I smile and take a breath. “Hopefully, he’s there.” Or maybe, hopefully he’s not.
“We’ll wait here,” Quin says. “Don’t be surprised if something doesn’t happen immediately. I can tell you right now, more times than not, something serious like Doherty can’t be a decision I just make alone. I need to present it to my superiors.”
“And don’t forget to work in the fact that dating a student isn’t against the rules. Case in point, the provost was sleeping with a student for two yearsandmarried him—all before the kid graduated,” Declan says.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“No, he’s right. It’s relevant and an important point in your favor,” Quin says.
With the envelope in hand and my phone in my pocket, I get to my feet. “I’ll be back.” On my way out the door, I give Oz a call to explain what happened. I tell him not to let Roux know until we’re together in person. I don’t need him to be freaking out all day while he’s supposed to be focusing on classes.
Especially since Quin’s right. Not only will nothing be done immediately, but we won’t have a “verdict,” if you will, right away either.
I’m not sure if things are going my way or not, but when I tell the secretary I have something urgent I need to talk to the dean about, I’m let in after a brief exchange over the phone between them.
Dean Gideon Cooke is a huge sports guy with a wall of degrees behind him. It looks like he’s done a bit of everything. There are also signed jerseys, trophies, signed balls and sticks and pennant flags all over his office.
When I enter, he stands and offers me his hand. He has a big smile, the kind that wrinkles around the eyes because he smiles so often. “Hello, Coach. Good to see you. Have a seat.”
“Thanks, Dean.”
“I assume this is about yesterday’s game.”
I wince. “I assume you’ve seen videos,” I counter.
He guffaws. “It’s hard not to. What’s unclear is what’s going on.”
“Yes, this has to do with that, but… There are other things that need to be stated first.”
Dean Cooke leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers together as if I’m going to tell him the most thrilling story of his life.
I do exactly as Quin suggested. “Now to get current. I thought I was doing a good thing in being forthcoming with my team. I assumed I’d have a little pushback but they’d get over it and play as a team. Obviously, things have gotten out of hand, and yesterday was the pinnacle of that mountain. Harper made the call to cancel practice for the rest of the week. This morning, I received an email stating that if I don’t remove Roux from the team, they’ll have me fired.”
Dean Cooke watched and listened impassively throughout the entire monologue, something that felt rather unnerving. Right up until the email. Anger flares in his eyes as he leans forward. “Let me see the email.”
I take my phone out and pull it up before handing it to him. It’s short, so it doesn’t take him any time to get through it. I also don’t miss the way he winces while reading it. “I really hope this is purposefully awful writing.”
“I thought the same thing,” I agree. “I have to think it is. I also have everything printed out to support what I told you.” I set the envelope on his desk.
Dean Cooke pulls it toward him and opens it. He peers inside but doesn’t pull anything out. “Forward me that email, please. IT will be tracking down the sender.”
I don’t offer that we think we know who it is. We’ve all seen the videos now.
“Thank you for your honesty and for coming to me with this. While I can’t guarantee the outcome you’d like, I’d like to knowwhat you propose we do. In an ideal world, what future do you hope to see?”
“Harper and I agree that Doherty needs to be removed from the team. His behavior toward both of us is disrespectful, and he’s being hostile toward Roux and actively attempting to get others to do the same. There’s a copy of a chat exchange between Roux and one of my players stating as much to warn him. Regardless of my relationship with Roux, I wouldn’t allow this behavior toward any of my players.”
“Understood and not unreasonable. What else?”
I take a breath. “I’d like to continue the year and next in the capacity that Harper and I have worked out. Essentially, we’re swapping roles. I’m happy to swap salaries too. She refused to allow that, but I do think she deserves some compensation for the extra work.”
“Okay, what else?”
I’m not sure if he’s expecting more. I hesitate because I’m not sure what else I should say. Oh. Then I remember the one point I needed to make. “I would like to remind… you and whoever you speak to that it wasn’t long ago that the provost was dating and married a student while that student was still enrolled.”
Yep, that felt awkward.
Dean Cooke gives me a beaming smile. “Very good. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”
