Page 19 of Learning Curves

“This trail is no joke,” Mercy huffed, sweat glistening on her brow despite the cool afternoon.

It was the first weekend in October, and Audrey was on a foliage hike with Mercy, Colin, and a few other professors from the finance department.

According to the locals, this was basically peak foliage time.

Audrey was comfortable in a light flannel over her T-shirt and eager to get some amazing pictures for her Instagram.

Her family was constantly asking for more photos of Vermont.

But the trail was harder than Audrey had anticipated. She was already out of breath, and they weren’t even halfway to the scenic overlook yet. “No kidding. I’m dying here.”

“Water break?” Colin called from where he and the other men were walking a few yards ahead, and Mercy and Audrey nodded in agreement.

They paused by the side of the trail to gulp water from the bottles in their backpacks.

Then Mercy poured some water into the portable bowl she’d brought for Maple.

The dog’s fluffy golden coat went perfectly with the foliage.

This hike was only a mile in each direction, which had sounded easy enough, but Audrey had forgotten to factor in the elevation.

“I’ve been here three years, and the hills still get me,” Mercy said between drinks of water.

“I barely remember it from when I was here as an undergrad. I guess I was too young to feel it. We’re invincible at that age, aren’t we?”

Mercy grunted as they started walking again. “Speak for yourself. I’m not sure I could have hiked this trail without feeling the burn even in college.”

Audrey laughed breathlessly. “I used to work out a lot more than I do now. Maybe it’s time to step up my game and get back in shape.”

“These mountains are the way to do it.”

“Weekends spent sitting at the pottery wheel certainly aren’t doing my body any favors,” Audrey mused.

“Or at my easel,” Mercy commented.

“Well, if you want to start walking together or whatever, I’m game.”

“I’d like that,” Mercy said. “It’s nice having another younger professor in the department.”

“It really is,” Audrey agreed. “And it’s nice to have a friend here in Vermont.”

“Speaking of friends, you and Michelle look pretty chummy lately.” Mercy gave her a curious look. “Quite a turnaround from how things were when you first got here.”

“Yeah, we’re getting along much better these days,” Audrey said, ignoring the ping in her stomach at the mention of Michelle’s name.

Lately she couldn’t seem to stop fantasizing about kissing her, which was really inconvenient.

“I basically decided we were going to be friends no matter what, and I didn’t let up until I made it happen. ”

Mercy chuckled as she pushed a tree branch aside so it didn’t slap their faces. “Well, kudos to you. She’s a hard nut to crack, or so it seems.”

“Not that hard.” Audrey pressed her lips together. It was difficult to talk about Michelle without sounding as smitten as she felt. “I’m still not sure why she’s so different now than she used to be, but I want to find out.”

“I hope she’s worth the effort.”

“Me too.” Audrey sighed, and it sounded more wistful than she’d intended.

Mercy gave her another look. “Hang on. Am I missing something here? Is this about more than friendship?”

“What?” Audrey crouched to untangle herself from Maple’s leash, purposefully playing dumb, although she doubted Mercy would let her get away with it. Maple licked her cheek while Audrey was at her level, and she ruffled her fluffy head.

“You like women. She likes women,” Mercy said. “Suddenly you’re spending time together and looking all starry-eyed every time her name comes up.”

Audrey stood, shaking her head. “I’m not going there with her ... or anyone else in the department. This is my trial year to see if the university will want to keep me here long term. I have to be on my best behavior.”

“Smart thinking. Intradepartmental relationships aren’t forbidden, but it probably wouldn’t make a good impression on Stuart before you’ve got tenure.”

“Exactly ... oh wow.” Audrey nearly tripped over her own feet as she took in the view in front of her.

The trail cut sharply to the right, leading to an area that looked out over a valley with a river running along the bottom.

The treetops were a tapestry of fall colors, yellow and gold, orange and red.

Some of the leaves were so dark, they almost looked purple. Those were Audrey’s favorite.

“It’s beautiful,” Mercy said, sounding similarly awed.

