Read Stepping Up To Love (Lakeside Porches 1) for Free Online Page A

muttered.
    “And a fine good morning to you, too, Nephew.”
    “Justin, where are you?”
    “Back of beyond. I got your message on my wall.”
    “You’re too old to use Facebook. Why don’t you have an email address like everyone else your age?”
    “Hey, I return your call, and you complain about my communication habits. What’s up with that? ”
    “All right. Let’s start over.” Joel let out a cleansing breath and breathed in another one. “Thanks for getting back to me, Uncle.”
    “What can I do for you, Nephew?”
    “The college that bears my mother’s name is harboring a predator who’s been beating up on and having his way with one of my employees, and—”
    “Not so fast. Is this young woman of age?”
    “She’s twenty-two.”
    “And is it consensual?”
    “No. It’s long-term and coerced.”
    “Technically, she was free to walk away?”
    “Technically.” Joel’s tone was sour.
    “You asked for counsel. I’m trying to point out what others would see in the same circumstances.”
    “Neanderthals, maybe. The police are prepared to protect her.”
    “I’ve never known you to involve the police.”
    “Are you opposed?”
    “No. Just surprised. Normally, the college covers up its dirty secrets, and I know that has always bothered you. What’s different about this?”
    “Is was the right thing to do.”
    “Do you have a thing for the young woman?”
    Joel yelled, “He threatened her with loss of her scholarship, and finishing her degree seems to be the only thing she cares about right now, besides getting sober.”
    “Ah, so you identify with her as a very young person that needs to get sober?”
    “Yes,” he snapped.
    “And you have a thing for her?”
    Joel threw his pillow across the room. “Beside the point.”
    “Not if you act on it,” Justin said sternly. “While she’s a student at your college and particularly while she’s going through whatever ordeal she’s going through, keep your hands off her.”
    “I know all that,” Joel said impatiently. “Look I need your counsel about my options here.”
    “You have no options for the girl.”
    “For the college,” Joel growled.
    He laid out the situation with the professor who had been sexually harassing more students than Manda, according to the provost. Three young women had come forward together last week, and Lydia suspected there were more. “I told Lydia I would support any investigation she or the president believed was necessary.”
    “This must be a nightmare for them. I’m sure they appreciate your support.”
    Joel was quiet too long.
    “What am I missing?” Justin prompted.
    “For one thing, the professor’s identity.”
    “Who is it?”
    “Kristof. Lorraine’s ex.”
    “Your ex’s ex?” Justin let out a roar of laughter at his own cleverness.
    Joel let him have the point without further comment.
    “Well, I feel bad for her—Lorraine, that is. When you broke off the engagement, she picked up with this character because he was devastatingly handsome and brilliant—good qualities for the children she desperately wanted to have. Judging by how it’s worked out, she should have had him investigated before she married him. Is she still ‘newly single’?”
    “Newly single and living with the children in the UK in a sleepy valley where several college roommates also have estates. She’ll find Mr. Right one of these days. I spoke with her this afternoon, and she confirmed the story. I gave her hell for abandoning her student housekeeper to her lothario husband, and she blew it off.” Joel let out his breath in a pained sigh. “You knew her better than I did.”
    “Yes, but it doesn’t make me happy to hear that admission. Watch yourself. She may come back for you now that you’ve made contact with her.”
    “Don’t go there,” Joel warned him. “Listen, there’s another matter that is almost certainly unrelated, except it was the beginning of Manda’s trouble with the