Joshua's Grace

Chapter 5 (2)

Once back at her office, he phoned home and left a message for Zac. Then they both worked. Or at least, for the benefit of the other, they both pretended to be busy.

Joshua attended her lecture. He wasn't letting her out of his sight. Not for one moment.

He sat in the back row and watched as a steady stream of students filled the small lecture theatre. He was intrigued to see a sizable number of men attended the lecture and he wondered whether his presence would make Grace uneasy. He watched her switch on the console, and insert her disc. The first slide of the powerpoint presentation flashed onto the screen.

The seats were gradually filled and when she was ready to start she simply said in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the chatter, "Good evening." A gradual hush descended as everyone focussed on her. She smiled as she waited for them to settle. Then she began, "Last week, we pursued the notion.....

Joshua was surprised to find that forty five minutes had passed from the moment he started listening to her talk. He was impressed by the way she presented her material and he was fascinated by the material she presented. Even though he knew nothing about the area, he had been engrossed throughout the class. There were things he was going to ask her about, later, when he took her home. That had him smiling. He was going home with her. That made him inordinately pleased.

He was still mulling over some of the points she had highlighted and found himself listening avidly to fifteen minutes of follow up questions. There was plenty to talk about. Issues that he wanted to talk about. It had been fascinating. That surprised him.

There had been over a hundred students there and as they left he listened to them. They were still discussing some of the issues, weighing up the ideas.

None of her students would have guessed that she had had a lousy day. That her day prior to this lecture had been filled with threats, violence and concern. She came across as informed, amiable and articulate. Yes, he was impressed.

The more he got to know her the more he found himself ensnared.

He waited patiently for her while she talked to a few students who had ambled to the front to seek further clarification. Joshua watched as she dealt with each situation quickly and affably. When the last student departed she threw Joshua an apologetic smile, as he got up from the seat he had taken.

"Sorry." Grace gathered her folders and discs, placing them back in their respective slots and original packaging.

Joshua strolled down the steps to the front podium.

"That was impressive." He stated as he handed her a pile of the left over hand out material she had used.

"Thanks." She switched off the computer she had used for her powerpoint presentation and turned off the console, taking off the radio microphone and flicking off numerous switches. "It could have been better." She muttered to herself as she automatically reflected on her lecture. "I skimmed some of the points and I need to update my third slide." She was muttering to herself, even though it sounded as if she was answering Joshua's praise. "Plus I forgot to include stuff on the section on surrogacy. And I talked too fast. Again." She shook her head, "Next time."

Joshua chuckled. Grace threw him an affronted questioning look.

"Grace." He beamed at her, "You were bloody brilliant and here you are nit picking." He ruffled her hair with his free hand. "I was so engrossed I lost track of the time, and the students were still talking about the topic as they left." He smiled teasingly, "I might even sign up to do this course next year."

"Yeah, right." But suddenly all the little mistakes she had made were exactly that, little. He had listened to her lecture. Somehow it wasn't what she had expected. She thought he might retrieve some of his work and do it while she delivered her lecture. Initially, she had been aware of him, when she began her talk, she was very conscious of him being in the theatre, but as she began to talk about the issues, she had slowly shifted focus. She was aware of his presence but she wasn't unsettled.