At the end of finals week, Misha and his STEM colleagues hosted a farewell dinner for Justina at one of the more upscale restaurants in the small town. A few gifts were exchanged as they reminisced on the good times. While everyone took their turns hugging Justina goodbye in the restaurant’s foyer, Misha hung back to be last.

As the others filed out of the front door with chatter, he reached one hand to her waist for a hug, but Justina interrupted him with a hand on his wrist. “Wait, I want to have a talk with you.”

“Why does it feel like I’m about to get a lecture?” he teased with leery eyes.

“You might be.” She winked. “Do you know why I asked you to take Kayden when I leave?”

He smuggled a grin. “Because you knew I wanted to steal her from you anyway.”

Justina chuckled. “Well, yes, but also no.”

“You didn’t want to leave her jobless.”

“That’s true too, but she could’ve just gone with my replacement, I’m sure. I really wanted you two to work together because I figured you’d be good for each other.”

Misha’s playful grin faded as his eyes narrowed with a tinge of caution. “How do you mean?”

Leaning on the nearby console table, she spoke in an almost motherly tone, despite not even being a decade older than him. “First—why did you take this job?”

With his jaw suddenly clenched, he glanced away back into the dining area, his voice lowered and more serious in tone. “That question has complex answers.”

“Okay, then give me the simplest of them.”

His hands squeezed back into his pockets as his gaze fell to his shifting feet. The simplest answer wasn’t easy to pick from the roster. They all were simple in their own right. He ruminated over which ones he’d given in the past…the one he’d told Kayden. Finally he settled on probably the least weighty. “Well, then, it’s because I was fifteen when I went to college, and I didn’t get to experience it the same way everyone else did.”

Placing a hand gently on his pocketed wrist, she forced him to meet eyes again. “Now, over five years later, do you think you’ve ‘experienced college’ the way everyone else did?”

He huffed with a smile and a shrug, looking up at her from his downward-tilted brow. “No, of course not.”

With a fierce but impish tone, she pointed a finger near his face in a mock lecture, which startled him somewhat. “No—because you are all work and no play!”

Misha rolled his eyes to the ceiling with a playfully irritated grin. “Oh come on, Justina. I’m not such a hard ass anymore.”

With a chuckle, she gently patted his upper arm. “You’ve also been twenty years older than yourself since the day I met you.”

“That’s an improvement, honestly.”

“Listen, Kayden may be a bit of a workaholic, but that’s because she also plays hard.”

“Oh, did you finally find out about her second job?”

She gaped at him. “Her what?”

He rolled his lips between his teeth with wide eyes. “Oops.”

Her shoulders slumped in an air of defeat as she sighed and removed her glasses to wipe her hand down her face. “That little brat really hid another job from me this whole time?”

“I know. She’s a little too good at that. I didn’t know either until last week.”

Justina continued to grumble. “Wow, I didn’t realize she was so bad about it. I mean, I know she goes to parties and dances and stuff. I was hoping she could help you loosen up.”

One eyebrow arched incredulously. “I hope you’re not suggesting I party with Kayden.” As if he needed any outside encouragement.

She waved her palm dismissively, replacing her spectacles on her nose. “I’m just saying you don’t even know how to loosen up. Workaholic or not, at least Kayden does.”

He placed his palm on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I appreciate your concern for my well-being, Jus, but I’m a professor. My window of opportunity for college partying is long closed, along with many others.”

She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Stop talking like such an old man whose prime is over! You’re still young! Act like it! If not for your sake, then for mine, because I’m only forty and you’re making me feel elderly.” She flapped her wrist subconsciously in a semi-circle, referencing the space around them, or more broadly: the town. “You could at least go dancing around here occasionally, off-campus.”

Misha let out a single ‘ha’ before yielding. “All right, fine. I will try to ‘live it up’ a little… off campus.” He straightened his head to stare sternly at her.

With a sigh, she rolled her eyes fondly. “Okay, that’s good enough.” She reached up and scratched his bearded chin. “I bet if you shaved this, though, you could go incognito to a school-sponsored party.” She winked mischievously.

He shook his head with a smile, sharply exhaling through his teeth with a huff. “Tsst. You are something else.” He grasped her hand away from his face. “I’m going to miss you, Justina. Give me a hug, already.” They embraced before parting ways for the last time.