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exam.”
    “What can I do?” Becki asked, her eyes wet with pending tears.
    “Well, there is something.” This was always the selling point. It could go well or awful, depending on the student. Susan tried to select the student carefully to ensure the desired outcome—that student who would do almost anything for a good grade. You could spot a student who feared failure. “Maybe we can discuss it over dinner. I could get to know you better. You are a young, beautiful woman. I can find out what is distracting you, what has you overly distressed, then I could help you study.”
    At first, Becki didn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary, but she soon realized that this was a thinly veiled pass by a senior professor. “I…don’t know…”
    Susan nodded her head. Her legs crossed, she sat stiffly upright in her chair. She knew it would take some time for the true nature of her offer to be acknowledged.
    Silence passed between them as they stared at one another.
    “May I leave?” Becki said, twisting in her chair.
    “Of course, Becki.”
    Becki stood. Her firm ass was in the professor’s face as she turned to step around the chair. She opened the old mahogany door and left, shutting the door behind her.
    Susan looked out her window onto the campus. The students had thinned. It was past the hour and classes had started. A knock came at her door.
    Susan turned. “Yes.”
    Becki opened the door. “My grades mean a lot to me. Where would you like to meet for dinner?”
    ***
    Professor Susan McCandless walked down the sidewalk to a little out-of-the-way restaurant. She wore her gray skirt and high heel shoes she kept in the office for these situations. The cold rain made the street and sidewalk wet, reflecting the street lights. It’s too cold for early November , Susan thought. She reached down into her brown Burberry overcoat and retrieved her phone. She dialed home.
    “Hello,” her husband answered.
    “Hey, Eric.” Susan’s voice was flat and indifferent.
    “Where are you?”
    “I have to work late again tonight.”
    “Again?” Eric’s disappointment was audible. “Jesus, I swear you love that job more than anything. I can’t imagine caring that much about a job.”
    “No, you’ve never held a job long enough.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before.”
    “I called because I won’t be home until late. I have a couple of meetings with individual students— you know it’s getting close to the end of the semester and they want to improve their grades. This one can only do it tonight so I’m going to take advantage of her while I can.”
    “Are you sleeping with her?”
    The joke struck a cold chord with Susan, who nearly dropped the phone before laughing and playing along. “Yeah, that’s what I’m doing.”
    “Well, be careful. I know the girls miss you and so do I.”
    “Let me talk to them,” she said, peering into the restaurant window to make sure Becki wasn’t inside waiting. A little girl’s voice came on the phone. Amanda. This warmed Susan’s heart. They talked about their day. Her twin sister, Emily, took the phone after Amanda, both girls excited and sad to hear from their mom at this hour. This meant she would be home late, after they had gone to bed. They could handle her absence for a night. Susan hung up and went into the restaurant to wait.
    Becki arrived, wearing a long blue pea-coat with the collar pulled up around her neck, her wavy brown hair damp from the rain. She came to the table where Susan sat.
    “Hello, Dr. McCandless.”
    “Please, call me Susan.”
    Becki looked uncertain. “Susan.” She smiled. She slipped her coat around the back of her chair and sat down. She was dressed like a college student going for a job interview, conservative except for the low neckline that revealed her respectable cleavage.
    They made small talk and each ordered dinner salads, which came from the kitchen quickly. The conversation was putting Becki at ease. She discussed