“Margaret, this is a surprise,” Dr. Ryan begins, removing his arm from my shoulder and rising to meet her.Of all the responses, he went with ‘this is a surprise’?!
“What is going on here?” Her voice is filled with suspicion.
“Going on?” Dr. Ryan is obviously confused at her accusatory tone. “Margaret, Alis had a rough week, and we were discussing some adjustments for the next semester.”
Her eyebrow arches, unimpressed. “So, you make a habit of cuddling with students when ‘discussing’ things in a closed office?”
Trying to defuse the situation, I interject, “Mrs. Ryan, we were?—”
But she cuts me off, her eyes flashing with anger. “I don’t believe I was speaking to you.”
“Margaret, stop. This is ridiculous. Alis is my student and my teaching assistant, nothing more.”
“Your teaching assistant who stays late to teach night classes with you. Who you talk about more than any other student in your program. Who you are up emailing at all hours of the night. ‘Can’t sleep and need to get some work done,’ my ass. She worships the ground you walk on. And you talk about her like she’s your favorite fucking pet.”What?!
Dr. Ryan’s voice is remarkably calm, considering the tantrum his wife is throwing. “Margaret, I’ve told you before. She is my student and my employee and that is all. I have no romantic feelings toward her whatsoever.”
Before?! What the hell is he talking about? This isn’t the first time they’ve had this conversation?!
“You can tell me that until you’re blue in the face, John, but that doesn’t change the fact that I just walked in on you about to kiss her.”Nope, I’ve had enough of this.
“Mrs. Ryan,” I interject, standing and walking toward her.
“I told you to stay out of this, tramp.” I’ve had the worst week of my life, I’m mentally and emotionally spent, and I have no room left for niceties, nor do I have the ability to think before I speak.
“No, I won’t. Dr. Ryan is my professor and my boss. He’s my educational mentor and nothing more.”
“I know what you college girls think of men like John. He’s older and wiser and you get off on the fantasy of being with him.”The fuck did she just say?!
“You’re wrong, and you’re not only implying that your husband is unfaithful, but that I’m some scheming homewrecker out to ruin your marriage. That’s the farthest thing from my mind, especially given the fact that my head is currently filled with my dead sister and brother-in-law and my newly-acquired role as a parent.”
She pauses, looks from Dr. Ryan to me, and spews the most venomous thing anyone has ever said to my face.
“You seriously expect me to believe that you aren’t using your grief to manipulate my husband into your bed? I see how you look at him with your bedroom eyes. It’s hero worship. Lustful, manipulative, hero worship. You may have him fooled into believing your innocent act but I see straight through you. Get out!”
I’m flabbergasted. To suggest that I would ever insert myself into someone else’s marriage or use my personal pain and grief to manipulate another person is inconceivable.
I look to Dr. Ryan and his shocked face is frozen on his wife. He’s silent. No words.
Is he going to come to my defense? Put this psycho bitch in her place? Call for Ashton to come out from behind a bookshelf and tell me I’ve just been Punk’d?
Seconds pass. Still, silence. Say something. Anything. Please!
“I’ll just go.” I grab my purse off the couch and push past this incredibly dysfunctional couple, practically sprinting to Lisa’s coat rack to grab my jacket and scarf.
The office door slams behind me, and unintelligible yelling carries out into the waiting area. Lisa looks at me, eyes wide, seemingly unable to speak.You and me both, sister.
What just happened? And what am I supposed to do now?I try to calm myself down and walk away instead of sprinting, and somehow I manage to say, “Have a good day, Lisa. It was great seeing you.”
I’m in shock when I start my car and wait for it to warm up. I don’t understand how one of the most encouraging meetings I’ve ever had turned into a circus with Margaret Ryan as the deranged ring master.
I try to sort through the jumble of accusations thrown at me in the last ten minutes:
Hero worshipper
