Chapter 12
Two days later, Tony and I had to go to a hearing about the alleged sexual
harassment case. Nannette was there also and she kept glaring at me throughout
the whole thing. But when I looked at Tony he always gave me this warm smile
that seemed to say, “It’s okay. We’ll get through this.”
The hearing only seemed like an hour since there wasn’t much to argue
about. I told the President of Dundee and everybody else that Tony was not
sexually harassing me. Tony also denied the charges. Of course the subject of
the two of us having a relationship never came up—until Nannette pleaded
her case.
“I also have proof
of their relationship,” she said as she went up to the President and gave
him a piece of paper. He looked it over and looked at me and then at Tony.
“Mr. Slattery. Are
you and Jennifer having a romantic relationship?” he asked. Tony looked at
me. I sighed and gave him a nod.
“Yes, sir. We
are,” was Tony’s reply. “And how do you know this?”
“My secretary here
just gave me this transcript of a conversation between herself and
Jennifer.”
“But Jennifer would
never talk to that—to Nannette. She’s been harassing Jennifer and I
about the two of us being together!”
“Wait, Tony. One
day I was on the computer and Nannette sends me an instant message and asked
about Tony and me,” I blurted out. Luckily nobody told me to hush.
“Did you two ever
consider the consequences of what might happen before you went along with
this?” continued the President.
“Yes, we did. We
went through it very carefully. To tell you the truth, we weren’t planning
on anybody knowing about it.”
“You realize that
you could lose your position as the Rector of this University.”
“Yes I do, and
I’m willing to risk it.”
There were several gasps made from the people sitting in the room behind us.
“Tony, you are
risking losing a most respected position of the university to a romantic
relationship?”
“If that’s
the way it is, then so be it. I love Jennifer very much and I will do anything
to keep us together!”
I looked at Tony and he was smiling at me. I smiled back and he gave me a quick
wink. He’s actually risking his rectorship just to be with me? I
couldn’t let him do that though! I stood up and everybody in the room
turned and looked at me.
“Tony, no you
don’t have to do this! I mean, you earned your position and I don’t
wanna interfere with that!”
“No, Jen, darling.
You ARE that important to me. For a long time I thought I would never find
anybody to love. Then we met and I realized that I did find that somebody that I
could love and care for very much.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to give Tony the greatest hug and hold
him tight and never let him go. Apparently he read my mind and he went up to me
and we wrapped our arms tightly around each other.
“I love you,
Jennifer,” he whispered to me. “I love you too, Tony, “ I
whispered back. So for about a minute or so, we just stood there in each
other’s arms with everybody watching us.
The next day I received a long distance call from my grandma in Georgia.
Apparently somebody at Dundee called and told my family about the situation. She
began scolding at me because she says I was irresponsible to have let a man
harass me like that. Then I had to convince her that I wasn’t being
harassed and she went on saying that I was a sinner for being with a man twice
my age. She kept yelling and yelling and I just sat there rolling my eyes at
her.
Then the next day I received a phone call from
my aunt in California.
“What are you doing
over there? I thought I could trust you to be on your own,” she started
calmly.
“Nothing is wrong
over here, it’s just—“
“What do you mean
nothing is wrong? Jennifer, you’re boyfriend is a man who is twice your
age?”
“What’s wrong
with that?”
“You’re too
young! I’m afraid of what he’ll do to you!”
“He’s not a
bad guy! He won’t do anything to me!”
“You don’t
know that! He’s a man! He’s capable of anything!”
“But we’re in
love!”
“No, no, no. You
don’t know what love is…”
I closed my eyes and let out a loud sigh. This was going to be difficult. I
wasn’t used to arguing with people and I had a feeling she might win this
one. But my future with this man was in my hands, so I had to win this time.
“Well maybe I
don’t know what love is, but it seems really close right now. And why
should our age difference matter anyway? We’re perfectly fine being
together!”
“No, you’re
not! He might lose his job because of you!”
“He said he was
willing to risk his job on the line for me.”
“See the trouble
you’ve caused him? I don’t think you should see him
anymore.”
“What? We
can’t just let go of each other just like that!”
“I want you to come
back here.”
“What?”
“You are not
staying over there anymore. You’re coming back here and living with
me.”
“But—“
“No. I don’t
want you to stay there with him anymore. I’ve already bought you your
plane ticket.”
