The Simpler Life

14

Chapter 14

"I guess, I just grew tired of waiting...," Tucker said, continuing to tell about his reasons for leaving Yale a handful of years ago. Not everything in academia happened because one worked hard for it. It took a certain amount of patience, luck and social skills as well.

Tucker had changed considerably, his hair having gotten a hint of gray in time and he no longer wore glasses, apparently. Maybe he'd gotten Lasik surgery? Rory wasn't about to ask, but he looked good even without his glasses. His outfit consisted of a black V-neck and a casual khaki dress-shirt, leaving him looking a lot fresher than the slightly geeky sweater and shirt combo that had been 'in' more than ten years ago Rory remembered.

"I've heard the competition can be pretty brutal in academia," Rory commented, sitting across from him, after swallowing a bite of her Chicken Genovese. The restaurant in the center of Middletown wasn't too fancy, despite trying to be, but it was fine considering Rory was mostly just in awe of the fact that Tucker had agreed to go out with her regardless of her condition. She'd dined in a huge variety of places - a small town wanna-be restaurant was definitely not enough to make judgements based on it.

"Oh, don't get me started. I think I might scare you off for good if I go into it," Tucker admitted, adding a nervous chuckle. The fact that he was nervous, almost made him more attractive to Rory.

Rory chuckled, finding it odd to think someone was genuinely concerned about scaring her off.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Complain all you want, I don't mind," Rory encouraged, hoping he'd relax a little more.

"Nah, I better not," Tucker replied, humbly.

"But what has made you stick to this line of work then? I am sure there are industry jobs for someone with your skillset?" Rory asked, hoping it wasn't too forward. It was such a journalistic question to ask, one that was actually kind of hard to answer, making her nearly regret asking it. This was supposed to be a date, not an interview. But then again Rory was a little rusty on dating, too.

"Honestly?" Tucker asked, taking a quick sip of his wine, as he'd been beginning to before the question had finished. "It has its perks. Especially in a smaller college like this... The students are great, most of the faculty, too. As long as I stay clear of the politics of it as much as I can, the manuscripts just sort of write themselves and the summers off is a big bonus," he explained.

"Hey, I want a manuscript that writes itself!" Rory complained, jokingly. She wasn't yet sure whether she wanted to reveal to him that she was writing a book.

Tucker laughed. "Mostly it just comes down to being a part of a lot of different projects. The grad students do a lot of the work and we all do our small part. We're involved in some European projects as well," he continued to explain. "Here I go again, it's not my work I came here to talk about," Tucker scolded himself, laughingly.

"It's fine. Really," Rory replied, recognizing a fellow workaholic when she saw one. Not that she really was one these days, but she could relate.

"What about you? You said something about working for a small newspaper?" Tucker asked instead.

"Small is an understatement, really. I mean, the paper gets put together by me and two other people, basically. Mostly me, if I say so myself," Rory explained, for the first time actually feeling a little ashamed of not being able to boast about some place bigger and better. "It's just the small, nearly dying, town Gazette that I decided to not let be put down just like that, basically like charity work," Rory laughed, mostly laughing at herself to hide the nervousness. "And I recently started an editing job on the side. It's long distance mostly," Rory added. It was even a surprise to herself, how much more self-worth the small job was giving her.