Page 122 of The New Place

And he and Abbot are good. He grips Abbot’s hand, feeling closer to him than he has in a long time. “Thank you,” Ned says. “Really, we both appreciate it, and we’re excited too.”

Well, he is. Abbot is staring somewhere across the table.

“What do you need to finalize?” Abbot asks, cutting straight to the point, and yeah, he’s going to smash it as department chair someday. Their colleagues will be exhausted by his ruthless efficiency and so, so thankful for it.

“Some last-minute details,” Beverly says. “And mostly, to let you know I need your offers signed as soon as you can. Today by the end of the workweek, or first thing Monday morning.”

“You do?” Abbot asks as Ned catches his eye.

That soon? Ned mouths, and Abbot lifts a shoulder in a similar confusion.

“I know, it’s unusual, but we’re under a bit of pressure to get this done,” Beverly says.

It leaves them absolutely no time to negotiate their offers. To even think about them. Though they didn’t really have that chance to begin with. Abbot held out his job acceptance for Ned’s hire, and throwing that brick into the works has left them no room to make a counteroffer. Salary, benefits, funding, all of it—they tossed the chance to be picky out the window at the beginning of the process.

But still. By Monday?

“That’s fine,” Ned says. Of course it is. It has to be. He’s not going to turn down a job he’s lucky to get in the first place. When he raises his eyebrows at Abbot, he gets a nod in return. “No problem. We can get them back to you right away.”

“Thank you,” Beverly says, and she does sound surprisingly relieved. “It’s been a real coup to get you two in.”

“Well, we appreciate the effort,” Ned says.

“Happy to help, and I apologize about the timing, but Ned, I’ve only got a tenure-track position for you if I can get you hired before everyone from Adams starts calling in favors. I have a pile of emails asking about jobs for the coming year. Monday morning, I’ll have to answer everyone as to whether I have an open position or not.”

Oh, it’ll be an awkward last couple months at Adams, that’s for sure. Thank you, Ned thinks at Beverly and Chris, and hell, at Charles too. The universe in general, and mostly this guy next to him. Ned takes Abbot’s hand and squeezes.

“Whatever you need,” Ned says. “We’re happy to have this opportunity.”

“Great. So, when you send in your offer letters, I just need a couple more documents along with it.” There’s a pause, and Ned pictures her clicking through her computer. “It looks like we can take proof of living together that’s backdated. They’ll of course also take a marriage certificate, or—Henry, you’re not a legal guardian or parent of Ned’s daughter?”

What? Ned stares down at the phone.

“No,” Ned says and it feels like it comes a beat too late. “No, he’s not.”

“Too bad, since a parenting agreement would work as well. But I can take any of those other documents,” Beverly says. “Or you can file for a domestic partnership in Massachusetts, but that’s a lot of the same requirements. I’m just trying to make it easy for you, and this way you don’t have to go through the city hall.”

“Right,” Ned says. “Wait, just to clarify, this is for HR?”

“Yes, exactly, just to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on their end. Any movement on a house? That’s a bit of a longer timeline, but that would work nicely.”

“No, the house we looked at was great,” Ned say. It wasn’t, but now’s not the time. “But that’s the first one we saw? And I thought you said you didn’t need anything specific from us?”

“Apparently the university handles spousal hires with the same onus as couples filing for joint benefits,” Beverly says. “Which makes sense.”

“Yes,” Ned agrees. Does it? Because none of this feels sensible. “Absolutely.”

“So as long as I can submit anything along these lines, together with your signed offer letters, we’re good to have you formally hired. Congratulations, really.”

“That’s great,” Ned says. “So great. But just for curiosity’s sake, since like you said Henry’s been living up in Portland, if we don’t have this type of paperwork?”

“Well, I know you’re aiming for tenure track, Ned,” Beverly says. “But as you know, a lot of professors are looking to stay in Boston, with not enough positions. I get you in now, we’re good. This process stretches out and the goodwill I can call in really starts to shrink.”

“Of course,” Ned manages.

“Maybe if I’d been here longer, but already, bringing you and Henry on…well.”

“No, no, we understand,” Ned says quickly. It’s a stretch already. A favor. A huge one. “We can get you what you need.” How, he has no clue, but they’ll figure it out.