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“Yes, a date.”

Kamryn raised her eyebrows. They hadn’t been on a proper date in a long time. The busyness of the new year had swept both of them off their feet, especially with Kamryn’s interview and the time she needed to prepare for it.

“Hmm, a date with my girlfriend or drunk video calling my best friend. Such choices are these.” Kamryn slid her arms into her jacket and buttoned up the front of it.

“You can always do both if we call it an early night.”

“Oh, perfect.” Kamryn went back to her desk to pack up her laptop to bring it home to work on it later. She still had a ton to get done before the long holiday weekend.

As Kamryn was ready to leave, she took Elia by the hand and closed the door behind her. She never wanted to stop touching Elia like this if she could. She’d found so much comfort in the simple touches that they could have now that there was no need to hide their relationship, at least in front of faculty and staff. Students were another thing entirely. They tried to stay as professional as possible when they were around the students, especially their Speech kids.

Kamryn kept Elia’s hand in hers until they stepped outside into the cold winter. Snow still covered the ground, and it looked like a warm blanket with tracks through it from the students running from one building to the next. Kamryn hiked her satchel up higher onto her shoulder as she started walking back with Elia toward her small house at the end of the row for faculty.

“So where are we going for dinner?” Kamryn asked. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was, but she hadn’t managed to eat breakfast or lunch that day because her nerves had taken over her entire body.

“I was thinking Italian.”

“Carbs. Perfect.” Kamryn grinned at her. “We probably should talk about what we’re doing if I don’t get the job.”

“What do you mean?” Elia frowned. “Of course you’ll get it.”

“I love your positive attitude, but let’s be honest for a minute. I might not.”

“Kam—”

“Just humor me, please.” Kamryn clenched her fingers. “I’ve been looking at schools around here to see if they have any openings, but you know how hard it is to find jobs like these.”

“Especially if you want to stay in administration.”

Kamryn hummed her agreement. “So I also widened the search to the Boston area.”

“You’d be closer to Greer.”

“Yeah, I would be.”And farther from you.Though Kamryn didn’t say that. It was something that weighed heavily on her. “I could find another kind of job so that I can stay close by.”

“Kam… wherever you end up, you and I will figure out what we’re doing then. I’m not going to let you go now.”

Relief flooded through her. She hadn’t realized just how worried she was about that. That without the constant contact they currently had that their relationship would shift and change to the point that it would break them down. It still worried her, but at least having Elia thinking about it made her feel far less afraid of the reality she didn’t want to experience.

“Like I said before, I’m not sure what this place would be without you.” Elia let them into her house, but she didn’t take her jacket off. “Now, let’s celebrate your interview, and distract ourselves from the future what-ifs that we can’t answer.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Kamryn said as she dropped her bag onto the kitchen table. “Are you driving, or am I?”

“Me,” Elia answered. “I’ve ridden with you before. Trust me, I’m driving.”

“I’m not that bad!”

“Sure you’re not. Maybe you should start teaching driver’s ed so you can learn a thing or to.”

“Elia!”

But Elia was laughing as she stepped back outside the house. Kamryn shoved her hands into her pockets as she followed. She’d let Elia drive—this time. It wasn’t worth it to fight it.

forty-four

“Let’s run some mirror drills today. I know you all have plenty of practice, but I’ve seen some bad habits forming lately. Break up into teams of three—” Elia stopped talking as the door to the Speech room opened loudly.

She’d been expecting Kamryn to show up late since she had a phone call that was taking longer than she expected and had texted as much, but she didn’t anticipate the force with which Kamryn slammed open the classroom door.