Chapter 4

The young woman before me shifted slightly nervously in her seat. I gave her a perfunctory smile.

"So. Doctor Webb. Settling in alright?"

She nodded, "Oh, absolutely - I have everything set up in my office, and I think I've managed to pull together all the syllabus materials I need."

"Excellent." I knew it would take her - or anybody - longer than a few days to settle in, but I wanted her to be as self-sufficient as possible, so this was good. "And have you had a chance to look at those project ideas yet?"

"Um... yes," she said, suddenly looking around herself as though she had meant to bring some physical evidence of this. "I'll email you my notes?" she suggested eventually. "Or, I mean, I don't want to bother you but if you wanted to meet and discuss them..."

"Email them, and I'll look them over and we can meet on... Friday afternoon," I said, glancing at my diary.

"Oh. Right, great," Webb replied, looking slightly more worried now. "Thanks."

I wondered idly why she seemed quite so nervous around me. According to Sarah she seemed quite friendly and self-assured - and I trusted Sarah's judgement probably more than I did my own (she'd never liked Keith, for a start off - or my old assistant). So this was obviously about me.

I wasn't really used to people feeling intimidated by me - sure I was accomplished, but being an attractive, relatively young woman usually meant that I had to work harder than usual to be taken seriously. And yet here she was. Squirming.

Eventually I decided that there wasn't much point in having an assistant who was scared of me and that I ought to at least try and set her at ease. The problem was, I didn't know anything about her. "So. Sarah says you're a coffee drinker. Have you tried the cafe upstairs yet?"

"Um. No, not yet," she managed, looking more bemused than nervous now.

"Well. It's certainly better than the instant stuff in the breakroom. In case you ever despair."

"I'll have to make a point of doing that. Thanks." Webb seemed to relax slightly now, though she looked a little on the confused side.

That wasn't really my problem, though. "You're welcome. I don't drink coffee myself but I understand how important it is for some people." Keith had been one of those near-unintelligible-until-coffee morning types. When I had found out about the affair I may have put soap powder in his state-of-the-art espresso machine.

"More of a... tea drinker?" she hazarded now, apparently at least trying to make small talk now.

"Mm, no, not really. I don't really go in for hot drinks."

"I hear they make iced tea..." Webb observed, and I was pleased to see her smile a little.

I favored her with a chuckle, if only to encourage this sort of behavior more, and nodded. "That they do. Maybe I should tell Sarah to start stocking that in the staff room as well."

"I don't think they allow drinks in the staffroom that don't involve boiling water at some point along the way."

"Shame. I suppose I'll just have to keep smuggling my own beverages in," I said, nodding to the Nalgene bottle half-full of water on the corner of my desk.

"Ah hah." Webb - what was her first name again? Alexandria? She smiled again at this, and offered. "I had a professor once who never went anywhere without a bottle of water. Turned out he was drinking vodka tonics."

"Don't think I haven't thought of it - especially during Macromolecular Structure and Function," I told her, rolling my eyes.

My new assistant narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion. "Isn't that one of the courses you're having me run seminars for?"

"As a matter of fact, it is. And I'll be checking your water bottles from now on, so be careful."

This time I got a genuine chuckle, and it made me feel slightly more benevolently inclined towards her. Which is of course why I immediately changed the topic. "So, Friday afternoon. Three pm?"

"Um, oh! Yes. I'll write it down."

"Good. And if you need anything before then, talk to Sarah. She'll get you sorted out."

 

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