“Why would a woman run out like that? Why would you—or she—want to hide that way? I thought maybe the woman’s married.”

“No. God, no.”

“And then I thought maybe it was a student.”

“Preston—”

“You don’t have to say anything. We’re not talking in any kind of official capacity. We’re talking as friends, even though we’re in Goodlaw. And I hope they change the name because Hiram Goodlaw owned slaves. But that’s neither here nor there. No, what does matter is that the campus environment has really changed in the last year or so. They were slow off the mark. A lot of old, entrenched attitudes that needed to change out here in the hinterlands. Now the university is really taking it seriously when it comes to relationships between professors and students. And they should. All universities should. It’s about time we listened to women. This is a new era. It’s here to stay. And I know you agree with me.”

“Of course. But there was nothing like that—”

“After what you’ve been through, I wouldn’t judge you for anything you did. But . . . even though you got the tenure vote, it can eventually be taken away if anything improper is going on. Tenure won’t protect you, even with the book being published. I don’t want to see that happen to you. And I don’t want to see it happen to this department. It gives everybody a black eye. It really does. I don’t want people to think we condone that behavior. I want this department to be out front, doing the right kinds of things. I want this department to be a model.”

“I know you care about that.”

“We all should. Speaking of that, Kelly has a new friend, a woman who just moved to town to work in IT at General Motors. She could set you up.”

“Preston, you have to believe me. There’s nothing like that going on. It really was just a friend who came by the house last night. I’ve never . . . I mean, I would never with a student. I don’t believe in that any more than you do.”

“Okay, good.” He looks relieved, like a man who was just told he doesn’t have any cavities. “I’m sorry. Maybe I was out of line bringing that all up. I want to make sure you get all the good things you deserve. And coming out of this funk you’ve been in . . . there might be temptations. Let’s face it: These students worship you.”

“They’re kids. They don’t know anything about the world.”

“You’re a published author and a professor. They look up to that.”