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“The wedding hasn’t started yet.” Greer frowned deeply.

“I know. Kam can explain.” Elia really hated doing this. She took the risk and touched the back of Kamryn’s arm, the smallest of touches that she’d allow herself. “Will you be okay?”

“Uh…yeah. Greer’s here. I’ll be fine.” Kamryn’s face pinched in pain.

It was a lie. They both knew it. But Elia was going to have to accept it for right now. She couldn’t dig into this one. Straightening her shoulders, she took a slow deep breath. She didn’t want to stop looking at Kamryn. She didn’t want to leave Kamryn here to deal with all the problems that she had created.

“I’ll see you around, then.” That sounded like such a goodbye. Not anI’ll call you laterand not anI’ll see you tonight when you get home.Elia couldn’t say any of that. Not in a room full of people who might overhear.

Elia walked out of the wedding hall and directly to where she’d parked the car. She couldn’t look back. She had to protect both of them, and she had to be the one to leave. Andra wasKamryn’s friend. Elia had no connection to anyone there—at least not any connection that she wanted to have.

The drive back to Windermere was quiet.

Elia didn’t even turn the radio on. She wanted the silence. She wanted the spinning of her mind with all of the disastrous possibilities. And she wanted to name them all and then let them go. But when she got back to her house, there was only one that was truly bothering her.

Kamryn.

Taking out her phone, Elia called Abagail and waited impatiently for her friend to answer. She already knew what Abagail was going to say, but she needed to hear it again. She needed to know that she was doing this for the right reasons.

“What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?” Abagail’s words weren’t as comforting as they should have been.

“What makes you think I’m in trouble?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at a wedding against my better advice?”

Elia winced. She had said that, and Elia had flat out ignored her and gone anyway. She really should have listened to Abagail. “Simone Parks was there.”

“Shit, El.”

“And Susy Butkis.”

Abagail groaned. “I take it you left…immediately.”

“Yeah, I did. But that’s probably not going to stop the rumors.” Elia pinched the bridge of her nose. “I should have listened to you the first time.”

“Yeah, you really should have.” Abagail sighed heavily. “How bad is the damage?”

“I don’t know. I left, remember?”

“And Kam? What’s she doing?”

“Damage control, if she can.” Elia finally let the tears that she wanted to spill before burn her eyes now. She needed to figureher life out. She needed to take a step back from everything and find the best way forward. “What do I do now?”

“Retire, resign, leave. I told you that before.”

“I’m not ready to be done teaching.” Elia wiped her fingers under her eyes. “I’m not set up to take an early retirement anyway, but I don’t want to leave my students high and dry.”

“Then find another job doing something else so you can at least live until you can pull from your pension. But you need to get out of there. It’s the simplest solution to this problem that you seem to be making worse by the week.” Abagail’s voice rose in accusation.

Elia couldn’t avoid the guilt that was eating away at her. “I’m so tired of putting up this front.” Her tone changed from angry and avoidant to melancholy in a snap. “I’m so tired of being someone I’m not just because it’s safer this way.”

“That’s the decision you made eighteen years ago.”

“Yeah, it is.” Elia brushed away the tear that slid down her cheek. “And I’m done.”

“What does that mean?” Abagail asked, alarm in her voice.

“I don’t know yet.” Elia stared out the window across from her, watching the first snowfall of the year. “I honestly don’t know.”