She let out an exasperated laugh. “How can I not worry? I don’t have time for any more service. I barely have time for all the service assignments I have now.”

“I know,” Alejandro said.

“Do you?” Deja whined, annoyed with herself, but unable to modulate her voice to hide it.

“I do, actually,” Alejandro said in a calm voice. “I’m not that far past getting tenure myself.”

Deja turned to him, searching his face for something she couldn’t even clearly explain to herself. What she found were kind eyes full of sympathy. Looking at him now didn’t make her feel hot with desire; it calmed her. Looking at Alejandro looking at her made her feel seen, and it was as welcome as it was uncomfortable.

“How did you survive?” she asked in a small voice.

He smiled at her, and his voice was serious but kind. “The only way any of us survives. I asked for help.”

Deja turned away from his eyes, not wanting him to see her reaction. She could feel the sudden and insistent pressure at the back of her eyes, because she didn’t have help, and that had been her problem since she’d arrived. She had plenty of senior colleagues who weren’t interested in mentoring her but loved to foist their service assignments on her plate. And while she loved Marie, she was just as overwhelmed as Deja. The only help she had was Toni. She was tenured, capable, and always on top of her shit, which is precisely why she was mentoring practically every female faculty member, tenure-track and adjunct, that A&S had hired in the last five years. Deja couldn’t bring herself to heap any more responsibility onto her friend’s shoulders, so she was rudderless and felt more lost each semester. She didn’t want Alejandro to see her like that.

“I’ll handle all of the scheduling stuff,” Alejandro said, leaning toward her and gently bumping Deja’s shoulder with his own. “You just tell me when you’re free, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Deja looked up at him with wary eyes. “I can’t let you do that.”

He smiled down at her, with warmth suffusing his gaze. “Let me do this for you,” he said in a surprisingly soft whisper.

Her stomach flipped. “Okay,” she whispered back.

When they reached the side entrance to Mark Hall, Alejandro pulled the door open for Deja, and his hand moved from her elbow to her back.