He gave her a curious look. “Do you know where you’re going yet? What you’re going to do?”
“I have a few applications out,” she admitted. It
felt strange to confide in Bailey and not Blake, but maybe it was better this way. She had applied to places near Blake’s house, and she didn’t want to imply promises she couldn’t keep regarding moving in with him.
“Cross your fingers for me,” she said. “What about you? Any plans?”
“Actually I was thinking of doing a tour of Europe. Find myself or something like that, before I have to decide which major I actually want to use.”
“That sounds awesome. Both the traveling and the double major. I didn’t know you’d done that. What are they?”
He blushed. “I got the idea from Ayn Rand. To learn about physics and philosophy. The physical world and metaphysical one. Combined, it’s everything there is to know.”
She grinned. “That sounds ambitious.”
“Yes, well, now that I have the degrees, I’m sure the enlightenment is coming any day.” He rolled his eyes in a sweet, self-deprecating way. “I’ll just hold my breath.”
Her attention was snagged as Blake entered the room. He looked fresh and happy. She tore her gaze away to refocus on Bailey.
He was looking at her strangely. “Don’t let him slip away.”
She blinked, her smile faltering. “Who?”
“You know who.” His gaze flicked to the front of the room, where Blake fielded a question from two animated students.
“How did you—?”
He shrugged, his smile wry. “I would have made a move myself, but it was clear you were taken.”
Her breath caught. “Bailey…”
“It’s okay, Erin. Just…hang on to it, that’s all. If he makes you happy. That’s all there is. Being happy.”
She swallowed. Her smile felt fragile—and already cracked. “Is that your advice as a physicist or a philosopher?”
“Both.”
In a move so familiar she ached with it, Blake flipped the chair around and sat down facing the class. His elbows rested on the back of the chair, his wrists hung loosely. The whole room became quiet with respect well-earned.
He’d done such an amazing job. So much more than she could have imagined. He was intelligent and thoughtful and passionate, yes. She’d known that much. But his real strength had been teasing out their intelligence. Testing their thoughts and bringing their passion to the fore.
She was going to miss this class. The energy, the way she lit up when he spoke. The way he lit up when he really got into it, as if he’d found himself in the sharing of knowledge.
“Today is our last meeting,” he said. “So I want to run down the schedule real quick. Your final papers are due to me at midnight. Because of the abbreviated schedule for summer, I have to turn in grades in a very short amount of time, so don’t be late. It won’t be a question of my giving you an extension or extra credit. Once I turn in grades next week, even I can’t change them. Got it?”
A round of nods and some shifty eyes followed his pronouncement, probably by folks who’d be up late working on the paper. Anticipation strummed through her. The grades were due on the same day as her thesis…the same day as the Faculty Ball.
And the next day she’d get to see Blake again.
“Today is our last meeting,” he repeated, his manner turning thoughtful, “so I also want to tell you how incredibly impressed I am with you all. How grateful I am that you put up with me as I bumbled my way through my first class. How much I believe in each of you.”
Erin bit her lip to keep from sighing out loud. Glancing around, she saw embarrassed flushes and bright eyes. God, he’d turned a classroom full of cynical co-eds into an after-school special.
She loved him. She was in awe of him.
“Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge. I’m sitting up here, as your professor, because of things I know. That’s knowledge. You’re sitting in front of me because you have the initiative, the ambition, and the creativity to do something with it. That’s imagination. What you have is far more important than what I can do up here. You trump me.”
A poignant quiet rang out in the room.