Chapter 11

Try as she did, she couldn't keep Courtney's revelation out of her mind. How could they do that? They advertised the job and it wasn't supposed to close for another week. Bill was the last candidate to be interviewed, so what was the point of interviewing him if they had already filled the job?

As they bade farewell to the hosts and other guests, they walked through the cool, damp night back to the car. She held his hand with both of hers and put her head on his shoulder as often as she could. Between the farewell and the car, she decided that she would not share her bad news until tomorrow. No point in both of them missing out on sleep.

He noticed that she was absolutely silent. "Everything OK?"

"Uh, oh, yeah, sure. I was thinking about tomorrow. Forgive me."

"Big day?"

"Have to meet with the board. That will waste three hours. Then, I have a lot of stuff to work out from under."

"I once heard a smartass say that meetings are God's way of making our lives longer. They actually don't get longer, but they seem to."

She chuckled lightly, which was about all she could muster. "How do you think the evening went?"

"The day went well. I think we did well enough this evening not to turn them off. We didn't scare them away." He paused as they waited at a light. "These selection processes are never what they seem. For all I know, they've already made up their minds and are just going through the motions."

She asked quickly, "What do you mean by that?"

"Hiring practices require searches to try to find minority candidates and women, when the departmental proportion is out of sync with the population. That means that everyone is after the relatively few good candidates."

"You're saying that if they had a woman or minority, you wouldn't get the job?"

"I wouldn't go quite that far. If I walked on water, they'd overlook my ethnicity. But they have to make an honest documented effort to find suitable underrepresented groups."

"So, they have two white males and a white woman on the short list. Does that change your odds?"

"If the woman from Minnesota wants the job, it's probably hers. She's no slouch, either."

"Why couldn't they just offer her the job and be done with it?"

"Oh, Ashley, for the good old days when you could hire who you wanted with a phone call or two. Some people believe that equal employment opportunity is a farce."

"Do you?"

"That's a hard one. If we didn't have official encouragement, we'd go back to the old boy old girl network and reduce the chances that others could break into the circle. That's de facto discrimination and I'm not morally comfortable with denying opportunity that way. Women faculty have benefited from the requirements."

"How do you now figure your odds? You said once that it was one in three."

"I have an old colleague at Minnesota that I talk to from time to time. We've served on national committees together. I'll call him tomorrow and see if he thinks she will move."

"Why wouldn't she? She applied."

"Horse trading, perhaps. Her department has to believe that she will leave if offered the job. That way, she can get concessions if they really want her to stay, and I expect they do."

"OK, suppose she gets the offer and then decides to stay up there?"

He drove into the garage and put down the door. Then she said urgently, "Don't put down the door. Someone needs to run energy off for a minute."

"Yeah. I was so into the conversation that I forgot."

"No problem. He won't let you forget long."

Benny streaked out into the yard and stopped instantly to make things better. Then, he did his laps around the yard, bettering his clocked time by at least two seconds. They were both laughing at him as he came dancing back to their feet.

Bill went to the kitchen to make the morning coffee and she came to stand by him. "I had just asked you what happens if she decides to stay put."

"Unless they want to reopen the search and go through another time consuming process, they'll pick one of the remaining candidates. Or, they will go back into the larger batch of applicants and look for others." He looked thoughtfully, "My guess is that they'll pick one of us."

As they went off to bed, she said, "I'm dying to know what you find out from your friend at Minnesota."

He hugged her tightly, "Me, too, babe. Me, too."

As they lay quietly in bed, she held him and said, "While I was watching you at the dinner, I thought often of getting you home and having my way with you. Now, I'm too tired to follow through."

"I'm kind of wired myself. I don't think I could do you justice."

"You're not disappointed?"

"Yes, but I'm realistic. I always want to, but some nights it's better not to try."

"I love you, Bill. Good night, darling."

"I love you, Ashley."

She wore her conservative business suit for work the next morning. As he kissed her good bye, he said, "Go get 'em. Save the world out there."

"Those clients need counseling and consideration, not for the rest of us to be tied up in a meeting. You call me the minute you know anything from Minnesota."

Bill finished his breakfast toast and the last dregs of coffee in the pot. He sat and decided if he wanted another piece of toast or more coffee and decided to wait until mid morning. Off to the email challenge. He tried to decide when to run, morning or afternoon. He looked at the clock after his intense email session and realized that it was now eleven o'clock in Minnesota.

He took his cell phone and went to his comfortable reading chair, dialed the number and waited until the voice mail picked up. Disappointed, he left his message, telling exactly what he wanted to know. He was always annoyed when getting a voice mail and the only message was to call the other back. That usually ended in several rounds of telephone tag. So many of life's simple problems could be solved if people only left coherent messages. He was just in the middle of being annoyed about bad voice mail messages when his phone rang.

"Hey, Bill, how you doing? Charley here."

Bill said, "Any information on my question?"

"Nothing for sure, but I'd bet five dollars she's going nowhere. She made lots of noises when she learned that she was on the short list, but those of us who know her aren't buying it."

"What does she want that she can get with this negotiation?"

"Like the rest of us, she wants more money and permanent lab space. They'll probably offer her both to keep her."

"That's good to know."

"Why, may I ask, are you leaving your cushy job in Georgia?"

"Hey, I work hard! Actually, I have this girl friend out here and I want to live with her. So, I applied."

Charley laughed. "Let me see. Hmmm. Young and beautiful, I'll bet."

"How did you guess?"

"Old guys do strange things in the presence of young beautiful women. Things that a year earlier they would have thought absurd."

"You're so nice, Charley."

"Nothing personal. We can all be had, I suppose. Former student, too?"

"Bastard."

"Profile? Well, let's see. Under thirty. Bright as hell. Had you for a number of classes. Had a crush on you that she had to fulfill. Oh, she thinks you're smart enough to be the best father of her children. Shall I go on?"

"No need to rub it in. You're right about everything, but she doesn't want children. I don't either, so we're in agreement on that."

"Hell, man, I hope you get the job. Sounds like you need to get your life in order and get back to work."

"If I don't get it, she's coming to Georgia, but she is not thrilled about it. She has an outstanding place here and we'd both like to live in it. Fortunately, she has only a temporary job until someone permanent is hired."

"I'll get back to you if I find out anything more."

"Great! Later."

"Well, I'll tell you what. I've known her long enough. Maybe I'll just ask her."

"Thanks, Charley. I want to be here."

Bill intended to call Ashley but his morning coffee indulgence required quick relief in the bathroom. As he emptied himself noisily, his phone rang, "Hi babe."

"What are you doing?"

"Listen."

"You are just gross! Why didn't I know this side of you before?"

"I always kept mine hidden."

She laughed. "OK, you got me. That was a cheap shot."

"Actually, when mine was covered up, I had some pretty good cheap shots!" He flushed.

"Bill!" She sighed, "For God's sake, we've been over that. Now, listen. Today, the Board decided that they didn't like me to be temporary. Didn't look good for fund raising, they wanted someone permanent."