Alejandro just nodded, panicking inside at wanting to tell her but knowing that he shouldn’t. If Deja wasn’t ready to tell HR, she almost certainly didn’t want the chair of his department to know.

“Ah, never mind,” Sheila said. “That question is probably an HR nightmare. Forget I even said anything.”

Alejandro laughed, happy to comply. Mike silently nodded, winking at Alejandro behind Sheila’s back.

“Alejandro,” the student behind the counter yelled, two cups in her hand. “Oh hey, Profé, what’s up?”

Alejandro walked to the counter and smiled at Liliana Juarez. He took the cups of coffee from her. “Lili, where have you been? I thought you were going to be in my ‘Revolutions’ class this semester.”

She shrugged. “I wanted to, but my off-campus job changed my hours this semester, so I had to drop. Maybe next time?”

Alejandro nodded. “I’ll make sure I teach it again before you graduate, alright?”

Liliana smiled brightly. “You’re the best, Profé, you know that?”

“Say that louder,” he teased and tilted his head to Sheila, “Dr. Meyer’s my boss.”

Sheila laughed, and Liliana waved before moving away to make another drink.

Another student handed Mike a cup, and Alejandro nodded his head at his friend. “We’ve got a meeting in a bit,” he said to Sheila. “Have a good afternoon.”

Sheila smiled at him. “Who’s the second coffee for?” she asked.

Mike did a bad job of hiding this burst of laughter.

Alejandro thought about lying, but he hated that. Besides, there was a perfectly plausible reason for this. “Um, Deja Evans in Sociology. We’re co-chairing that new outreach committee for the Dean. Remember?”

“Oh yes, I know Deja.” That was all Sheila said before turning away.

Alejandro and Mike walked out of the coffee shop and through the student union cafeteria. Mike at least had the decency to wait until they were completely outside before he burst out laughing again.

“I hate you,” Alejandro muttered.

Twenty-Three

Deja closed her office door at exactly two on the dot, and someone knocked before she could even get back to her desk. She exhaled in annoyance, turned, and wrenched the door open again. Her work smile shifted into an actual smile at the sight of Alejandro standing in the hallway, a cup of coffee in each hand.

“Ready?” he asked, entirely too cheerful for this meeting.

She turned around and muttered, “No.”

The door closed behind him. “Sounds like you’re having a great day.”

Deja grabbed her notebook, a pen, and her phone.

“I swear, I haven’t had a moment to rest since…” Her voice trailed off as the smile on Alejandro’s face widened.

He smiled at her as if they shared a dirty secret because they did, a good and dirty one.