Tenure Track (39 page)

After speaking individually with both Mandy and Lewis, it was clear that they had left many things unsaid during their break-up. What surprised Phyllis a little was the depth of their lingering pain, since the romantic relationship had only lasted three months. Both parties struck her as reasonable, mature people. Their reasons for ending the relationship had been sensible and understood by both, albeit carried out in an unsatisfactory manner. In her talks with Mandy, Phyllis the mediator understood that the student had suggested mediation as the best way to end Katherine’s vendetta and salvage Lewis’s career. Phyllis the family counselor sensed that Mandy needed this meeting for personal healing as well. If mediation accomplished that, then Katherine’s goal of helping her daughter might just be achieved.

Mandy came in first, dressed in a casual but demure violet dress that had taken three shopping trips to find. Then Lewis arrived, dressed in his usual khaki slacks and tweed jacket. He shook Phyllis’s hand and took his seat without looking directly at Mandy, who, in contrast, was eyeing him closely. It took a moment for her to realize that he was wearing the exact same blue denim shirt that he wore the night they first made love. “Nice shirt,” she said, breaking the ice.

For the first time in months, he looked her way and they smiled at one another. The mediator could tell that some hidden message was passing between the two, but could not comprehend its meaning. Phyllis called the meeting to order, laying out the ground rules for both of them in her smooth counselor voice that reminded Lewis of a GPS navigator. She asked Mandy to begin by explaining her unresolved issues.

“
Unresolved,” Mandy repeated slowly, as Lewis braced himself for the worst. Surprisingly, she began by looking at Phyllis. “First, for the record, Dr. Burns and I did not have a sexual relationship when I was actively enrolled as a student at this university. At no time during the course of my working for him did he engage in any behavior that I would consider sexual harassment. To the best of my recollection, at no time did he serve me alcohol. Any relationship that we may have had was within the bounds of the rules set forth by this university. So I have no complaint against him and wish the university administrators would let the whole thing drop.”

“
Duly noted,” Phyllis replied, taking notes.

Lewis breathed a sigh of relief. Then Mandy looked back at him. “Look me in the eyes, Lewis,” she ordered. He grudgingly complied.

“
Okay,” she began, clearing her throat. “Lewis, I’m sorry you’re in trouble over this thing. I never meant for that to happen. That was Momma’s idea, totally. She hates you, by the way, but then again, you know she’s kinda that way with all men. Daddy’d like to hurt you too, but then he’d have to work through his twelve steps again, so I told him not to.” Lewis laughed slightly, feeling more at ease over the trajectory of the conversation.

“
I’m also sorry about the Web stuff.”

“
I’m sure I know who’s responsible for that,” he replied sarcastically.

Mandy’s tone grew dark. “Uh-uh. Don’t go dissin’ my friends.
I’m
responsible for my own actions. It was my picture and I’m the one who posted it.”

Sensing the rising anger in her voice, Phyllis interjected. “Mandy, take a breath. Lewis, please don’t interject until she’s done. Then it will be your turn.”

He apologized for breaking the ground rules, quickly regretting his words. Mandy cleared her throat and continued, looking at Phyllis. “For the record, Lewis didn’t even know about that photo, so he never had any intention of bringing discredit to the university.” She turned back to him. “The Web thing happened ‘cause I was hurt and pissed off by the way things ended. Mostly by the way you just shut me out. Dude, you broke up with me by text message! Who does that? I mean, come on!”

His eyes broke away from her gaze. “Look at me!” she demanded, forcing his eyes back on her. “I thought I meant more to you than that. You just cut me off. No phone calls, no talk. The one time I tried to talk to you, you slammed the door in my face! I mean, if nothing else, I thought we were friends. Last year we could talk about anything. If you thought we shouldn’t see each other anymore, we could’ve talked about it. I
loved
you, Lewis! Even if we couldn’t date I would’ve liked the chance to be friends, but you couldn’t handle that. You think just cuttin’ yourself off from somebody ends it. I don’t understand that.”

Phyllis allowed a moment’s pause, unsure if the young woman had more to say. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell Lewis?” she asked.

