“Boss, there are several pictures of you, Sean, and Evelyn together all over social media.”
Logan gets up from his desk and paces.
“What’s so wrong about that? We get a lot of coverage from the media when we attend events.”
“That’s not what these pictures show,boss.”
I go over to Linda and gently take the notebook she’s holding in her hands. She lets go of it reluctantly. I scan the notebook, and there in big bold letters is the word “kissing”. And now I know exactly what these pictures are.
“The bastard has posted the pictures of us kissing,” I say.
“All of them?”
“By the number of phone calls we are getting, I bet he did.”
“Well, so much for coming out in a decent way.”
Linda starts to shift her weight from one foot to the other.
“There’s more Linda, isn’t there?” I ask.
Linda nods her head.
“Boss, it seems that the real problem is that people are outraged that the woman in the pictures with you is a student at Stanford.”
Then, I know what the real problem is.
“Logan, these pictures are more damaging to Evelyn than they are to us.”
“Yes, boss. The students think that Evelyn has been dating the both of you to get perfect grades. It makes her look overly ambitious and willing to do anything to receive the top grade.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Logan shouts.
I feel hot all over just like when I ate the Indian curry. My chest is burning, and I want to punch somebody. In the old days, I would have punched Logan but of course, things are different now.
“I want to go to Evelyn,” I say.
Linda shakes her head.
“Evelyn is in the thick of it right now. She’s on campus right now attending her classes.”
This makes Logan and I feel worse.
“We’ve got to go get her.”
“That will only make things worse Logan.”
“But she shouldn’t be going through this alone.”
“She won’t. We will fix this.”
With that, I leave the office. The phones are still ringing off the hook. I leave Logan’s building and go to my building, taking the stairs two at a time to get to my office. When I open the front lobby doors, I hear the phones ringing off the hook.
Evading everyone, I sneak into my office and take out a legal pad. I’m going to list all the things we can do to clear up this mess for Evelyn.
I really love this girl and I don’t want her to come to any harm. There must be something I can do, anything.
Whatever I do, it has to include Logan. The two of us together make a mighty team. I can’t help thinking of the three of us together and how well we fit. What if Evelyn decides to end her relationship with us?
That thought is a kick in my stomach. I start scribbling away on my legal pad. I will find a solution if it’s the last thing I do.