Page 6

Working with a former student?

Not only that, but having her former student be her new boss?

Maybe it was time for her to give up and retire.

It definitely called out her age, even if Kamryn had been one of the first students she’d taught. Elia had started at Windermere the year before Kamryn had, and she’d taken over Speech that second year. Not that Kamryn would remember or know that.

This wasn’t a sign that she was old and decrepit, was it?

Elia wrinkled her nose at that thought. She’d never admit to that. Ever. But she would admit to the jealousy that was still raging through her chest and down into her fingers. The fact that the one time she had taken the chance to apply for a position she was most certainly qualified for, and she hadn’t even been given a chance?

Yeah, that stung.

But it was far worse knowing that Kamryn was in that position now.

Cursing herself under her breath, Elia pulled up her lesson plans for the first week of school. It was routine and habit to go through them even though they hadn’t changed in at least twelve years now. At least not in any major ways. Without holding back, Elia poured her entire focus into the task at hand—teaching her students.

That was what she’d been hired for, wasn’t it?

She just had to make it through this semester until Miller was back. Then everything would be back to normal, and she wouldn’t have to deal with Kamryn any longer.

three

Kamryn had spent the last hour going through the calendar with Mrs. Caldera, and by the end of it, she was ready to tear her eyes and her ears out. Miller Waddy hadn’t been keeping up to date with anything it seemed, which meant that she had quite the mess to clean up. His being out for the last few weeks didn’t help either, especially when the assistant Head of School was out on parental leave.

Pursing her lips, Kamryn rifled through the desk to find the few things she knew she would need, but it felt odd and like a violation. She would ask Mrs. Caldera to pack up Dr. Waddy’s things by the end of the week—at least the things in the desk that were personal items. That way she could focus better.

Now that she had a moment to breathe and think—what the hell had been up with Elia Sharpe? That was more of an attack than Kamryn had anticipated from her favorite teacher. She hadn’t ever expected to be put on the spot like that, to have the power play so early on—well, she had, but not with Elia Sharpe.

She stared at her phone and debated whether or not to call Greer back, ask for more advice. But that wouldn’t really help very much because Greer hadn’t gone to school there. She didn’tknow Dr. Sharpe before, and if Kamryn explained who she was now, that would certainly taint Greer’s opinion of her.

The phone on her desk rang, and Kamryn startled at it. She wasn’t exactly sure how things worked here, if Mrs. Caldera would screen all her calls to the office or not. Kamryn reached for the black standard office phone and held it to her ear.

“Dr. Ogden speaking.”

“Kamryn, it’s Heather.”

Kamryn smiled at the name. Heather was the only reason she’d known the position was open in the first place, and she’d jumped at the chance to apply as soon as Heather’s text had come through. “Hey.”

“How’s the first day going?” Heather asked.

Kamryn was about to tell her all the drama with Elia, but she stopped herself. Heather was on the school board now, and they weren’t close friends. There was a new twist to their relationship, and Kamryn had to be vigilant in how she treated it. “Not bad. Do you have an update on Dr. Waddy?”

“He’s still in ICU from my understanding.” Heather sounded stressed.

Kamryn could only guess why, but she was sure having such a major medical event happen so close to the beginning of the school year when there were already a number of other positions in flux wasn’t helping anything. “Any idea how his recovery is going? Some of the staff were wondering, and I’d like to be able to give them an update.”

“No, I don’t, sorry. You might try getting hold of his wife. She’d have more information than we would.”

“Right, I’ll try that.” Though Kamryn didn’t love the idea of bugging the woman whose husband had collapsed in this very room from a stroke only a few weeks ago. “Were you just calling to check in?”

“Mostly. The board was curious if you’d found volunteers for those extracurricular teams.” Heather paused, and the silence was pregnant with some sort of tension that Kamryn wasn’t able to name.

“Uh, yeah. I did, actually.” Kamryn picked up a pen and started to flip it back and forth between her fingers. She focused on it while she debated what else to add to this part of the conversation. Heather had been the one to bring it up to her, so she’d taken care of it as her first order of business at the meeting.

“Even for the Speech team?”

“Yes,” Kamryn responded.