Chapter 25

"Charity! I'm so glad you're back, this nut case beside me has been verbally and physically abusing me," Kay said as she hugged her cousin. "She called me a heifer and she's always attacking me with sofa cushions and..." Kay was cut off as a rag from behind the bar counter at Haven hit her on the side of her head. "SEE?!?!" she squealed. "Evidence!!"

"Kay, what have you been doing to make such a sweet person do such terrible things?" Charity asked back. She was immediately pulled into a bear hug from Simone, who had scrambled over the counter after hearing Charity's response.

"That's why I love this one more than you, Kay," she said. "She sees reason." Simone released Charity and turned the other woman so they were facing each other. "Charity, my dear, Kay has been a royal pain.. nosying around in my business, getting my employees all worried...."

"Oh snap, speaking of employment, I'd better run to work, it's my first day, I can't be late!" Kay said, springing into action. "Charity, I'll debunk all of her unjust accusations when I get back," she said over her shoulder as she left Haven.

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Kay stood in front of her favorite professor, anxiously awaiting her first assignment as a research assistant.

"Well, Kay, your timing is perfect. My TA will should be here any minute to get started. I need you to start off this summer by tracking down recommended supplementary readings for my course this summer and the ones I teach during the fall too. Since the TA has handled the classes before, you two should work together in the beginning."

Kay gulped, and the knot that was in her stomach as a result of first-day- on the-job nerves blossomed quickly into a full-body case of the jitters. "Um, did you say TA?"

Her professor looked at her strangely. "Yes, Kay, that's what I said," realization dawned on the older woman. "Oh, that's right, you were in the class last fall, do you remember the TA?"

"Nicholas," Kay said through clenched teeth, visions of Simone screaming from torture dancing behind her eyes.

"Kay," said an obnoxiously familiar voice from behind her. "I didn't...."

The professor beamed. "Oh good, you do know each other. You should work well together then. Nicholas knows what to do; you two can go ahead and get started." She looked down at the manuscript she was working on, clearly indicating that they should begin immediately.

They left the office and stared at each other in the hall.

"Before you accuse me of somehow engineering this, let me just say that I didn't realize that you were going to be working with me on this, much less in town this summer," Kay burst out finally.

"I find that hard to believe," Nicholas began, attempting to cover his own shameful delight in seeing Kay. "Simone knew I was going to be here; I can't imagine that she wouldn't have told you."

At the mention of Simone's name, Kay's features grew grim and the air around them began to crackle. "Yes, Simone, that little wench, you'd think she would have told me that you were going to be here, but she didn't, so don't go putting this mess on me, you little twerp," she exploded. "And for that matter, why the hell didn't she tell you that I was going to be here since my presence clearly aggravates you so much?" Kay continued ranting as Nicholas grasped her arm and led her into his office down the hall.

Exasperated with Kay's temper and that stupid blue thing that followed her around like a plague, Nicholas sighed deeply as he sat down in the chair behind his desk, and after sitting Kay down on a couch opposite him, he rubbed his forehead as if in pain.

Kay stopped her ranting as she noticed him reaching into his desk and pulling out a container of aspirin. "Look, you, don't sit over there getting all melodramatic and patronizing with that damned bottle of aspirin like my very presence gives you a headache," she began again.

"Dammit Kay, you're fussing at me about melodrama and the glass that my diploma is covered by is in severe danger of shattering because of your temper," Nicholas said, raising his voice to be heard above Kay.

"Well... uh.... well, if you would stop accusing me of things, I wouldn't get so angry," Kay said reasonably.

Nicholas blushed at this. He really did like pushing her buttons, it was just the blue thing that always seemed to be in the air around her that he couldn't tolerate. "Okay, Kay, I promise to stop antagonizing you if you promise to try to control that blue thing, or whatever you call it."

Kay was thoughtful. "Nicholas, I know you don't want to deal with this, but I'm not sure I can control it around you; it's not something I'm doing to intentionally freak you out," she responded.

"Okay, okay, I give," said Nicholas. "Understanding that whatever it is, you can't control it, but that it is tied to me making you angry, I'll try to not make you angry," he said hopefully.

Nicholas, it's not that you make me angry that's creating this constant blue tension, it's that you make me feel so intensely about anything and everything, Kay thought sadly. Out loud, she agreed, "Okay Nicholas. We have to work together this summer; we should be civil. It seems as though we're not meant to remain totally indifferent to each other," Kay allowed, amending her past declaration that she would avoid him like the plague.

"Oh no, Kay," Nicholas began, "It's got nothing to do with what's 'meant' or not meant to be; it just is for now, and let's try to keep it that way," he finished succinctly, determined to resist making the summer about anything but academic involvement.

Kay felt saddened at his coldness, but then realized that he was constantly grappling with the same feelings that she was. Perhaps she wouldn't kill Simone, maybe just trip her up or something for tricking Kay into working with Nicholas this summer. Kay smiled benignly up at Nicholas, a plan forming in her mind. Romance novel heroine she was not, and she was not about to sit passively by while male stupidity and pride kept her from what she knew she was meant to have. "Let's get started then, shall we?" she said.

Kay's smile unnerved Nicholas, as it was intended to do. "Uhhh, sure. I thought we could start with this list of books I made that were helpful for me when I was grading last year..."

As they got to work, he brought over stacks of paper and joined her on the couch so they could look at things at the same time. Unobtrusively watching Nicholas as he prattled on about the virtues of Michel Foucault, Kay thought to herself that he didn't know what was about to hit him.