5
HARPER
“Did you get a new outfit for the holiday party?” Sarah asked. She stuck her head in my office door, her eyes wide with female glee at the idea of a new outfit.
“I won’t be here,” I replied, glancing up at her.
I sat behind my desk, piled high with papers that needed to be graded and notes from the latest article I was writing on the use of the Latin Cross layout in later cathedral structures in northern Europe. It was the last week of the semester, and everyone was in the chaos and insanity of exams before the long winter break. Instead of going to the department holiday party this weekend, I was going to the UK. I had to do research for my latest paper that was being published, and the only free time I had from school was between semesters.
The excitement slipped from her f
