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Two teachers in the back of the room shot their hands up and asked for MUN. Kamryn took down their names in her notebook. She’d sort out the rest later. “And for Speech?”

No one volunteered.

Her stomach plummeted. From her recollection, Dr. Sharpe was the main leader for Speech. She’d taken Speech when she was in school, and she’d learned a great deal from Dr. Sharpe. But the fact that no one was willing to work with her was going to be a stretch.

“Anyone?”

Still silence rained through the room.

“Right. I’ll work on that issue later.”

“If I may,” Dr. Sharpe started quietly, “I’ve been leading Speech for the last four years alone. I don’t need a co-leader.”

Kamryn pressed her lips into a thin line. She wasn’t going to take that for an answer. There was some reason that position wasn’t fillable, and that no one wanted to volunteer. And it wasn’t just that fact that bothered her. It was a flat-out safety issue for Elia and the kids.

Oh, look, damn. That hadn’t taken long for her to mentally make the switch to calling her Elia.

“We can talk about that in my office after the meeting.”

“And by your office, you mean Dr. Waddy’s?” Elia’s gaze was sharp and perceptive. She’d always been that, and Kamryn should never have expected anything less.

“Yes.” She moved on from that moment, pushing past Elia’s discomfort along with her own and straight on to everything else that they needed to discuss. She set up meetings with each individual department to go over even more details and then she dismissed the group.

But Elia remained seated, stoically staring at her as the room emptied.

Fuck.

Kamryn didn’t have to prove herself to the board.

She had to prove herself to her former English teacher who clearly had a chip on her shoulder and didn’t want to accept the fact that Kamryn had been hired for this position.

“You said we needed to talk,” Elia finally spoke once the last person was out of the room and the door was shut.

“Yes,” Kamryn said. “In my office.”

“I’d prefer to talk here, if this works just as well. Then we don’t have to move.”

Kamryn paused for a moment, weighing her options. This was a power move from Elia. But was it one that she wanted to fight right now?

Absolutely not.

Plopping her butt down into the chair next to Elia’s, Kamryn stared at her. “Fine.”

two

“When’s the last time you worked with a co-leader on Speech?” Kamryn settled her notepad down in front of her as she seemed to melt into her seat.

The muscles strained at the corners of Elia’s jaw as she clenched her molars hard. She’d never gotten out of that habit no matter how many times she’d attempted to drop it, and in the last month, it’d been far worse.

As soon as Miller Waddy had his stroke, Elia had put her name in for the position to help fill the gaps until he could return. The board had allowed her to live in the silence of no response for three weeks until they hired a temporary but longer-term replacement.

That had stung.

She’d given and devoted her life to this school. And to add salt to the wound, they’d hired her former student, who certainly didn’t have as much experience as she did. Kamryn Ogden was a sight for sore eyes, however. She’d certainly grown up in the last twenty years since she’d graduated.

Was Kamryn just as nervous as Elia about this conversation? She hadn’t seemed to be when she’d started it.

“It’s been five years.”