“
Yes,” Mandy said, staring deeply into his eyes. “I forgive you. Daddy says ya can’t let go of past pain unless you’re willin’ to forgive the person who hurt you, even if they don’t ask for it. I think he’s right. So, I forgive you. For hurtin’ me. For not bein’ a good friend.” Her voice was starting to break a little.

“
What would you like from Lewis now?” the mediator asked.

“
I wish. . . . I wish we could still be friends,” she said slowly. “Even if we can’t date. I wish that we could talk to each another again. I miss that.”

“
Is that all?” Phyllis asked, to which Mandy nodded, never taking her eyes off her former lover. “Lewis?”

He was still trying to recover from Mandy’s expression of forgiveness before he could recall what he had planned to say. He took a deep breath and met her moist gaze. “I’m sorry, too. You were a great assistant. By the way, the book has been accepted for publication and you’ll be acknowledged in the forward.” She smiled in gratitude for this gesture. “And I’m sorry I hurt you. I guess I’m not good with closure. A bad breaker-upper. But I want you to know that I meant everything I ever said to you last year.”

Knowing that he could not look her in the eyes and recite the rest of his speech, he now focused his gaze slightly beyond her head, at a light fixture mounted on the wall. “But, the reality is that I was going through a really rough time last year. I leaned too heavily on your friendship and let things get out of control. Rules are rules. We can’t see each other, and I don’t think we can really be friends at this point. I—we—need a clean break.” He tried to avoid the tear now flowing down Mandy’s cheek. “However, I don’t want us to hate each other. So, if we should pass each other on campus, I guess we can say ‘hi.’”

He had little else to add. Phyllis asked Mandy if those terms were acceptable to her, to which she just shrugged and whispered, “I guess.” Phyllis did most of the rest of the talking. As she spoke, a few times Lewis and Mandy locked eyes again. The counselor could now easily interpret their eye-snogging exchange. Had these two been in therapy, she would have advised them to deal with their lingering emotions more directly. As it was, she was in mediator mode, there to resolve the immediate conflict at hand, not the personal root causes of the dysfunction. If they chose to live their lives through unfulfilled glances, so be it.

The meeting ended with Mandy and Lewis shaking hands, trying to avoid any lustful orbital exchanges.
It’s a shame,
Phyllis thought as she headed across campus. She would write up her notes for a formal report, but as a courtesy, decided to drop by Jane’s office to let the person who had hired her know of the outcome.

Jane was anxiously awaiting the results of the meeting. Gary had called her three more times to see if she had heard anything, even though his office was closer to the room and he could just have looked. She was surprised when Phyllis appeared in her doorway, boldly bypassing Isobel.

“
I just wanted to give you a quick rundown,” the mediator told the Chair, getting right down to business. “It went well. She’s dropping the complaint. Denies any wrongdoing on his part. They both apologized. I think it went a long way towards healing some hurt feelings.”

Jane breathed a sigh of relief.
Perhaps everything really was over.

Phyllis shared another purpose in dropping by. “Since you hired me, can I be blunt?” Jane nodded. “I understand why the university instituted this No Fraternization Policy, but as a therapist, I think it has the potential to do as much harm as good.”

“
How so?” Jane asked.

Phyllis continued. “First let me explain. My job as a mediator is to facilitate the end of a conflict, which I think we succeeded in doing. As a therapist, however, I sometimes see things that go beyond the immediate dispute. What I’ve seen with this case is that two adults fell in love, they’re still in love, and are being forced to give up that relationship because it might harm one’s career. If these two were in therapy, I’d work on trying to get them to decide if the job was worth sacrificing the relationship. As a mediator, I can’t do that, but what I can do is advise this university that it may want to rethink the wisdom of this policy. I think it could have the potential to drive away good people who choose personal happiness over career advancement.”

Jane nodded, noting, “Dr. Burns has chosen his career.”

“
Apparently so,” Phyllis agreed.

“
Well, just put your views in the report and we’ll take it under advisement.” Phyllis could tell she was talking to a brick wall. Jane believed that career success required personal sacrifice. In her mind, the new rule had the positive effect of weeding out scholars who were not dedicated enough to the university.

