Allison drove him to the airport in Burlington. Before he exited the car, she gave him a small gift bag.
“It’s just some chocolate chip cookies I made. There might even be a book in there.”
Paul thanked her with a smile.
“What’s the book?”
“Sense and Sensibility.”
He looked at her quizzically. “Why are you giving me that?”
“I thought you might find it meaningful.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I think.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too. Come here.”
He tugged her into a warm embrace.
By way of response, she pulled back slightly before pressing a gentle but insistent kiss to his lips. She was surprised but elated when he didn’t recoil but rather deepened their connection.
“I’ll be home soon,” he managed, when they finally pulled themselves apart.
She answered him with a hopeful grin, waving until he disappeared into the terminal.
Chapter Seventy-one
January 10, 2012
New York, New York
Christa Peterson breezed into the Department of Italian at Columbia University. She’d enjoyed a very pleasant winter break at her parents’ home in Toronto and had even met someone with whom she’d enjoyed a brief affair. Now she was eager to resume her studies and continue her journey toward becoming a Dante specialist.
With interest, she emptied her pigeonhole of all its mail, sitting on a chair nearby in order to peruse it. Much of the mail was junk, with the exception of a single typewritten announcement. Christa scanned it quickly.
The announcement listed the names of three senior Dante specialists who would be visiting the department over the course of the next two weeks, as candidates for the vacant professorship. Christa read the names twice before relaxing in her chair.
She smiled. But not because of the names listed.
No, she smiled because a particular name had not been listed. It would seem that her plan to revenge herself on Professor Giuseppe Pacciani was already bearing fruit.
With that delightful thought in mind, she pocketed the announcement, threw the junk mail into the wastepaper basket, and was preparing to exit the department when Professor Barini stopped her.
“Miss Peterson, I need to speak to you.”
“Of course.” Christa obediently followed the professor into her office.
Professor Barini left the door ajar before sitting behind her desk.
“I’d like to thank you for taking my advice about Professor Pacciani. I noticed that he didn’t make the short list.” Christa made no attempt to hide her exultation.
Lucia ignored the comment and retrieved a file, quickly leafing through its contents. Then she looked at Christa over the rims of her glasses. “You’ve run into a problem.”
“A problem? What kind of problem?”
“You’re supposed to choose three professors to sit on your oral examination committee, but I’ve been notified by the faculty that no one is willing to do so.”
“What?” Christa’s dark eyes grew wide.
“This has never happened before. As the chair, I cannot compel a faculty member to serve on your committee. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. Their lack of willingness to participate indicates that they don’t think you’ll perform to their satisfaction.”
Christa couldn’t quite believe her ears. It was unthinkable that every faculty member in the department would refuse to work with her. No one had given her even the slightest indication of that kind of antipathy.
(At least, to her face.)
“What does that mean?”
Lucia sighed. “It means that, unfortunately, we will be granting you a terminal MA as of May and that you will need to apply elsewhere to pursue your studies.”
“You can’t do that!”
Lucia closed Christa’s file with a snap of her wrist. “There are regulations about a student’s satisfactory performance in the M.Phil program. According to the faculty, you are not performing satisfactory work.”
“But, but, this is outrageous!” Christa sputtered. “I’ve completed all my assignments. I’ve been getting decent grades. No one has offered me any critical feedback. You can’t simply push me out of the program on a whim!”
“We don’t have whims here at Columbia, Miss Peterson. We have standards. While it’s true you’ve been passing your seminars, you still have to take the oral exam. As I mentioned, no one is willing to serve on your testing committee. That means you won’t be able to complete the program.”
Christa gazed around the room helplessly, trying to figure a way out of her predicament.
“Let me talk to them. I’ll go see the professors on my own and plead my case.”
Lucia shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. At this point, they’ve added a letter to your permanent file. If you go to them after the fact, they’ll view it as harassment.”
Christa scowled at the implication.
“That’s ridiculous. I’m not going to harass them.”
Lucia gave her a long look. “Be that as it may, I can’t let you speak to them.”