Page 47 of Duke, Actually

“Do you have to be fake friendly at the party? Can you just stop by his office and have a quick, civil chat?”

“The lawyer says that unless it’s going to cause me undue stress, I should go. She says it’s the perfect venue to show myself as a nonthreatening, reasonable person—in case it does go to trial and colleagues have to testify.” She was sounding uncharacteristically timid.

“Is that all that’s bothering you?” he asked gently. Normally, Dani would be the kind of person who would embrace this sort of assignment as a necessary evil. She’d be brusquely efficient in carrying out her duties.

She sighed. “The truth is, I’m scared.”

She did that sometimes. Came out with a truth deep into a conversation. It was as if she had to back herself into admitting something she didn’t think accorded with the image she should be projecting. He was stupidly pleased to be the recipient of such truths.

“I’m not scared of Vince,” she added in a rush. “He’s not going to hurt me or anything. I’m afraid of . . . getting into it with him. It’s hard to explain, but he’s such a good talker. I mean, why was I in mediation for so long? Because he has this way of making you believe what he says. He has this way of making it seem like he’s listening to you, when he’s not actually paying any attentionto you at all.” She had said that before, that Vince didn’t listen to her. What a monumental ass. “You didn’t see it at the Christmas party because of our perfectly timed exit, but Vince has this way of talking you into a corner.”

“Nobody puts Dani in a corner.”

There was a long pause. Then, Dani’s voice, laden with amusement and incredulity: “Did you just quoteDirty Dancing?”

“Did you just recognize a quote fromDirty Dancing?” he countered.

“I love that movie!”

“Youdo?”

“I do. But I am not an Eldovian baron.”

“Marie is enamored of eighties and nineties pop culture. I’ve watched it with her.”

“Well, it’s a good movie,” she said defensively. “And if you think about it, it’s an oddly progressive one. Made in the 1980s but set in the 1960s, yet it’s much more forward-thinking on issues of sexism and reproductive rights than pop culture is today.”

He hadn’t thought of it like that. “It does rather align with your interests, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, but lest you think me too high-minded: oh, the dancing in that movie! That lift in the lake!” She laughed. “And honestly, I used to have a crush on Patrick Swayze when I was a kid. Or at leastDirty Dancing–era Patrick Swayze. My mom loved him, and I guess she passed it on to me. But as it relates to this party, since I don’t have Patrick Swayze to come rescue me from my corner, I’ll just have to rescue myself.” There it was, the brusque efficiency that had been missing before. But he was beginning to understand that sometimes the brusque efficiency was a facade.

“Will you have backup?” It wasn’t that he didn’t think Dani could get herself out of any corners she found herself in, but he would prefer if she had support. “That woman I met? Sinéad?”

“She’ll have my back, yeah. Honestly, when I get tenure—ifI get tenure—I’m either not going to these parties anymore or I’m going to go wearing something outrageous, and I won’t watch what I say at all—ha!”

Max bit back his impulse to issue a “Whenyou get tenure” correction. As they’d grown closer, he’d come to understand that the tenure system in North America was different from in Europe. It meant job security and academic freedom for life, so it truly was a milestone. He’d creeped a bit on her web presence and those of her colleagues, and in his admittedly biased opinion, she was doing more interesting work than many of them. But he didn’t want to be dismissive of her concerns, and he didn’t have a handle on the departmental politics, so he bit his tongue. But privately he had confidence, and if tenure meant she could start swanning into parties wearing green taffeta dresses and telling everyone to fuck off, he couldn’t wait.

Chapter Nine

On the Thursday of the last week of summer break, Dani was walking on the beach near her parents’ house when her phone rang. Max. It was an odd time of day for him to be calling. They talked frequently, but usually later in the day. “Hi. What’s up?”

“I’m outside your building, but you’re not home.”

What?“I’m sorry, did you just say you’re outside mybuilding?”

“Yes. Surprise!”

“Max! What are you doing?”

“I’m here to be your plus-one at your party tomorrow.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it was so much fun last time?”

She was speechless.

“Because nobody puts Dani in a corner?” he said into the unspooling silence.

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