Page 85 of Love Under Snowfall

“Sounds like a him problem,” Todd mumbled.

“Second,” she said forcefully, choosing to ignore him. “I am on full academic scholarship. Funny business like banging my teacher could jeopardize that. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a cool fifty grand floating around to back me up. And since I’m not going into social work to get rich, I’d be paying off the resulting student loans well into retirement.”

“I’m sure there are people who would help you if it came to that. Jonathan or your mom.”

“I could never ask them to do that, especially after beingso reckless with the scholarship to begin with.”

Her friend shrugged but deflated a little. “That’s fair.”

“Three, Benjamin is damaged, and while I’m the last person to ever judge, he doesn’t do relationships. Something about how it would end badly.”

“I love a brooding academic.”

“Then have at him, be my guest.”

Lounging back in his chair, Todd appeared to consider the idea then swatted away the words like a circling gnat. “Nah, I don’t think he’d ever swing that way.”

“Finally, my animalistically protective older brother probably wouldn’t be too thrilled.”

“Understatement of the century.” He rose and walked to Frankie. The weight of him next to her caused the mattress to dip, and she allowed the excuse to snuggle into her friend's side. “You’re sure there’s nothing you can do to make it work?”

“You mean if he would have stuck around to discuss it instead of disappearing like a thief in the night?”

Todd screwed up his face. “Ok, that’s not a good look. But look on the bright—ouch! What the fu—”

He squirmed, raising a hip to pull something out from under his butt cheek. He held his hand open to find two glimmering baubles in his palm—Benjamin’s cuff links.

“Now I guess you have to see him again.”

“Because he left some jewelry behind? Whatever. Toss ’em or keep ’em.”

Todd’s shrill laughter matched the frantic clamp on Frankie’s wrist. He dropped the twin bits in her hand and stepped away. “While those are not my responsibility, please, please, please, on all that is holy and fashionable, don’t throw them away. Those antique babies could pay for a month of our rent. Plus utilities.”

She eyed the mother of pearl inlay set inside a ring ofobsidian, and the word Bvlgari repeated twice around the surrounding silvery metal—though more likely white gold or platinum by Todd’s dramatic response.

“What makes you think they’re antiques?”

“Call it a hunch, but you need to return those. They might be important to him, and I don’t just mean because they’re pretty and expensive.”

He was right. What if they had been a gift from his mother? While Frankie had zero intention of continuing her involvement with Benjamin, she also didn’t resent him enough to toss out a potentially sentimental heirloom.

“I’ll drop them by his office at the start of the next quarter.” What she didn’t say was that she would easily avoid actually seeing him and slip them quickly into the mail slot on his door.

Chapter forty-six

First day back in the office after the new year, Seattle: Benjamin

Benjamin dragged his fingers along his jaw, wincing at a couple spots where he’d nicked himself with a razor that morning. The three weeks’ worth of growth he’d negligently allowed to accumulate hadn’t gone quietly, leaving ample angry bumps behind as a reminder. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so many ripped pieces of toilet paper scattered across his face, but he’d wager it had been sometime before high school graduation.

As he approached Dean McCaffery’s office, he performed a final exploratory swipe to ensure any lingering tissue had been removed then knocked firmly.

“Come in,” the older man called. He sat in his oversized desk chair, alternating between squinting at his computer screen through his glasses and above them.

“You wanted to see me?” Benjamin schooled his voice and features in the cool, unemotional affect he perfected in his time as a professor beneath McCaffery. While his boss proudly displayed everything that tumbled through his mind, Benjamin quickly learned that his own emotions could—and would—be used against him.

The dean raised a finger and then pointed to one of the two intentionally low chairs sitting in front of his desk, all the while not bothering to glance in Benjamin’s direction.

With nothing to do but wait, Benjamin lowered, choosing to ignore how his knees raised to the level of his nipples—freaking intimidation tactics. He’d been no stranger to them, especially when he’d been working at Hewitt, Moser, and Pratt and wanted his opponent to feel extra small. Lawyers from an opposing firm, the occasional colleague, even spouses who were about to lose their shirts—and, more accurately, most of their dignity. He cringed as the faces of powerless targets flipped through his mind like microfiche in a public library.

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