bad after all. She liked teaching, and furthermore she was good at it. She’d needed a reminder of that. The relentless disappointment of her job search and the breakup with Paul had both sapped her confidence these last few months. But now she knew. She could do this.
Mia spun her chair in a circle, grinning. She felt like celebrating.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have anyone to celebrate with. Although she’d gotten to know her new colleagues in the department a little better over the last week, none were candidates to become the sort of friends she could confide in or hang out with for fun.
She had no one to share this small triumph with. At the realization, a pang of loneliness punctured her euphoria.
But then she remembered Andie. It felt like they were on the way to becoming friends. She’d be at work now, but Mia could call her later. Maybe they could go out for dinner.
And there was Birdie, of course. She always seemed happy to talk, and she’d probably love to hear about Mia’s first day of class.
Mia’s mind leaped to Josh next. But her feelings about him were confusing and doused with uncertainty.
Better not to think about him at all. She didn’t need another man in her life distracting her from her goals or undermining her confidence.
She didn’t need another man in her life, period.
Mia’s routine quickly fell into a manageable pattern. Teaching and office hours, trips to the grocery store, occasional chats with Birdie in the yard. Phone calls with her sister and her friends back in LA. She even got together with Andie a couple more times.
If only she could bring the same energy to her knot problem. She remained stuck and couldn’t seem to get unstuck. Meanwhile, the end of her employment contract loomed on the distant horizon like a mushroom cloud. A year sounded like a long time, but university hiring cycles could be lengthy, and new positions were often posted up to nine months in advance. Before she knew it, it would be time to go back on the job market. And with nothing to show for herself, she was unlikely to have any better luck than she’d had this year.
There was a possibility Bowman might offer her another contract. But it wasn’t something that could be counted on. Another year at Bowman wasn’t something she wanted, anyway. It was one thing to put up with a place for a year, and another altogether to let yourself get stuck there. Career momentum was hard to get back once you let inertia overtake you. You had to keep moving if you wanted to get anywhere.
It was nearing the point where she needed to either crack this proof or admit defeat and move on to something else. Already she’d begun considering other topics for publication. The problem was none of them were anywhere near as good. But something would be better than nothing.
That was her plan for the evening as she headed home, a little over a month after moving to Crowder. She was going to make a list of potential papers she could throw together quickly. Once she’d done that, she would pick two, write them up, and start submitting to every journal she could think of.
Unfortunately, her air conditioner had other plans.
When she walked into her apartment, the temperature was stifling. So hot it felt like it was singeing the hair on her arms.
Normally, she left the AC on energy saver while she was gone, which kept the apartment at a barely tolerable eighty degrees. But tonight it was like an oven inside. You could probably bake a cake by leaving it on the countertop.
She went to check the AC, which was rumbling and blowing as usual, but the air coming out of it was hot and humid. Switching it from energy saver to max cool had no effect. Neither did adjusting the temperature. She could barely breathe in the apartment, it was so hot. She opened all the windows, but the air wasn’t that much cooler outside, and there wasn’t enough of a breeze to penetrate the swelter inside.
By that point so much sweat had collected in her bra that it had soaked through to her shirt. Mia went downstairs and knocked on Birdie’s back door for help.
When she explained the problem, Birdie invited Mia into her blissfully air-conditioned house and made a lovely, comforting fuss over her. Mia was given a glass of sweet iced tea and a seat under the ceiling