They both pulled out their cell phones to take pictures, then posed for selfies together before joining the rest of the group for more photos. As they turned to head back down the path toward their cars a few minutes later, Mercy gave Audrey a sly look.

“You know, when I asked if you had a thing for Michelle, you made a big deal about what a bad idea it would be to date a coworker, but you never actually denied having feelings for her.”

Audrey opened her mouth, then closed it again. Busted.

Michelle ducked into the classroom, taking a seat in the last row.

The lecture was already well underway, so she’d hoped to be discreet, but it was a small room, and as a result, Audrey looked right at her and smiled as Michelle settled into her seat.

She nodded in response, not wanting to draw more attention to herself than necessary.

This was something she’d been working up the courage to do since the beginning of the semester.

She’d been morbidly curious about Audrey’s Women in Art class since she’d first learned about it, but when Audrey mentioned that she’d be teaching Artemisia Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders this afternoon, Michelle couldn’t keep herself away.

“What’s your gut reaction when you see this painting?

” Audrey asked, gesturing to the projector beside her.

Her words appeared on the screen as a caption beneath the painting.

Michelle had heard about the new transcription software Audrey was using but hadn’t tried it herself yet.

She made a mental note to ask her about it later.

“Fear,” a student called out in answer to her question.

Audrey nodded. “Safe to say Susanna is feeling fear in this moment.” In the painting displayed on the screen, a nude young woman cowered with her hands up defensively in front of herself as two older men reached toward her with lecherous expressions.

The men had disturbed her while she was bathing in the privacy of her garden.

Michelle had always found Susanna’s distress to be palpable.

The overall effect of the painting was starkly raw and emotional in a way not many works from that time period were.

Susanna appeared so vulnerable with her exposed breasts as the two men leered at her over the wall that was meant to shelter her.

They reached down as if to grab her hair . .. or worse.

“I think Susanna is the focus of the painting instead of the men,” another student said. “We’re seeing it from her perspective.”

Audrey smiled at her. “That’s exactly right, Ji-Yoon.

Unlike the more well-known paintings from the baroque period—which were largely painted by men— Susanna and the Elders shows the scene from the woman’s perspective, and that’s an important distinction.

Most of us probably feel uncomfortable when we look at this painting, and that’s because we’re feeling Susanna’s fear and discomfort. ”

“It’s powerful,” Ji-Yoon said.

“It is,” Audrey agreed. “Gentileschi painted Susanna when she was just seventeen years old, younger than any of you.” Audrey gave her class a meaningful look, and murmurs of surprise went around the room. “So don’t let me hear any of you say you’re too young to do great things, got it?”

More murmurings. The students, mostly young women, were smiling now, their expressions filled with the kind of energy and enthusiasm Michelle remembered seeing on her own students’ faces once upon a time. She’d almost forgotten what it looked like.

“In 1611, just a year after she painted Susanna , Gentileschi was raped by an acquaintance of her father. She was later subjected to a long and traumatic trial, where she was forced to testify that her rapist had disgraced her family by refusing to marry her afterward. I can only imagine what she went through during that time, and it certainly informed her future paintings.”

Audrey clicked to the next slide, showing one of Gentileschi’s more popular works.

She reminded Michelle of herself when she first started teaching, all that youthful energy and enthusiasm.

Watching her now, Michelle felt an odd mixture of pride and jealousy.

Audrey was flourishing while the opposite was true for Michelle.

She’d always wanted to teach Susanna to a room full of captivated students. Michelle’s chest ached, and her stomach felt heavy as she watched Audrey up there, living Michelle’s dream. She shouldn’t have come here. The wound was still too fresh.

Michelle stood and slipped quietly from the room.

Briefcase in hand, she walked downstairs to the lecture hall where she taught Art of the Renaissance.

If she had a favorite class, this was it.

The students were largely art majors, so they cared about the subject matter far more than the students in her introductory art history class.

Today, though, her heart wasn’t in it. She felt gutted to think of Audrey upstairs, taking her students through Artemisia Gentileschi’s fascinating life while Michelle taught about Leonardo da Vinci. By the time the class ended, she was more than ready to hide in her office with a good cup of tea.