Page 101 of The Mentor
“Why wouldn’t he pick up?”
“I don’t know, maybe he went hiking into the woods or something.”
“He didn’t mention anything about going hiking to me,” I said.
“Maybe it was an impulsive thing,” Finn suggested and quickly changed the subject. “You actually arrived at the most perfect time, because I was just giving a lesson on anatomy and physical health.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said although I was pretty distracted.
“I’m happy you feel that way, because Shelly tried to stop me when I talked about sex; she clearly doesn’t understand that health and sex are very much related.”
“What do you mean you talked about sex?” I asked, my brain clearing up a bit. “Archer and I were planning to do that, once we agreed on the message.”
“Excellent, but I figured that being a doctor and all, I would be the perfect person to do it.”
“All right, but we still need to agree on the level of detail and the overall message.”
“Ah, don’t worry, I just covered the basics.”
“Then why did Shelly try to stop you?” I had a bad feeling about this and quickly waved her over. “Finn tells me that you tried to stop him from teaching.”
Shelly was biting her lip, and staring at his elbow, as if it was hard for her to look Finn in the eyes.
“It wasn’t appropriate,” she said.
“Of course it was appropriate,” Finn defended himself.
Shelly still didn’t want to look at him, but her jaw tensed and she bit out the words with passion. “Saying that it’s the woman’s job to satisfy her husband is very old-fashioned and inappropriate.”
I spun to gape at him. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”
Crossing his arms and taking a defensive stand, Finn said: “I’m a doctor, I know about these things.”
I was momentarily speechless, but Shelly wasn’t.
“I suppose that makes you the living proof that even educated men can be ignorant,” she said with indignation.
Finn raised an eyebrow. “Ignorant? Really? And that’s coming from someone calling herself open-minded.”
“Iamopen-minded,” Shelly insisted, her voice shaky.
Finn angled his head. “Maybe that’s the problem then. You people are so open-minded that your brains slipped out.”
With a grimace, Shelly stomped off and left me with this Neanderthal of a man.
“Was that necessary?” I asked. “She’s only fifteen, Finn, and it took a lot of courage for her to speak up.”
“She could have fooled me.” Finn looked after Shelly. “Marco said she used to be shy when she first arrived, but now she’s just a pain in the ass who thinks she’s much smarter than everybody else.”
“She has an IQ above one hundred and eighty, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t match that.”
“There’s still no need for her to be snooty about it. She might be a smart cookie, but she’s still just a girl.”
The way he said “just a girl” rubbed me the wrong way, but the Nmen were notoriously confrontational, and I was in too good a mood to fight. “I would prefer if you do not teach sex education again,” I said and walked away, throwing a last instruction over my shoulder. “I’m sure Marco could use your help with the fight training, but for now, stay out of the classroom.”
There was one good thing about the situation, and that was the fact that I didn’t have much time to worry about Archer. My first instinct, calling him, was quickly overruled by my deep-rooted need to declare my love for him face to face. Whenever he returned from his hike I would talk to him and we would be happy. Just thinking about it made me smile.
CHAPTER 27
