Page 17

Kamryn looked up at her then. “Is that what this is about? My being the Head of School?”

Elia gave her a slight shrug. “You never told me why you went into teaching.”

“There’s a lot of creativity that can happen in a school room, between teacher and student. You showed me that. I didn’t major in English though, so don’t get any grand ideas that I was trying to become you. I wanted to teach because I want kids to have the freedom to explore their interests, who they are, and to find their place in the world.” Kamryn looked more sober now than she had all night. “I went into administration because that seemed like the biggest roadblock to any student having the ability to learn.”

Elia couldn’t stop the smile at that. Kamryn was absolutely right. “And why did you come back here?” That was the question Elia really wanted answered, wasn’t it? Why had Kamryn taken the opportunity from Elia to become Head of School? Why had she been passed over again?

“This is where I started. Why wouldn’t I want to come back here?”

Putting her hands out to the side, Elia relaxed slightly. She didn’t have an answer to that. She had no desire to go back to her hometown. They never understood her, and she hadn’t wanted to make them try. Starting new and fresh had been a much better option in the long term. And she would say it had paid off.

“Question back to you…and actually answer this time, please?” There was a plea in Kamryn’s voice.

Elia nodded her head, indicating Kamryn could ask.

“Why aren’t you Head of School? You told us that’s what you wanted to do.”

Elia’s stomach twisted hard, that pang of guilt and pain coming right back to haunt her. She planted her feet on the floor and pushed herself to stand. She ignored Kamryn as she walked to the linen closet and grabbed an extra blanket and pillow, setting it next to Kamryn on the couch.

“I would have been a better choice than you.” Elia straightened her back and put her hands on her hips. “I wouldn’t have gotten drunk in public and started a scene in front of my students for starters.”

“There were students there?”

“Yes.” Elia pursed her lips and let out a breath. “We’ll talk more about it in the morning. When you’re hung over and awake.”

She didn’t wait another beat before she walked out of the living room. If Kamryn walked back to the dormitory now, then it was out of her hands. She needed a break from the intensity. She needed to find her center again—that had been the entire reason she’d gone out with Abagail that night.

Changing and crawling under the blankets in her bed, Elia closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the town square, the muted yellow lights addingto the ambiance, the band playing on the stage, and Kamryn’s lips against hers. The heat from the embrace, the arousal it awoke in her, the base desire to touch and be touched.

seven

Kamryn flung the blanket off her legs. She was so overheated. Her cheeks were on fire, her body covered in sweat, and nothing was comfortable. Her pants scratched against her skin—wait, pants. Jeans specifically. Pausing in her scan of her body, Kamryn started again, only this time she took better care and went slower.

She still had socks on, her jeans, and her oxford shirt. The buttons pressed into her chest and hurt, so she shifted her weight to ease up on that. Blearily blinking her eyes open, Kamryn looked up at the ceiling above her, not recognizing it at all. It was white, popcorned, and definitely higher than in the apartment she had on the third floor of the dormitory.

Pushing herself to sit up, she instantly regretted the move. Her head spun right along with her stomach, and it took everything in her not to spill whatever was left inside her onto the beautiful hardwood floors. This was too much. The splitting migraine started immediately, and she had to cover her eyes with her hands to keep the light out.

Kamryn took slow and even breaths, calming her nausea before she did anything else. She couldn’t let this get the better of her. She had to keep herself together, she had to get backto her apartment, and she had to remain in bed the rest of the day and pretend like last night had never happened. She’d never made such an embarrassment of herself before. And last night was—oh fuck.

The memories of everything that had happened rushed back to her.

Elia.

Kiss.

Talking.

Kamryn cringed. She groaned. She winced and refused to look around the house that she was damn sure was Elia’s because that wasn’t just a dream, was it? A dream would make everything better. It would mean she hadn’t made a complete ass of herself.

The cup of water on the coffee table had been refilled, and next to it were three bottles of medicine. Three different options. Leave it to Elia to think of everything. Without thinking, Kamryn snagged the migraine bottle and downed two of the pills along with the water. She wasn’t prepared for the conversation that was coming.

And there would definitely be a conversation.

Elia had made that perfectly clear.

Standing up, Kamryn turned toward the kitchen to find Elia, with a bowl in front of her and a book of crosswords next to her, staring at Kamryn.

“Bathroom?” Kamryn asked. That would at least give her a few more minutes of respite before she had to come back and face the music.