CHAPTER ONE

      “CULLEN, IT’S TIME you stopped being the Texas version of Peter Pan and accepted some grown-up responsibility,” Dr. Blair Mastal insisted.

      “I take umbrage with that statement,” Cullen Temple responded with an upward tilt of his chin that probably needed a shave, as usual.

      Blair was a popular professor who’d been Cullen’s mentor and friend throughout his college career. And after several degrees in history, college truly had become Cullen’s career.

      Blair was making a familiar point and it just happened to be shared by Cullen’s three brothers and everybody else who felt compelled to express an opinion on his obsession with higher education.

      “Well, you can take umbrage all you want to as long as you take over my classes for the summer term.”

      “I’m not a teacher,” Cullen protested. The very thought of being the one accountable for whether or not the students learned all the material in the syllabus caused gooseflesh to prickle the skin beneath his favorite flannel shirt. “I can’t replace you in the classroom, Blair.”

      “That’s hogwash. You’ve stood in for me a hundred times over the past dozen or so years.”

      “Standing in for a few days and stepping in for you forever are completely different. Besides, I don’t have a teaching degree―I’m not qualified.”

      “The university wants a subject matter expert, not an educator. In that respect you are overqualified, but they’ll turn a blind eye if you’ll accept the contract, even on a trial basis.”

      “My life is sublime just the way it is, thank you very much. Why would I complicate perfection?”

      “How about the fact that you’re stuck in a rut about as low as a snake’s belly in a wagon wheel track? This building has been your home away from home for a dozen years. You’ve run out of degrees to earn. Consider shaking things up a bit.”

      “I happen to enjoy being a student of history.”

      “I’m not suggesting that you stop learning, but how about studying somebody alive for a change?”

      “No way.” Cullen shook his head. “Folks who’ve been dead for hundreds of years are dependable, predictable. They’re not likely to up and leave you just when you start appreciating their company.”

      “They’re also not going to keep you warm at night, or watch the Rangers game with you.”

      Blair swatted the bill of Cullen’s baseball cap and it flopped down over his eyes. He ducked the fake punch his mentor always threatened to land on his jaw and adjusted his cap.

      “Seriously, my friend,” Blair continued. “For a man of your advanced years you’re sorta one-dimensional.”

      “Hey, I’m only thirty-four years old. I have my whole life ahead of me,” Cullen insisted.

      “But when your daddy was thirty-four, his life was already half-over. If he were still alive I have a hunch he’d suggest that you give fewer hours to the people in our textbooks and more to the living, breathing folks right here on this campus.”

      Much as the idea of teaching scared the heck out of Cullen, Blair’s guidance had always been sound. “I’ll sleep on it,” Cullen agreed finally.

      “With your life experience, you’d be a good fit over in Longview Hall. You could help some people, give back to the community.”

      “I see where this is headed. You’re pimping for the psychology department to assuage your guilt over taking away their senior counselor.”

      “There’s some truth in that, but my wife wants the change of scenery as much as I do.”

      “What’s really behind this sudden desire you have to move to Europe? Have you stopped paying your taxes? Are you leading a double life? How come you have to hightail it out of town with hardly any notice?”

      “I’ve had an offer to be an exchange-student liaison at our embassy in Rome, and it’s too perfect to resist. Ailean and I haven’t ever lived outside of Texas.”

      “And most Texans are quite happy to keep it that way.”

      “For my first sixty years on this earth, I shared that opinion. But the two of us have been talking for the past few years about an extended stay in Europe. My health scare last winter made us realize if we’re going to make it happen, it has to be now. Life is short and fragile. We’ve been offered a gift horse, and we’re not going to look it in the mouth. Ambassador Phillips wants us there in three weeks and we don’t plan to disappoint him.”

      Cullen was practical by nature. What Blair said made sense, and as one who’d been afforded the ability to pursue his interests, Cullen wouldn’t begrudge his friend the right to do the same.

      “Okay, I can accept that you and Ailean are pulling up stakes, but that doesn’t make me the right choice for your position here at the university.”

      The respected history teacher lifted a box and shoved it into his reluctant protégé’s arms.

      “These are my lecture notes for the class that starts next week. Take them home and go over them tonight. I believe the temptation to reorganize my thoughts will have you so excited, you won’t be able to sleep. But if I’m wrong, drop them off tomorrow and I’ll go back to the drawing board for another recommendation.”

      “Is there any chance at all that you’ll change your mind about leaving?” Cullen was hopeful. Mastal was not only Cullen’s mentor, he’d become a stand-in for the father Cullen had lost in his teens.

      “None, whatsoever. My better half has already listed our house with a Realtor and hired an estate sale coordinator.”

      “Estate sale? You’re not dying, you’re taking a sabbatical. You’ll be home in a few months.”

      “We don’t plan to return to Kilgore, Cullen.”

      “Ever?”

      “For a visit, sure. But not permanently. Our boys are in Denver and Phoenix. We’re going to enjoy Italy for as long as it lasts and then we’ll figure out where to go next. If we don’t make a new home in one of the cities where our kids live, then we’re going to check out Barcelona or Prague.”