Read The Dark Proposal (The Claire McCormick Trilogy) for Free Online

giving me the 101 classes. They instead gave me the remedial courses where I was teaching writing to those who couldn’t put together a sentence for the life of them. It got so frustrating that I came to Richmond, where such courses don’t exist. I was also told I would get a 200 level course eventually. But no, I have yet to get one.”
    “It’s nepotism. Like you told me with freelancing, it depends on who you know and you shouldn’t complain because that’s life.” Claire felt nervous after those words left her mouth. Guaranteed Daniel would be even more upset.
    But he instead nodded slowly, still deep in thought. As he stayed silent for another minute, she quickly thought of something to say.
    “Did you know Colin Willis at all?” She was a little surprised she said that, given the sadness that still hovered over the English department. But it was still worth bringing up.
    He nodded, and blinked a few times to remove the faraway look in his eyes. He cleared his throat and straightened up. “I met him a few times. He was a good man, very friendly. Unbelievable what happened to him.”
    Claire gestured her sadness. “Yeah, he was my favorite professor. It was he who encouraged me to be a writer. Before, I wasn’t so sure what I wanted to major in. But when I took one of his classes, I was so inspired by him that I decided to major in English   and be a freelancer once I graduated.”
    Daniel smiled faintly. “Its nice to hear a student, or former student at least, be inspired to write. I try to do the same with my students, but to no avail. However, it is hard to teach those who are only looking to fulfill a requirement. Would someone interested in computer science care about the beauty of writing? No, math and computers are their fields. Same with the nursing and biology students. That is why they couldn’t care less about being great writers. They simply care about passing the class and moving on to what they really like.”
    It made sense to her because even she noticed it with the students coming into the department’s office. English was to them what a mandatory math course was to her. “I like what you say about writing. You are so passionate about it.”
    He smiled. “I’ve spent my whole life writing. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Some people say I was born with a pen in my hand.”
    Claire laughed. “Same here. But few people understand that.”
    Daniel just looked at her. She could see the tension in his face was going away and was being replaced by contentment, as if he enjoyed her company.
    “So, I got your emails telling me about how your week went. Tell me everything.”
    She gushed to Daniel about the two editors who accepted her pitches, and how meeting with one of them went. She did her best to tone down her excitement because she didn’t want to seem too immature for him. He was older than her, after all.
    When the waiter finally came by, Daniel switched gears and spoke to him in French. The waiter, who was French, seemed taken aback by Daniel’s good command of the language and chatted with him. Claire sat there, amazed by her luck to be on a date with such a cultured person. But she felt a little left out too.
    “Hey, parlez vous anglais ?” she said in a heavy American accent.
    The two looked at her and laughed gently together. She gave her order and the waiter took their menus and left.
    “I’m sorry, Claire,” Daniel said. “I just enjoy speaking in another language. It opens many doors to other worlds.”  
    “Is that all you speak? Just English and French?”
    “A little bit of Spanish and Italian. I can read some German as well.”
    “That reminds me, where do you come from?” she sat forward. “Your website says you went for your undergraduate and masters in England, but are you American born and raised?”
    “Yes, I’m actually originally from Upper West Side. I was born and raised there.”
    “No way! Do you still have family here?”
    “No. My