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Chapter Seventeen

JAMIE WASN’Tsurprised to find he didn’t have an apartment anymore. What else was his landlord expected to do when there’d been no word from him for months? The lease should have been renewed a month after the Gerans had snatched him. At least all his stuff had been packed up and stored: Jamie knew that had to have been Lauren’s doing. As the landlord’s wife, she was the one who took care of the tenants, took in packages when they were out, and generally acted like a mom to everyone in the building.

The hug she gave Jamie when she opened the door almost brought him to tears.

I might never have seen her again.

He owed Horvan, Aelryn, and their teams big-time.

“So where have you been?” Lauren asked as she poured him a cup of tea. “I was worried when I couldn’t get through to you either by phone or email. It was as if you’d dropped off the face of the earth.”

He glanced around her kitchen with its pale cream walls, cherrywood cabinets, and gleaming pots and pans hanging from hooks over the kitchen island, and he had to fight to maintain his self-control. It all seemed so… normal, and a universe away from what he’d been through.

“I can’t tell you,” he said at last. “I do understand why Craig gave my apartment to someone else when the lease was up. And thanks for storing my stuff. I don’t suppose there’s another apartment going empty right now?”

She shook her head. “And no leases up for renewal either, so there won’t be anything for a while.” She gazed at him, her eyes warm. “What will you do?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll find something,” he said nonchalantly.

Therewasone route open to him—Aelryn had said he could stay at the school for a while. And if he did get a job there, that would be his accommodation taken care of.

“Well, when you find a place, let me know, and I’ll have Craig bring over all your things.” She chuckled. “That man needs to be kept busy. Now drink your tea, and help yourself to some of my shortbread. You look asif you need fattening up a little. Wherever you’ve been, they obviously haven’t been overfeeding you.”

If you only knew.

Jamie stilled. He didn’t like the negativity that had forced its way into his thinking of late.

Well, no more. I’m going to put the last months behind me and try to forget them.

Except he knew it wouldn’t bethateasy.

“SO YOU’VEworked for the school before?” The new principal, Gina Payton, seemed easier-going than the previous incumbent, but they hadn’t gotten to the awkward questions yet.

The ones where he told her he used to be a Geran, and exactly what he did for the school. Two items that were sure to blot his copybook.

“Yes, but not as a teacher. My job was to interview parents who wanted their child to attend here. I realize that while this is still a school, it’s changed dramatically since—”

She held up her hand. “Mr. Matheson, I don’t want to dwell on the past. Since I was brought in to run this institution, I’ve made it my goal to provide a safe, positive environment. Every student here was previously in a school in Texas. They’ve been brought here to start a new life, and this administration is currently seeking foster families for them.”

“Does the school provide therapy for the students? Because I imagine many of them will need it.”

She arched her eyebrows. “Why yes, we do.” She paused. “Where have you been since you last worked for the school?”

He looked her in the eye. “In a Geran camp in northern Maine.”

She studied him for a moment. “Then I should think you might need a little therapy yourself.”

“Let’s just say it’s on my to-do list.”

Gina leaned forward, her hands clasped. “You said in your email that you want to work here. In your previous capacity?”

He shuddered. “Oh gods, no. The way I described my previous employment made it sound quite innocuous. I don’t want to tell you what the school did with the information I gave them—a process I knew nothing about until someone opened my eyes to what was really going on.” Hepaused. “I have a degree. What I lack are teaching qualifications.” And now he’d finally gotten to the point, his courage failed him.

Why would they want me? What benefit could I bring to the school?

Gina didn’t break eye contact, and he squirmed under her intense scrutiny. Finally she sat back in her chair. “I’d like to propose something rather unorthodox. You don’t have to say yes, but maybe you should consider it.”

Jamie blinked. “I’m all ears.”