Tasha yawned and stretched her body. It was Saturday, on checking the time she saw that it was seventeen minutes after two in the afternoon. She had to meet with a group of grad students physically in the morning and she just decided to stay back in the office and grade some papers. Since Tyson was with his best friend in school and his family for the weekend.
Tasha looked around her cozy office. She felt good and sad at the same time. Good about her career, which was soaring and at its best. A smile locked at the corners of her mouth as she relished the fact that she was going to become a full professor before the end of the academic session.
Her name and two other names of her colleagues in the department had been forwarded, along with the other names of staff to be considered for professorship this session.
She knew without any iota of doubt that she would make it. She had put in so much effort and she knew she deserved it.
She remembered she needed to call her father, who had been down with the flu for a few days now. Though he was getting better, she still had to check up on him several times every day. Tasha removed her reading glasses and put them in its case and sat up. She reached for her cell phone to dial her father’s number.
His cell phone rang and rang, and rang before he finally answered at the fourth dial.
“Hey princess,” his voice was barely audible through the static. “Tasha, darling, I’m sorry. I must have dozed off.”
“It’s okay, Dad. Are you feeling any better this afternoon?” Tasha asked, her voice filled with concern.
“I’m good now,” he replied. “I feel so much better now. Your mom is taking good care of me. I just feel a lil bit woozy, that’s all.
“It’s the drugs. It will soon clear off,” she said. “Your voice is now very clear. Just continue to take your fluid and don’t stress yourself.”
“Yes, I will, thank you my darling.” he coughed a bit. “How are you? Are you still in the office? You said you were off to school in the morning when you called.”
“Yes Dad,” she replied. But I have finished what I have been doing, so I will just take my leave after this call.”
“That’s good.” He chuckled, “It’s the weekend. You should be at home resting”
“I know,” she muttered fondly. “I have the rest of the day and tomorrow to rest. Don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
“How is Mom?” she asked. “Is she beside you?”
“She’s not here. She went outside to cut some herbs from the garden.”
“Oh, okay,” replied. I will call her later than.”
“Okay, dear.”
“I will try to make a trip down to Sandville next weekend,” she promised her father. “To check up on you and Mom.”
“That would be great,” the old man’s voice was filled with excitement now. “Your mother and I will be expecting you.”
Silence stretched between them for a moment, then her father cleared his throat and asked, “how are you Princess?”
“I’m good, Dad,” she replied as she shut down her office computer.
“I mean, how are you for real?” He whispered. “You know what I mean, you can talk to Daddy.”
“I know,” she stood up from behind her desk and went to stand beside the window, looking outside. Tasha felt a warmth in her heart, a reassurance that the love of her first hero will never change. She said, “honestly Dad, I am coping better than I did after Blake.” She released a puff of air through her mouth.
“You just hang in there, my princess,” her father encouraged. “Your very rightful man will find you. And very it will be: I assure you of that.”
“Thank you Daddy,” her lips curled up in a rye smile. “I know…I know.”
“We’ll talk more when you come next week,” he said.
“Yes, Dad.”
Her dad reminded her about taking a rest again. Started down his usual long drawn out lecture about our bodies needing rest before she chuckled loudly, promised him she would rest and cut off the line.
Her phone started ringing in her hand. She looked at the screen and it was Grant. Tasha cut off the call; it rang again, and she cut it off again. She wished he would just leave her alone. Her heart still felt heavy, her mind still trying to comprehend what had happened weeks ago.
Though Grant had not stopped begging her, she already made up her mind and there’s no going back. There was no way she could forget Grant’s betrayal. She knew she would forgive with time, but the memory would not fade away in a long while. A sigh escaped her lips.
Tasha folded her hands across her chest. Her gaze drifted to the towering oak tree outside her window, its branches heavy with snow. A flock of sparrows, their feathers puffed against the cold, hopped and chirped on a bare branch, their tiny bodies a stark contrast to the vast expanse of white.
She remembered she still had to stop over at the farmer’s market on her way home and returned to her desk. She packed the students’ papers she just finished grading into a large brown envelope and locked it away in one of her drawers.
She dropped her eye glasses case in her large tote bag along with all of her other personal effects. She put off the heater and pulled on her puffer jacket and stepped out of the office, locking the door behind her.
The late afternoon sun cast long, slanting shadows across the snow-covered campus as Tasha walked to the staff parking space. She pulled her puffer jacket tight against the chill. A grad student, bundled in a thick scarf, hurried across and called out a greeting to Tasha.
“Hi Dr. Harrison, are you leaving already?”
“Yeah, Daniel, bye. See you on Monday.
“Bye, doc.”
He replied, their breath forming wispy clouds in the frigid air.