The Mentor's Favor​

Summary

Troy Partridge’s department, notoriously short on women, had just accepted two new female grad students.

He told me they were neck and neck in terms of skill, but their personalities were night and day.

One afternoon, the quiet, reserved one, Nina Croft, worked up the courage to drop a hint.

"Professor Partridge and Lexi Morgan... they spend a lot of time in his office. And the door is always locked."

Lexi.

The other student.

Just last weekend, I’d bumped into her and her boyfriend. She’d grinned and chirped, "Hi, Mrs. Partridge!"

Later, she would come to me in tears.