Page 85 of Hitting the Gap

Howard smirked. “Of course.”

She wasn’t stupid. In this land of publish or perish, she was only too aware of the fact that she had no tenure. A stream of bad reviews could be the difference between teaching next year and unemployment. In her experience, institutes of higher learning were not tolerant of their teachers needing a learning curve. “Given the short timeframe, I will predominantly need to use Daphne’s course material.”

Howard handed her a USB stick and pointed to a file box beside his desk. “Everything is in there.”

“Perfect.” Bailey itched to dig into the box and see exactly what she’d just signed on for. “I haven’t been given my office yet.”

“I’ll take you over as soon as we’re done here.” Howard leaned back in his seat and watched her. “Are you familiar with the GWE Gender and Equality conference that’s being held in New York this year?”

“Of course.” It was the biggest conference on women’s issues in the country.

“They reached out to us about having you speak.”

“I’m sorry? You want me to speak?” Wow, she hadn’t expected the University to choose her to represent them or even that they would be represented, for that matter. The University was more known for international issues rather than gender.

“No, they were having trouble reaching you, so they contacted us to get ahold of you. Apparently, you come highly recommended, and they wanted to ensure the University would support you attending. Which I assured them we would.”

“They want me to speak?” Did he really just say that they wanted her to speak, not someone like her, but her? She clamped her hands in her lap to stop herself from doing the little jig her body wanted to do.

“Yes, they specifically wanted you to do a seminar on misogyny in the media.” Howard tapped his fingers on the desk. “I thought their request tied in nicely to the summer class.”

Ahh, now it made more sense why he was so open to her changing the existing syllabus. Being asked to speak at this conference was not only a big deal for her, but it was also a big deal for the University. People came from all over the world for this conference. And they wanted her. Holy shit. They wanted her. She couldn’t wait to tell Gonzo.

Howard passed over a piece of paper. “This is the number for Colette Beringer. She is the conference committee chair. As I told Colette, it goes without saying the University would like you to speak at the conference. I assured her you would be more than happy to present. We will organize any coverage necessary for your classes.”

Bailey looked at the contact information on the sheet. Her body practically vibrated with excitement. How had the committee even heard of her? This was the kind of opportunity everyone in her profession dreamed of and never believed would happen. Her foot bounced anxiously on the floor in front of her and she fought to keep it still. “I will give Colette a call this afternoon.”

“Please do.” Howard stood. “Now let me show you to your office so you can get started.”

Bailey grabbed the box with all of Daphne’s course info and followed him.

“You never mentioned you knew Anisa Behman,” Howard said as they walked up a flight of stairs.

Anisa? Where did that come from? “Anisa’s research was instrumental in my master’s thesis. We spent a lot of time together while I worked on both my master’s and PhD.”

“Didn’t you work under Jeffrey Long for your PhD?”

“I did, yes, but I spent about 6 months with Anisa, doing research on gender violence as part of my master’s.”

“Mmm, I must have missed that. I was more focused on your PhD when you applied for this position. From what Colette said, Anisa spoke very highly of you and they are eager to hear you speak.”

Bailey bit back a smile. Thank you, Anisa. Even with her colleague’s endorsement, she still couldn’t believe she was getting asked to speak at this conference.

Howard continued up the next flight of stairs to the fourth floor. At the end of the hallway, he pulled out a key and unlocked the door. She stepped into the office and scanned the room. A smile immediately spread across her face.

“Wow, I have a window.” Bailey wandered over and looked outside. The view wasn’t great. Mostly just a parking lot, but it was still a window. Her last office had been in the basement and wasn’t much bigger than a closet. This office was darn near palatial. Empty bookcases lined one wall and a filing cabinet sat alone in the opposite corner. The scarred desk looked like it had seen better days but would get the job done. Definitely an improvement from her last office.

“I hope this will be satisfactory,” Howard said.

She spun around to face him. “This is fantastic, thank you.”

Howard held out the key. “Be sure to call Colette. And let me know once you’ve confirmed the speaking engagement and we will put it up on the website and in your bio.”

“Will do.” If she’d had any doubt about why she’d been called in today, this certainly solidified it. No mention of the upcoming summer class, just the advertising the conference would give the University. Not that she blamed them at all. Alumni loved stuff like this. And the school depended on donor dollars.

Once Howard left, she grabbed her phone out of her pocket, took a deep steadying breath, and dialed Colette’s phone number.

“Hello?”

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