Norm stood and crossed to him, clapping a hand on his back. “You’re still our guy. Don’t forget that.” He wrapped Colin in a firm embrace. “Proud of you, kid.”
Colin returned it, his fingers tightening briefly in the back of Norm’s jacket before he let go. His voice was rough. “Thanks, Obi-Wan.”
Esther sank back into her chair, watching him for a long moment. When he met her eyes, she only nodded once—brief, approving, but soft enough to tell him she’d seen everything he hadn’t said. “Now go call Merritt. And for God’s sake, learn how to use a whiteboard.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PROFESSOR COLIN CAMPBELL-ABRAMS
“Holy crap, Josh!” Colin sputtered.
He held up a crisp UVA letter, stamped with the university seal, detailing the mountain of forms he had to submit just to beconsideredfor the positions Merritt had dangled in front of him. His eyes scanned the list again, then flicked to Joshua—who was already reading aloud:
“Updated CV with legal experience, trial record, any published work, CLEs or guest lectures, background check, HR processing, mandatory compliance training, teaching plan approval, conflict disclosure, ethics agreement…”
He leaned back and rolled his eyes. “Lord God.” He nudged Colin’s shoulder. “You’d better hire a secretary.”
“Oh, very fucking funny! And stop laughing!”
“Have you told David and Nate about Merritt’s offer yet?”
“No. I talked with Merritt for maybefive minutesyesterday after meeting with Esther and Norm. I don’t even have the letter of acceptance yet, and this morningthiswas on my desk!”
“D’you have a deadline for all this stuff?”
“I need to call Julian and ask him.”
“I can help update your CV. We’ve got all this—it’s just organizing.” He leaned against Colin’s shoulder. “But you’dbetter call Davy and Nate, Colin. You know how David is, and if they hear about this from someone else…”
Before he could reply, his phone blared the familiar tones of the UVA fight song, and Colin winced. “Uh oh. Too late.”
David.
Joshua nodded. “Aaaaand, we’re off!”
Colin’s eyes swung to meet Joshua’s. “Oh, holy crap, Josh.”
Joshua squeezed his shoulder, laughing as Colin reached for the phone.
“Hi, Davy.”
“Well, just whenthehellwere you going to tell me that you’re coming on staff?”
“Buddy, I just found out myself. This is all brand new. How didyoufind out?”
“Are you fuckingkiddingme? I’m on the Board of Visitors! We’re the ones whoapprovethese appointments!”
Colin held the phone away from his ear slightly, wincing. “Jesus, David, take a breath.”
David did not take a breath. “You’ll need to talk to Ellen Hardwick in Compliance—she’s a petty tyrant—but I’ll send her an email today and copy Merritt. That’ll grease things. HR will try to funnel you through the online onboarding portal—don’t. I’ll walk you through it. And for god’s sake, make sure your bar license is in their system before they start screaming about accreditation.”
Colin looked up at Joshua. “He’s already building me a checklist.”
Joshua, grinning, mouthed:told you.
“You’ll also need a faculty ID, parking pass, and IT credentials. I’ll send you a form. “Also, you need to get your syllabus submitted to Curriculum Approval yesterday. They’ll bounce it back if you don’t include a reading list, assessmentbreakdown, and learning outcomes. And don’t just copy Merritt’s—you know they check for that kind of thing.”
“David, I haven’t even signed the goddamn letter of acceptance yet. Hell, I don’t evenhaveit yet!”
