Package Deal (10 page)

Her mother had
spoken through lips thinned by disapproval
. “Well, I just hope you aren’t so busy
that
you can’t come home for Christmas. You’re going
to be
so far away
…
all the way out there in Washington
state. Don’t they still have Indians?
”

“
Mother, for goodness sakes! I’m not
disappear
ing
i
nto the wilderness.
I’ll let you know about
Christmas
after
I see when my classes are over.”
She
sighed, recalling how m
any times her mother had hinted,
via news about former friends who were
now married and having children,
that Amanda’s life
had
taken a wrong turn. First
,
she got pregnant
—a contraceptive failure she’d never expected—
then she kept the baby, and now she had
obtain
ed an
advanced degree.
Her
mother was convinced she would
never
find a man
interested in being a husband
to her
and a father to Cecelia
.

“
Why
is that, M
other
?
”

“Because men don’t like—and sometimes fear
—smart women.
”

“That’s such an old-fashioned view,”
Amanda pooh-poohed, but on nights when she was parti
cularly
lonely, she wondered if
maybe
her mother was right.
She squared her shoulders.S
he
and Cecelia were a
family.
S
he had no intention of getting close to
a
ny man who wasn’
t comfortable with a child in the picture.

N
ow
, only two months into her first academic appointment,
she had met
Marcus. Her heart rose in her throat. Was he worth
her interest
or was he just checking out the new blood on campus
like some of the other faculty members
, as JJ had inferred in an offhand comment
during
a
recent
meeting
? Amanda
had
asked
—casually, she thought—
about
the marital status of other fa
cult
y members
.

“
Most of
us
are married
, Amanda
. A
few, li
ke me, are confirmed
singles
.
Did you come here to find a husband?” The dark eyes of the senior professor bored into her.

“No, not at all. I was just wondering. I—I met some of the n
ew people—at the d
ean’
s gathering.”

“I’ll bet one of the
others—not so new—
was Marc Dunbar
.”

She nodded
and smiled, her cheeks heating in spite of herself
.

“Now
that one
’s an up-and-
comer. H
ad a six month sabbatic
al last year. If I were younger,
”
the woman
chuckl
ed,
“I’d
want
to get to know him.”

Amanda hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Why is that?”

“He’s go
t a body I could go for
,
and
brains
, too
.
I like
the way he thinks and
his sense of humor—what I’ve seen of it at general faculty meetings.”
JJ
twirled a pen in her ha
nd. “Has he interviewed you yet
for that seri
es he does
for
T
he
Bay View
?”

Amanda
n
odded. “He asked good questions,
right on point.”
Except that
he got more personal, too.

“Well, he’s one I hope sticks around. I think he’
s got
a great future. And I hear he’
s working on a book
I’ve already decided
I
want to read. I remember
my folks
hanging on
those dispatches Ernie Pyle wrote during World War
II
.”

Amanda smiled. “He told me about it.”

JJ rose from her chair. “I hope you like
it
here, Amanda. I’m tickl
ed I’m no longer
the only woman in our department.
It’s about time Greg looked for candidates in skirts.
” She patted the gray-streaked bun at the back of her neck. “Next time you see Marcus, tell him hello
for
me, will you?”

A
knock sound
e
d
at
Amanda’s
office
door
, interrupting her reverie
.

“Com
e
in.”
She
smil
e
d
at th
e
student
who stood at the door.
The
orange and green streaks in her hair
reminded Amanda of Halloween.

“Dr. Gardn
e
r,
may
I ask you a qu
e
stion?”

“Of cours
e
, Kate
lyn. Com
e
in.” Amanda point
e
d
to th
e
e
xtra chair
near
th
e
d
e
sk.

For
twenty
minut
e
s, sh
e
w
e
nt ov
e
r th
e
assignm
e
nt r
e
garding
the poetry they had been studying
. Thr
ee
stud
e
nt qu
e
ri
e
s lat
e
r, sh
e
vacat
e
d
th
e
offic
e
for
Carl
ton
, who was
pac
ing impati
e
ntly in th
e
hallway outside
Amanda’s office door
.

Saturday
evening
,
Marcus
arrived
shortly before
seven
. C
e
c
e
lia op
e
n
e
d
th
e
door and apprais
e
d
him
silently
.

“H
e
llo.
Remember me? I’m
Marc
.” H
e
put out
his hand to
shake
her
s
as she
stood in th
e
doorway.

“I know who you ar
e
.
Professor
Dunbar.
” Sh
e
r
e
main
e
d
wh
e
r
e
sh
e
was
and
continu
e
d
to
study
him
. H
is crook
e
d
smil
e
s
ee
m
e
d
fri
e
ndly
e
nough
and sh
e
lik
e
d
how h
e
look
e
d
. He couldn’t

s
eem to make
his hair l
ie
down neatly. Her hair was like that
, too
, even when she wore pigtails
.
She reme
mbered what her mother had said
about being polite.
After putting her small hand in his large one, she
replied,
“Y
ou may com
e
in,
”
and
moved aside as he entered
.
Cecelia’s
pig
tail
s
tapped her neck
as
she
trotted
up th
e
n
e
arby stairs
and into her mother’s room
. “Mom!
Professor
Dunbar is h
e
r
e
.”

“C
e
c
e
, it isn’t polit
e
to l
e
av
e
a gu
e
st alon
e
. Why don’t you go
back
downstairs and talk to him?
I’m just about r
e
ady.”

“
He got a haircut, and he’
s handsome
.
I forgot to tell you that when he took us for that ride
where we jumped on the dock
.
Is that why you
said you would
go out with him?” C
e
c
e
jump
e
d
on th
e
b
e
d
and
bounc
e
d several times
b
e
for
e
settling near the pillows
.

“I’m going out with him b
e
caus
e
h
e
ask
e
d
m
e
.”
Her mother
turn
e
d
to g
e
t h
e
r coat out of th
e
clos
e
t.

“H
e
has nic
e
e
y
e
s—blu
e
, lik
e
min
e
.”

“Y
e
s, h
e
do
e
s.”

“Do
e
s h
e
look lik
e
my dad?”

“C
e
c
e
. Will you pl
e
as
e
go downstairs so I can g
e
t r
e
ady?”
Her mother
chang
e
d
h
e
r
e
arrings
again
as Cecelia bounced on the bed
.

“W
e
ll, do
e
s h
e
?”

“Do
e
s h
e
what?”

“Look lik
e
my dad.”