Choosing Cleo: When A Sci-Fi Alien Falls For A Woman Of Science by Ava Paris & Ava Paris

Author:Ava Paris & Ava Paris [Paris, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2021-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“You should stay.” I half-slurred to William on the last night of the conference.

“Should I?” He asked me.

“Yes, you should get a job at my university. You would be such an asset.” I told him.

“Hm, have you run this by the university themselves?” He asked, his eyebrow raised.

A cheeky little smile crept across my face. “I don’t have to. I know!”

Just then one of the other scientists - a woman who I had met on a ‘Women in Science’ panel we had both taken part in - came over to the two of us.

“You’re inseparable!” She declared, in the same jolly, tipsy way everyone in the auditorium had now the wine and beer were flowing.

“I know. He can’t get enough of me.” I told her, before realizing my voice was too high and excited an changing tack. “I have been telling William how he has to stay with us.”

“Have you?” She asked, taking another swig of her wine and leaving lipstick behind on the rim of the glass. She was one of those women who can manage to look incredibly elegant all day, then lose that elegance with just a little bit of wine in them. Not a bad thing when you consider that a tall leggy blond like her is exactly what all the men in the room find to be the most intimidating.

“Yes. I think he should stay. He does great work, gets along well with all the faculty, and has been such help during the conference.” I told her.

She smiled. “You don’t need another professor. You need an assistant. The work you’re doing is too important for you to be teaching classes to undergraduates.” She told me. “You need a grant so you can just focus on your work.”

I heaved a small sigh at her words. “I like teaching classes.” I told her, knowing full well that I was in a minority. Most professors hated teaching classes and undergraduate students. They thought the work was thankless and took away from time they could spend on their own research. Of course, they were right in a way. But at the same time, I enjoyed teaching and got a lot out of the process. Especially when my undergraduates came back to do further learning for their post-graduate studies and sought me out over other professors because they already had such positive working relationships with me.

The female professor just smiled at me as a said this, and went on, “Is there something you could add to the university that would mean that Cleo could take a step back and focus on her research?” She asked William.

William smiled his warm gracious smile and said in a voice that was completely genuine without a hint of unnecessary flattery, “I don’t think anyone could add enough to warrant taking Cleo from her students, or from anyone. She is so good at what she does and loves doing it. It shows when you work alongside her.” His eyes were on me when he said ‘or from anyone’ and that feeling, that feeling I had always denied was right there.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.