What the fuck?! She’s already arranged for me to come back! I
couldn’t just leave Tony like that!
“What if I
don’t come back?”
“You have to. You
can’t stay there with him.”
“Why
not?”
“Because I just
don’t want you to. Now you will come back, right?”
I flopped down on my bed and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to leave Tony.
And I didn’t want my aunt’s money to go wasted on paying for my
ticket. She told me that the flight was in two days. There was a long pause
before I finally told her I would go back to California.
After we hung up, tears began streaming down my face. I don’t want to
leave Tony! I can’t leave him! He’s the best thing that’s come
into my life so far and I didn’t want to give him up just like that. I
went straight to Tony’s office to deliver him the bad news. Nannette was
sitting nearby again in her usual place. I wiped a tear from my eye and knocked
on the door. Tony was inside and told me to come in. I closed the door behind me
and I saw Tony sitting at his desk.
“Bloody ‘ell!
What did she do to you now?” he said as he quickly jumped out of his chair
to come over and put his arms around me.
“I have some really
bad news, Tony.”
“Oh? About
what?” he said as he brought us both to the couch to sit down.
“My family
doesn’t want us to see each other anymore.”
“Well they’ll
never know will they? It’s not like they’ll have us patrolled day
and night to see if ever converse!”
“No. They
won’t because…because my aunt wants me to move back to
California.”
“California?
You’re not going, are you?”
I looked into Tony’s eyes and I almost burst into tears. Just the thought
of leaving Tony made me cry.
“Oh darling please
say you’re not going?”
I looked in his eyes again and this time I could see how watery they were
getting. I nodded and buried my head into his chest. He held me close and began
petting my head and back.
“You absolutely
have to go? What am I going to do without you here with me?”
“I don’t
know, Tony! I don’t know what I’ll do without you over there! But I
have to go back! My aunt’s already paid for my ticket!”
I heard that Tony began sniffling and wiping tears away from his eyes.
“I don’t want
to let you go. I’m afraid I’ll never see you again!”
“I don’t want
you to let go either…but you have to. And I know we’ll see each
other again! I know it!”
But deep inside of me I had an inkling of a feeling that we wouldn’t see
each other ever again. Tony hated to travel, much less flying overseas. There
was no hope of him ever coming to the States to see me. We sat there for about
an hour crying in each other’s arms and then he took me back to my place.
He spent the night with and helped me pack the next day. We spent almost every
waking (and sleeping) moment together, knowing that it could have been our last.
The day of my departure quickly arrived. I bid farewell to Theresa and I gave
her my number, email, and anything just so we could keep in touch with each
other. The school had a bus drive me to the airport and Tony came along. I knew
this was going to be the hardest part of the whole situation: the long ride to
the airport, and saying farewell at the gate. We sat at the gate holding hands,
with my head on his left shoulder. The voice over the intercom began boarding us
onto the plane. I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach as we both stood up from
our seats. He had his arms around my waist and mine around his neck.
“Well. This is it,
Tony. We have to say goodbye now…”
Tony slowly began shaking his head. We looked deeply into each other’s
eyes and the tears rolled out of them.
“Oh God I
don’t want you to go!” Tony almost screamed as we both burst into
tears. We hugged and held each other as tightly as we could.
“I don’t want
to leave you!” I whispered. “But it’s probably for the
best…”
“No! It’s
not! This is screwed up! This is fucking screwed up! You’re not supposed
to leave! We’re supposed to be together!” Tony stuttered in between
sobs. Tony was really crying harder than I was, surprisingly.
"I'm so sorry, luv! I told you
every thing will work out fine but it didn't! I lied to you! I'm terribly
sorry!"
"No! Tony you didn't lie to me!
Don't apologize! This shit just happened, it wasn't your fault! Alright?"
Silence. I didn't acknowledge anybody else in the
airport. Time seemed to stand still and that we were the only two beings on
earth.
“I love you
Tony.”
“I love you more,
Jen.”
I rubbed his back and gave him one last pat. We let go and wiped each
other’s tears from our faces.
“Take care of
yourself, dahling,” I said as I picked up my purse and handbag.
“I’ll try.
You be good now,” he said as he wiped away the last of his tears. I gave
him a little smile and headed for the gate. I turned around for one last look
and he was fixing his hair and smiling at me. Of course it was a sad smile, and
I gave him a little wave and boarded the plane.