Flirting with Fifty

“Or the corrections officers. It gave me nightmares when I was a girl. I really didn’t want to end up in jail.”

Jack grinned. “At least you had goals.”

“I had so many goals it wasn’t even funny. I wrote them all down, too, in this diary my mom gave me. I think she’d hoped I would use it to better express myself, but I’m not a writer. I do like lists, though.”

“What was your first goal? Do you remember?”

“To go away for college, leave the ranch. I wanted to get out of Paso Robles. See something else. Do something else.”

“Your family are ranchers?”

“Cattle ranch and crops. Although my brother has begun converting some of the acreage to grapes. Paso Robles has become a winery destination.”

“Isn’t the climate hot and dry there?”

She nodded. “Rob started growing grapes for Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. He’s also experimenting with Chardonnay. There’s a lot of pushback with cattle ranching right now. Environmental issues.”

“I’m well familiar with the argument against.”

“Are you vegetarian?” she asked.

“I try to eat a plant-based diet whenever I can, but I’m not incredibly strict, it’s impossible with my travel schedule. Interestingly, much of the world is plant based, so I can get by wherever I am.”

“Did you travel anywhere else besides India this summer?”

“A week in Hilo, and almost ten days in Paris.”

“You spoke at conferences in each place?”

He nodded.

“Is it all work, or do you manage some play?”

“I try to squeeze in play whenever possible. I want to enjoy life.”

“Is it easy for you to do that? Enjoy life?”

“Yes.” Jack grinned. “It’s one of my strengths. What about you? Do you have zest, gusto?”

But Paige didn’t answer, distracted by the sound of footsteps. She glanced up. It was Elizabeth. “Hey, you,” Paige said. “Want to join us?”

“Am I interrupting?” Elizabeth asked.

Paige glanced at Jack. He shook his head and moved his computer to make room for her. “We were just making small talk,” he said, rising, extending his hand. “I’m Jack King.”

“Elizabeth Reynolds,” Elizabeth answered, smiling broadly. “I teach in the English Department. I was the one who wooed Paige from North Carolina.”

“Elizabeth and I have been best friends since high school,” Paige said as Elizabeth pulled out a chair and sat down. Jack waited for Elizabeth to sit to take his seat again.

“Paige insists we met in English,” Elizabeth said. “But I remember meeting her in math. I couldn’t do math. I was constantly in a state of panic, especially because the Algebra One teacher loved to call on me, and I never knew the answer. Paige always knew the answer, and she began to feed me answers to save me from being embarrassed in front of the whole class.”

“That’s how you became friends?” Jack asked.

“No, it was how we met. I don’t think we became really close friends until later, the Fall of our sophomore year.” Elizabeth glanced at Paige. “My dad was killed in a car accident, and Paige’s family took me under their wing, planned activities to keep me busy. Even took me on camping trips up and down the coast. I celebrated my sixteenth birthday with them.”

“Sounds like Paige’s parents are good people,” Jack said.

“I had great parents,” Paige agreed. “My dad’s gone now, too, but my mom’s still alive, and she and Elizabeth’s mom have become friends over the years. They’re part of the same birthday group so they see each other frequently.”

Jack looked at Paige. “How many years were you in North Carolina?”

“Twenty. Moved there when Michelle was one and I was pregnant with Nichole. I didn’t leave until they were all out of the house.”

“Where did you teach?”

“I started at UNC and ended up at Duke.”

“Two great schools.”

Paige nodded. “But I missed California, missed being closer to my mom, and Elizabeth. Now I can drive up to Paso Robles on weekends, and I’ve been doing that every four to six weeks. It’s a lot easier than jumping on planes and renting cars.” She studied Jack from across the table. “Do you go home often? That’s quite a flight.”

“To Melbourne? No. My parents are both gone, and I was an only child so there aren’t brothers or sisters missing me, which is maybe why I don’t really think of it as home anymore.”

“So, home is Princeton?”

“It’s where I keep my stuff, and it’s where I raised Oliver.”

“You sound like a rolling stone,” Elizabeth said.

“I am,” he agreed. “I have a hard time staying in one place for a long time.”

Paige couldn’t imagine constantly traveling. She was a homebody. She liked having her own place in the world. “But you’re a tenured professor at Princeton.”

He grinned. “They tolerate me.”

Elizabeth laughed. “I imagine they know field work is important to your work.”

“I just keep publishing papers, which makes them happy.”

“You make them look good,” Elizabeth said.

He shrugged. “It’s been a good relationship. I’ve been happy there.”

“And now you’re here,” Elizabeth persisted.

“Orange reached out to me letting me know they had an opening this year in the science department, and as I haven’t seen much of Oliver these past few years I thought it’d be nice to be closer. So here I am.” He glanced at his watch, frowned. “Speaking of the science department, looks like I’m missing a department meeting now. Don’t want to make a bad impression before school has even started.” He collected his things, rose, and was off.

Paige watched him walk away, strides long, knapsack casually hanging from one broad shoulder. He was older than her, but he moved like a man in his thirties. Fit, strong, confident.

Paige turned back to Elizabeth and discovered Elizabeth was smiling at her, and it was that incredibly annoying, knowing kind of smile that only Elizabeth could do.

“What?” Paige demanded. “Why the smirk?”

“Not smirking.”

“You’re totally smirking.”

Elizabeth gave her a knowing look. “You like him.”

Paige wondered what Elizabeth would say if she knew that this was the guy Paige had met in Paris. The guy who was adventurous in bed but completely out of Paige’s league. And realm of experience. “He’s a colleague who’s interesting, so yes, I like him in a professional sense, but I don’t like him romantically.”

“I disagree.”