Sensing their different philosophies on the subject, Phyllis turned and started to leave, only to be surprisingly called back as she retreated out the doorway. “I understand you still practice family therapy,” Jane said, which Phyllis confirmed. “Do you work much with teenagers?”

“
Of course,” Phyllis replied, adding that they formed her largest client base.

“
Well,” Jane admitted reluctantly, “my husband and I have been having some issues with our daughter. I was wondering if you might be willing to talk to her, as a counselor.”

Chapter 20

Summer Love

The Sunday after their first night together, Mandy left to visit her parents for a week. After two days with each progenitor, she impulsively decided to spend some time alone at the farm, calling Lewis on her way to invite him and Clint along. She knew she risked the hired help revealing the presence of her guest, so she preempted the leak by mentioning to Rick that she might have a male friend visit. Well versed in the ways of heading off scandal, her stepfather was discreet enough not to ask questions. She knew he would find a diplomatic way to inform Katherine without revealing anything important.

Lewis raced to get to the farm as soon as he could. Mandy met him in the driveway of the ranch house, throwing her arms around him as soon as he stepped out of the car.

She gave him a tour of the house, including her bedroom, still decorated as if inhabited by a 12 year-old, with a canopy bed covered in stuffed animals. Mandy confessed that she had never had the opportunity to bring a boy into the room. As their playful tickling turned into kissing on the frilly bed, Lewis started to feel strangely uncomfortable. Sensing his hesitancy, she asked if something was wrong. “For some reason this room makes me feel like a pedophile,” he confessed.

“
Just imagine you’re a horny 14 year-old instead,” she advised.

They kissed for the longest time. He had forgotten what it was like to just make-out without having sex. They finally fell asleep in each other’s arms, disheveled but fully clothed. As they lay napping, Lewis awoke to the familiar sounds of a snoring Clint, who had slipped into the room and was sleeping loudly on the end of the bed. Lewis had gotten used to his dog’s rhythmic noise, but feared Mandy might find it less than romantic. He had made a point of keeping Clint outside during their previous date. He started to rise up and shoo the dog away when Mandy, still with eyes closed, told him to leave the poor mutt alone. “Sorry. I hope his snoring doesn’t bother you,” Lewis said.

“
I like it,” she replied, still not opening her eyes. ‘Reminds me of my Mammaw.”

“
You mean your Pappaw,” he corrected.

“
No, I meant Mammaw,” she clarified, smiling to herself at the memory of the beloved old woman’s turbulent nocturnal thunder. As if on cue, Clint momentarily rose from his slumber to yawn loudly and shake his head before collapsing back into place and resuming his noisy slumber.

They spent the rest of the week enjoying the countryside, taking long walks with Clint, making love under the stars and generally just basking in the joy of being together. Lewis liked looking around the ranch-style house, which gave off a very retro vibe. Mandy explained that she wanted to leave the house decorated much as it had been when her grandparents lived there.

Lewis noticed that there were several old photographs around the house of Mandy’s grandparents, herself as a child, her parents and friends, but none of her stepfather. She explained that there was a closet of portraits that came out whenever her mother and stepfather entertained, but when Mandy was there, she preferred for the home to be
her
home, filled with memories of her
real
family.

There was another reason for hiding the photos. Mandy had told him that she was going to be working at the capitol over the summer, but had said very little about what her job would actually be. One morning, while looking for something to write with, Lewis searched through a desk in the kitchen until he came across several leftover pencils from a political campaign, each embossed with the slogan: “Re-elect Rick Benedict—Keep the Capitol Running Right.” Suddenly he flashed to the photograph in Mandy’s bedroom of the familiar-looking man with the perfect silver hair. Now sober, Lewis finally connected the dots. Rick Benedict—majority leader of the state senate
and
Mandy’s stepfather, the one “into politics” as she so casually described. He was not sure which was more embarrassing—that he had not connected the dots or that he paid so little attention to state politics that he could not recognize one of the most powerful men in the legislature, drunk or sober.