Page 64 of The Marriage Deal
"I am sure you will tell me."
"He cleared his throat. "Your uh, wife, I mean your subordinate, Miss Edwards, assaulted a professor," he pointed to Wyatt, "in the break room today."
"Assaulted?"
The HR manager, a middle-aged woman I had seen around a few times, but whose name had escaped me, said, "She threw hot liquid in his face, Professor Hawthorne. It's a dangerousviolation that could have caused serious harm had her tea been hot enough."
"But it wasn't, was it?" I leaned over to assess 'the damage' done to Wyatt, but all he had were drying stains on his shirt and a massive scowl on his face. Being the shithead that he is, he probably thought this was an affront that required multiple people having to be summoned to the head of faculty's office. Also, wasn't this a department affair? Shouldn't the head of department be dealing with this?
"From what I can see, Mr. Carrington only needs a brand new shirt. I can provide one if he doesn't have it."
"I don't want your hand-me-downs, asshole. Yourwife, through a scalding hot liquid on me. I could have been burned!"
"But you aren't. I think for something to be considered assault, it should at least come with some damage or potential damage to the victim, and I don't see it here. All I see is a spoiled, whiny boy who's too fragile to handle lukewarm tea." I didn't know how hot the tea was, but the blush on his face was enough to tell me I was right. With the way he was reacting, if it had been hot, he would have gone to the infirmary, just to add to the dramatics.
"People have endured third-degree burns from hot beverages," the HR manager said.
"Does he have third-degree burns?" I asked.The room went silent. "Or any burns at all?"
"I could have!" he screamed.
"But you didn't. She knew it wasn't hot when she threw it at you, so what's the issue?"
"What the fuck? You weren't even there!" He turned to Thompson flabbergasted. "He wasn't even there."
"Uh…" Thompson turned to Elvira. "Did you know it wasn't hot?"
"It had been sitting there for several minutes," she said.
"Therefore, it was lukewarm, maybe warm, but not hot, not even scalding hot. And Professor Carrington is not a baby. I am sure he can handle lukewarm tea being thrown on his body by his ex."
Thompson jerked back. "You two used to date?" he waved his finger at Elvira and Wyatt.
"And then cheated on her with her friend, if you could imagine," I added.
"Oh." Whatever sympathy Thompson had for Wyatt dissipated. He was looking at him in a different light.
Through gritted teeth, Wyatt said, "What does that have to do with anything!"
"Well," the HR manager jumped in, "it goes to intent." She swiveled her head toward Elle. "Were you retaliating against Professor Carrington because of what he did to you?"
We all turned our attention to Elle.You can do this,I thought. Don't let them intimidate you. "I was responding to what he said to me. He called me a two-timing slut."
"Is that true?" Thompson said.
I jumped in. "Excuse me? Are you calling my wife a two-timing slut?"
Thompson began to sweat. "I didn't mean—what I meant was if what he said, the gist of what he said to be more specific, had any merit in uh… It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But what does , is the assault. We can't ignore that, of course. You seem to have poured a lukewarm beverage, but you caused harm to a professor. That's not good. We can solve this simply. Apologize to Professor Carrington."
"No," Elle said firmly and quietly.
"Apologize! She should be suspended!" Wyatt screamed.
Thompson looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. But I knew he wasn't going to suspend her. Just this morning, before I came in, I had sent him an email telling him mybrother's foundation had accepted his grant application and that of several other departments in this faculty. Suspending a Hawthorne might result in all that funding getting pulled. Not that I would flex my powers like that, of course. But he didn't know that.
Thompson turned to Elvira. "Can you apologize to him and let this matter rest?"
Elle glared at Wyatt. "Sorry," she muttered. The words coming out as though they're being pulled from her teeth.
