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“I stayed with my friend, Abagail. She works human resources in Boston.” Elia took a sip of her tea, burning her lips, the roof of her mouth, and her tongue in the process. She stared down at the liquid, unable to truly look at Kamryn. She didn’t want to know the answers to the questions she refused to ask.

“I bet she was helpful during this situation.”

“In more ways than one,” Elia responded. “She also told me that I shouldn’t tell you what happened.” Elia frowned but glanced up at Kamryn then. “Because it’ll cause more of a conflict of interest for you.”

“And you’re not taking her advice?” Kamryn raised an eyebrow in Elia’s direction.

“No, I’m not. And I’m sure that I’ll regret this decision later.” She sighed and set her mug onto the coffee table. “When all was said and done, what was discovered was that Rylann made a false report. All charges were dropped, and I was allowed back onto the campus for the following semester. It took about six months for everything to be resolved.”

“What did she say you did?” Kamryn asked.

Elia’s cheeks heated. “She said that I made comments about how she was dressed, about how I liked the way she was dressed…” Elia slowed down, hating to say this out loud, but knowing that it was exactly what Kamryn was asking for. “…She said that I said sexual things to her, not asking her for sexual favors, but that I would say comments about other girl’s bodies and her own, comments about what they should do together while in the dorms.” Elia gulped. “She implied that there were emails exchanged between us, but those were never recovered or found.”

“Because they were deleted or because they don’t exist?” Kamryn asked.

“They don’t exist,” Elia confirmed. “Rylann was best friends with Heather and Felicity… Yara’s oldest daughter. What Rylann finally admitted was that when Yara and I broke up, Felicity was the one who was hurt the most, and she wanted me to pay for what she thought I’d done, which was hurt Felicity and hurt Yara.”

“So you were blamed for the breakup.”

“Yes. And I didn’t mind that Yara did that, especially with Felicity. I mean, if I needed to be blamed to make it easier for her, then by all means, blame me.”

“But you didn’t ask to be accused of sexual harassment over it.”

“No, that I didn’t.” Elia brushed her fingers through her hair. “I tried to find another job after that, but anytime I would get an interview, I wouldn’t be up for the job. No one wanted to hire me, not with my track record.”

“And that’s why you never applied to be Head of School when Jessup left.”

Elia nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”

“And now?”

“I thought it’d been long enough that maybe it wouldn’t matter.” Elia wrung her hands together. “I was wrong. The stigma, the accusations, all of it has followed me for the last eighteen years, and I’ve had enough, Kam. I’m not sure I want to fight it this time, and there will be even more questions now than there were before, becausenowthey have a trend they can prove.”

“A trend?” Kamryn squinted.

“You.” Elia wasn’t sure she could say the words out loud, but she had to. “You were my former student, and now… Yara isn’t stupid, Kam. She knows there’s more going on between us. We dated for two years, she’s not oblivious. It’s why I held back on telling the board, and with all of this coming back up now, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I agree,” Kamryn responded. “Not only for your sake but for mine. I’m already tangled up in this enough without adding in that complication to the conversation.”

Elia frowned. She hated that she was the cause of all of this. It would have been so much better if she’d just stayed in her lane, if she hadn’t given in to wanting to know if there was more between them. “I’m so sorry, Kam.”

“For what, exactly?”

“For so much.” Elia stood up, that nervous energy shooting through her body in a way that she couldn’t avoid even if she wanted to. “For not telling you sooner, for even thinking thatmaybe enough time had passed and I might have a chance at a relationship with you, for tangling you up in a mess that I’ve never been able to divorce myself from.”

She roughly grabbed her tea and started back toward the kitchen, but Kamryn shot out a hand and stopped her. Elia froze. Her eyes locked on their fingers—touching—the tender grasp that Kamryn had on her. She shook her head when she looked directly into Kamryn’s eyes.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Elia whispered.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Kam…” Elia couldn’t finish her thought.

Kamryn stood up, taking the mug from Elia’s fingers and setting it back down on the coffee table. She slid her arms around Elia’s shoulder and pulled her in.

A hug.

As simple as that. Elia stayed, lax, arms at her sides, in the safe embrace of Kamryn’s arms. She buried her face in Kamryn’s shoulder and sucked in a slow breath, becoming overwhelmed with Kamryn’s scent, with her strength, everything that Elia wanted and couldn’t have.