Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,5

he’d thought that he’d never come back to Greenford, and yet there he was. Which was somehow more surprising than his job application to Greenford’s university being accepted.

The campus hadn’t changed much since the last time he saw it. The same sprawling stretches of lush grass between the buildings, the same quiet little pockets of peace that could be found in the trees which grew tall and strong. The buildings hadn’t changed much either, save for being updated with the latest technology. And other than the fashion trends and the arrival of smartphones since he’d last been on campus, the small groups and individual students roaming around looked the same.

It was strange seeing the past and the present overlap one another. It was the same sensation he’d experienced when he’d arrived back in Greenford for the first time in almost a decade. It wasn’t until he’d stumbled across a small strip mall where he’d remembered there being a park that the strange melding of past and present had jerked away with a harsh, mental snap.

“Caleb Riker?”

He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to find the dean waiting for him at his office door. Caleb guessed the man was in his mid-forties, if only because of the position he held. It certainly wasn’t because of his looks, as the older man could have easily passed for his late thirties and perhaps a bit younger. Streaks of pure silver mingled in his carefully maintained black hair, and he cut a decent figure in what Caleb was sure was a tailored shirt.

“Hello,” Caleb said, approaching to hold out his hand. “Thank you so much for this, Dean Thomas. It means quite a lot to me.”

Dean Thomas took his hand. “Please, call me Michael. Being referred to by my title all the time gets tiresome after a while.”

“I imagine I’ll have the same problem with ‘professor’ here soon,” Caleb said.

The dean winked, motioning him into the office. “Well, as someone who will be dealing mostly with athletes, I suspect you won’t have to worry about it too much. Most of our physical education students and those who use our facilities tend to be pretty casual.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the student body was casual,” Caleb noted, looking around the office as he entered. “Even when I was here, formality was on its way out, and quickly.”

The office was the same interesting mix of modern and old-fashioned. There wasn’t much in the way of personal decoration, save for a couple of frames propped up on the thick desk sat in front of a set of towering windows. Otherwise, the room could have easily fit right in with the waiting room, save that it had a few extra bookcases, and Caleb suspected the one cabinet at the back of the room contained alcohol.

Dean Thomas chuckled as he sat down, motioning to one of the two plush leather seats on the other side of the desk. “You wouldn’t be wrong. Time waits for no one, and what was a fact of my life going to college now seems antiquated and ridiculous to those attending classes here now.”

Caleb took the offered seat, keeping his hands clasped in his lap. “No offense, but you don’t seem all that bothered by it.”

The dean chuckled, wiping at the edge of his desk absently. “I know. Small town, quiet little college, and here I am, born and raised, and the dean of it. You’d think I’d err on the more conservative side, but I learned a long time ago that fighting change is like trying to fight gravity. It’s inevitable.”

Caleb wished he could have claimed such an easygoing relationship with change. It was something he’d always struggled with, particularly when change, as so often in life, was forced upon him. He was self-aware enough to know that it was one of his greatest weaknesses, and it could make him cranky, difficult, and downright demanding when it happened.

Time had dulled the edge of that particular set of traits, but that didn’t mean he’d become skilled at rolling with change. In truth, he knew change was a fact of life, just not one he was particularly happy about. Though he supposed it was a testament to his growth as a person that at thirty-four, he had learned to be patient with change, even if that change required him to come back to his hometown and start a whole new job all over again.

“That’s very wise of you,” Caleb said.

Dean Thomas chuckled softly,