Being Harrison Bloom’s Girl

Chapter 4

A week later, Leigh decided that she was fine, really. She was fine as long as she didn’t let herself think too much. So, of course, she made a mental list.

There were lots of things to put down in the positive side of the list: her mom and dad hadn’t had any more trouble with reporters or tabloids. Tabloids themselves seemed to have gotten over the idea of her and Harrison a bit – there wasn’t too much of it anywhere anymore.

She was finally beginning to feel like she was getting the hang of the rhythms of campus. Her papers were better, and her grades were getting back to what she was accustomed to.

Harrison and she had a routine, and since a routine was what she needed, that worked, too. Of course, that routine had been built on her insistence and at her convenience, which made her selfish and self-absorbed, but it was fine. It was part of that give and take that people talked about. Right now, she needed it, and Harrison had told her that he was all right with it.

She’d decided to take him at his word.

But then came the problem that she didn’t know what to do with: Roger. Was he on the pro or con side of it?

Roger had been a huge hit with everybody. Every girl in class seemed to have a crush on him. Even the dean, a very formidable woman who had seen and heard everything, had been heard giggling when Roger was around.

But Roger seemed to want to spend time with Leigh.

At first, it had been only about the paper. He had pointed out a few things that Leigh had never considered, and in the process, he had gotten her fascinated with Criminal Law, something she had never really been all that interested in.

Her firm hadn’t really been into actual Criminal Law. They had mostly been about civil litigation, lawsuits, class actions suits – not the kind of practice where you defended people who were accused of violent crime.

That was where most of the money was.

But Roger had turned his back on all that money for so long. He was the only man she had ever known who had decided that his principles and values were worth more than the payoff, and she admired him for it.

Hard to find anybody like that, she mused.

“Stop daydreaming. Just because you’re back to getting As, you can’t just sit there and dream all day.”

Hana was disgruntled.

Leigh knew how to fix that now.

“I guess that means it’s time for pancakes.”

Hana pouted.

“You’re trying to get me fat so that the hunky new professor won’t leave you and decide I have more promise.”

Leigh chuckled.

“He just happened to see me first, and I found his books interesting, that’s all. Besides, I’m picking his brains while helping him set up the house. He has so many books that we got a bunch of DIY shelves. He is really bad at DIY. I’m better.”

Hana wrinkled her small, cute nose.

“I cannot believe that he’s bad at anything. I bet he’s magnificent at everything. Those hands of his – so long and delicate! I bet he can play the piano.”

Leigh smiled.

“No, he plays the violin. He has it at home. He promised to play for me soon.”

Hana smiled a little slyly.

“Sounds like the two of you are really getting along. I noticed you getting a lot of new thoughts about Criminal Law.”

Leigh shrugged.

“He brings a fresh approach to all of it. He doesn’t make it all sound distant and factual. He makes it sound like it matters – in the immediate future. As if it’s really important, if you know what I mean.”

Hana nodded.

“I do, Leigh, but be careful. He is a professor. The powers that be have always disapproved of students and professors getting too…close.”

Leigh pretended not to understand what Hana was getting at.

“I guess they need to be careful about that, what with the power imbalance and the chances of favoritism.”

Hana rolled her eyes and gestured theatrically.

“And you have Prince Charming. Don’t forget Prince Charming.”

Leigh grinned, but it felt like a grimace on her face. Trust Hana to bring up what she was so carefully trying to avoid thinking about.

“I never forget my Prince Charming, as you call him. Harrison and I are good now, Hana. We’re doing much better.”

Maybe if she said it aloud a few more times, she might even believe it.

“If you say so, but you haven’t had any grand gestures lately.”

Leigh shrugged.

“I’m glad, it means that he’s coping much better. I thought he would be upset about me not going home for three weekends straight, but I think it’s fine. It’s difficult, Hana. It’s a completely different world with him and here. I need to find my feet here now. That’s important. He understands that.”

At least, Leigh thought he did.

Hana smiled gently.

“I know that. I know it’s difficult. But I don’t know how he’d feel about the amount of time you’re spending with Roger. And if you really want to find your feet here, the risk you’re taking there is probably not a good idea, either.”

But Leigh was feeling extremely stubborn. Roger and she had done absolutely nothing inappropriate, and acknowledging that a man was very attractive was not the same as being attracted to him.

But then, there were those long, delicate hands and how careful they were when he handled his books. There was that charming grin, and the way his voice made everything he said sound so interesting.

Maybe her motives in spending time with him weren’t as innocent as she pretended.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Everything is perfectly fine and above board. Anyway, I’m not spending all that much time with Roger. It’s just a few minutes here and there, and I helped him with his books that one evening, after that first evening when I helped him pack and move.”

Hana let it go. There was no point pushing it when Leigh was determined to stick her head in the sand. When Leigh was defensive, there was no way to get anywhere.

“I’m going to go out and read for a while. I need…”

Leigh didn’t finish her words. She just grabbed her backpack and headed out.

She found a spot – she was beginning to think of it as her spot, under a tree, not too crowded – and settled down with her laptop, the book she’d gotten out of the library at Roger’s recommendation, and the smoothie she’d made before leaving the house.