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“I love her,” Elia said simply. She’d said those words out loud already, but she hadn’t actually said them to anyone else. And she really shouldn’t be talking to Abagail now.

Abagail’s entire body tightened, frozen in place. “What?”

“I love her,” Elia repeated. “And I can’t be objective when I make decisions about what happens next and how to deal with this situation. I can’t.”

“Well, you’re picking a hell of a time to figure that out.” Abagail put her glass onto the coffee table, hard enough that Elia worried it might break. Abagail stood up sharply, and she paced in front of the large windows in Elia’s living room. “Are you serious?”

“Am I ever not?” Elia asked. She’d never seen Abagail like this before. She’d never witnessed this type of agitation from her, especially not over something as benign as this. “I don’t know what to do about it though.”

“About love?” Abagail’s voice cracked on the last word. “I’m sorry.” She ran her fingers through her hair and then rubbed circles into her temples. “I’m not… I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Neither was I,” Elia responded, setting her own wine glass onto the table. She couldn’t drink. Not at a time like this.

“What do you want me to do with this?” Abagail whirled around, her hands flying out around her.

“I want you to help me figure out what I’m supposed to do.” Elia couldn’t understand why this was so difficult. She always called Abagail for advice, and this was no different. “Not about my relationship with Kamryn. About my job, and hers.”

“You want me to saveherjob.”

“Yes.” Elia was pleading now. She needed Abagail to understand why this was so important. She needed Abagail to tell her exactly what to do because she couldn’t figure it out. “I’ve spent days and weeks and months trying to answer this and find a way where I can have everything and Kamryn can too, and I just can’t.”

“Because there isn’t a solution, El.” Abagail gave her a hard look, her chin dimpling in anger. “There isn’t a way where you both can come out of this the winner and be in a relationship and keep your jobs. It’s impossible.”

“Then what do I do?” Elia wasn’t sure she could force herself to ask that question again. She knew that having everything wasgoing to be next to impossible, but up until this point, she wasn’t sure what the best solution would be for everyone, especially Kamryn. “I can’t take her down with me, and if I have to sacrifice myself for her, then I will.”

“Sacrifice? God, Elia. Do you hear yourself?” Abagail fumed.

Elia was so taken aback. She stayed rooted to the spot, her toes pushing into the ground as she refused to budge. “Do you hear yourself?”

Abagail stilled. “Yes. Sorry.” Abagail ran her fingers through her hair again, tugging on the strands before she seemed to settle right before Elia’s eyes. “This was unexpected.”

“Like I said, it was unexpected for me as well.”

“I thought you two were just…having some fun.”

“We were.” Elia shrugged slightly. “We did.” And then it had turned into something so much more along the way, but Elia wasn’t really sure when that had happened. She’d been trying to pinpoint the moment, but she couldn’t quite figure it out. Aside from that first time when Kamryn had come into her house so mad—raging on Elia’s behalf.

“All right.” Abagail sighed heavily before moving back to the chair and plopping down in it. “Fine.”

“Fine?” Elia asked, sliding onto the couch next to her. “You’ll help me?”

“I can’t not help you. No matter how hard I try.” Abagail groaned and covered her face again. “All right, there’s only one way for her to keep her job if that’s what you really want.”

“I can find another job.” Elia had no clue where, but she could find something that would support her financially until she could start drawing from her pension. That would give Kamryn the time she needed here to apply to be the permanent Head of School.

“Are you prepared for all that involves though? And I’m not just talking about applying for new jobs and interviews.”

Elia pursed her lips. What was Abagail talking about?

“You need to end it with her, completely. And you need to stay as far away from her as possible. No more dates, no more fake dates, no more individual meetings in her office or yours. None of that, Elia. You need to be done.”

The news rocked through Elia. She’d heard it all before, but this time it felt so much more real, and so much harder. With the confession of love still ringing through the air and still filling her soul, she hated that this was what she was going to have to do in order to save Kamryn from Elia’s mistakes.

“And then what?”

“Then you quit.” Abagail pointed at her. “And you move out of this house, and you go jobless for a while until you find something new.”

Elia nodded slowly. “All right.” She blew out a slow breath as it sunk in. “All right.”