Chapter Text
Rain pounded hard on the windshield of the classic BMW. Rhett had inherited it from a long dead uncle and never saw a need to replace it. Whenever his colleagues asked him when he was going to upgrade he would flash them a courtesy smile and say. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Rhett swung his long legs out of the car and used his tattered leather briefcase to shield his hair as he jogged to the geosciences building. Couldn't let his perfect coiffeur get flattened. He did his best to avoid the puddles forming on the tile inside the door. “Gotta call facilities about that. All we need is a broken leg and a lawsuit.”
Rhett climbed the stairs two at a time to the top floor where his office was tucked into a corner of the old stone building. On the door hung a sign that read, “R. McLaughlin, Prof. of Paleontology”. Rhett hung his tweed suit jacket on the hook behind the door. There was no insulation at all in these walls and late summer in New England could bring a chill to your bones especially on a rainy day, so he flicked on the unsanctioned space heater and got himself situated for the day. “Bet the dean has one of these too.”
Rhett’s office was a cozy spot lined with overflowing bookshelves on 3 sides and a small walnut desk in front of the only window. Atop the desk was an eclectic collection of small fossils and rocks from various digs that Rhett had taken part in. His favorite of these was a hadrosaurus egg he found in China last summer. Behind the desk sat a well-worn leather deskchair that Rhett loved to blame for his chronic back problems. And in front of it was a green wingback chair for students or visitors, but mostly for when he had his afternoon cup of tea and read the day's news.
The scratching at the door told Rhett that his 7 a.m. standing appointment had arrived. He opened the door just wide enough to let in a fluffy white cat. “Good morning, Babs.” Barbara was the department mascot. Nobody knew where she came from or how she got to the 3rd floor but she had claimed it as her own. She was a good mouser and a balm to the soul on stressful days, so no one turned her in for squatting. Rhett sat at his desk and Barbara jumped up to sit in his lap for her morning pets. He turned towards the rain streaked window and watched as the headlights passed by in the parking lot below.
What caught his attention most was a man who was trying to wrestle with an umbrella that had turned inside out. He wore a pair of dark denim pants with wide cuffs and a mustard yellow cardigan that was open and flapping in the wind. He had a messenger bag slung over his shoulder and what looked like a large vase under his other arm. Rhett would have mistaken him for a student if it hadn't been for the salt and pepper hair he had swept to the side. It was slowly melting in the rain now that the umbrella was a fail.
The man gave up and tossed the umbrella in a trashcan by the door to the arts building. He glanced up at Rhett's window. As their eyes met Rhett caught a flash of intense blue behind the thick framed glasses he wore and it caused a flutter in Rhett's stomach. The man smiled and pushed his way inside the building. “Wonder who that is, Barbara?” The unconcerned cat spun around 3 times and laid down in Rhett's lap. “You're right. Probably best if we leave that be.” Rhett turned back to his desk to start the day.