for an invitation. “I didn’t realize you had student hours today?”

“I don’t. That’s one of the internationals with another rescue mission.”

Paul frowned. How could he understand? He was so far away from the day-to-day running of the faculty, he had no idea about the reality of juggling a teaching post with the demands of academia.

He also hardly ever came looking for her.

If she wanted to talk about something, usually the prospect of her unlikely promotion, she had to hunt him down. “What’s going on, stranger?”

“Well, I’m glad you brought it up.” Paul nodded.

“I didn’t,” she said.

He chuckled at the joke she hadn’t made. “Come on, Sylvie. You’ve been a little aloof with me since the start of the year.” He pulled a chair to her desk and sat. “I had a call from your editor on Monday. She’s been trying to get hold of you.”

Sylvie stiffened in her seat, her mind racing with the reasons she’d been avoiding this conversation with both Paul and her editor. “Yeah, Monday took an unexpected turn.”

“Of what kind?”

She didn’t want to drop Ade in it. But Paul’s stern look wasn’t going to soften anytime soon without a decent reason. “If you must know, I was called to supervise the California group with a marine expedition.”

Paul laced his fingers together, resting his elbows on the desk. “Let me just get this straight. My up-and-coming professor of European Feminism missed a career-defining deadline to go on a sea safari?”

Sylvie laughed, despite the growing tension between them.

“Number one, it was all work and no play, I promise. Second, I had to attend otherwise they’d have been short for their ratios, and it would’ve been called off.

And third, Paul, you insisted I supervise this group, so it’s down to you if I have to juggle this role and the book.

” She sat back, bubbling with her defense.

“Another thing: that deadline wasn’t ‘career-defining.’ I don’t get the sense that anything I could do would propel me anywhere other than sideways at the moment.

I’m like a pinball in a rigged machine.”

Paul regarded her, his bushy eyebrows coming together in a wistful judgment. “You’re wrong. You’re on the rise, Professor Boucher. But only if you keep going, and you’re the only driver in your car.”

“Your complicated analogies aren’t helpful.” She folded her arms. She needed more support than this from her own manager. “What do you want me to do? I have a full timetable, a bunch of teenagers with a calamitous pastoral supervisor, and a book to edit. Something’s got to give.”

“We all have to make dynamic choices. Particularly in leadership roles. ”

“You think the stuffy old guard are making dynamic choices? They’re topping up their gold-plated pensions while rereading dusty philosophy and sipping cognac.

” She rose from her chair, energy pulsing through her calves.

“I’m doing more than my fair share in this department.

I’m probably doing more hours than they’re all doing put together.

It’s a shame they don’t clock in and out, otherwise you’d see for yourself. ”

Paul’s lips twitched in a grin.

“You find this funny?” Rage churned in the acid of her stomach.

“Calm down, Sylvie. You’re right. But the old guys are on their way out of this place.

You’re on your way in and up. All the way to the top if you’re able to focus.

” He crossed his legs casually, as if the strain of their conversation had no effect on him whatsoever.

“I want to help you. What do you need to make this work?”

Sylvie looked to the ceiling tiles for answers.

As if there’d be a list of helpful things she could ask her boss for pasted up there.

“I’d like to reduce my teaching timetable.

Slightly.” She couldn’t push it too far.

“Then I can dedicate some regular hours to edits and fulfill the leadership task you set me in September.”

“Wonderful. I’ll talk to Elaine and see what we can do to cover your hours. Shall we say three hours a week?”

Sylvie blinked, surprised by how easy it had been to secure Paul’s support. “I could probably make that work.”

“Very good. Have a good rest of the day.” And he was gone.

Sylvie sank back into her chair. Freeing up her time was one thing, but she had to get the head space to make this work. She’d given her book no time at all since the start of term, since Ade had turned up with her gaggle of students.

By the end of the day, Sylvie dragged her tired, aching bones home.

In the dusky commute, she wandered across Place Jean Jaurès as the street lamps glowed orange in the falling light.

At the far end of the square, she noticed a familiar silhouette, headphones in, hunched over a book, lost in her own world, and blocking out the overwhelm of the city’s sounds and sights .

Sylvie approached the front of the table and waved, so she didn’t startle Ade.

“Hi.” Ade pulled on her ear buds, her face lighting up when she recognized Sylvie.

“Hey, you. Don’t you have a home to go to?”

Ade’s smile faltered. “I’ll get there eventually. I just wanted a warm drink.” She gestured to the empty chair beside her. “Will you join me?”

Home beckoned Sylvie. But the fatigue that had weighed so heavily on her shoulders as she walked up to the square had lessened. “Why not? It’s Wednesday. We’ve made it through half the week.” She raised her hand to the waiter and ordered a glass of wine. “You got me into some trouble earlier.”

Ade’s eyes widened in shock. “Me? Why?”

Sylvie grinned. “Nothing to be worried about. I’m just teasing.

I had a visit from my boss asking me how I’d been spending my time recently.

I had to confess to being a little distracted.

” There it was. That flutter in the pit of her stomach whenever she spent time with Ade, such an enigma of a person.

“You look different today,” she said, looking at Ade’s asymmetrical jacket, a much more feminine look than Sylvie had ever seen her in before.

“Do I?” Ade looked down at herself.

“You do.” Sylvie stayed in the pool of Ade’s gaze for a moment longer, unwilling to tear herself away.

“What did you mean about being distracted?” Ade asked.

Sylvie blinked slowly, not yet willing to admit to the depth of disruption that Ade was causing to her usual focus. “I had to cancel a few plans on Monday to take the boat out with you.”

“Right.” Ade nodded, guilt written on her face.

“Paul was fine with it.” Sylvie waved away any further awkwardness. “He was worried about me not meeting book deadlines. But to be honest, it all worked in my favor. Now I have some free periods from next week to get my head down.”

Ade mirrored her relief. “That sounds like a decent outcome. ”

“How was your day?” Sylvie asked, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for them to download their days to one another. It was as if their friendship wasn’t in its infancy, and their souls had known each other far longer than each of them was able to articulate.

“One of the best. Checklists at the marine center. And I almost had the place to myself.” Ade’s eyes shone with satisfaction. “Greg turned up right at the end, but he’s no trouble.”

“Sounds pretty perfect.” Sylvie raised her glass. “Here’s to making it to Wednesday.”

The mid-week hump didn’t seem like such a hill with Ade sitting by her side. Her company buoyed Sylvie’s mood, and a contentment settled somewhere inside her stomach.

It was a strange situation in which to find herself, developing a connection with the American PhD student. But she couldn’t deny the strength of it. She’d been drawn across the square by a magnetic desire to hear Ade’s voice, to observe her static movement, and sit with Ade in her repose.

The force of Sylvie’s feelings scared her, but she couldn’t do anything about it except dwell in it and watch the evening pass by. She turned the key in her mind to lock away the doubt and rested in the contentment she’d found with Ade. Her worries would keep for another day.