Page 1 of Promises We Meant to Keep (Love in Massachusetts #1)

one

“My stomach’s in knots!” Kamryn winced as she held the phone tightly between her ear and shoulder. There was only so much gossiping she could manage without bringing the conversation with her best friend back around to the fact that she was starting her first day at Windermere Prep.

“Take deep breaths, Kam.” Greer’s voice was calm, nearly on the edge of patronizing, but not quite there. Yet, at least.

Kamryn knew she was being annoying, because she’d voiced her anxiety and her nerves more times in the last hour than she could count. And here she was, saying it again. “I know. I know. I am taking deep breaths. I promise!”

She finished shoving a few notebooks into her satchel, and damn if she would admit her hands trembled. She hadn’t been back on this campus since she’d graduated. But she’d wanted to come back, desperately for years, and now she was finally here. The move had been quick—so unexpected—and she’d only just arrived the day before, so finding a clean pair of slacks and her bag for work was harder than she’d expected it to be when she’d woken up early that morning.

“You’ve got this. I’m not sure why you’d want to go back to your high school, but you’ve been adamant for years that you wanted to.” Greer was again speaking her own language to calm Kamryn down.

“I have! I loved this place growing up.” Kamryn pocketed her keys as she shut the door behind her. Students would be arriving in the next few days, ready to move into the dormitories where she’d be the new house parent. Everything was so new as much as it was the same. “It’s just weird, you know? Everything looks like I remember it, almost, but it’s different at the exact same time.”

“Hmmm.” Greer always made that particular sound when she was deep in thought. Kamryn missed her dearly. She wished they lived closer, but her move out to Windermere added another hour to the trip. And with the time constraints on Kamryn with the new job, it was going to be impossible to get together any time soon.

“I’ve got to go.” Kamryn wished she could stay on the phone longer. Talking to Greer eased the tension in her chest. It always did. But she had to start her day. Hell, she had to start her first day at her new job, and not toss her cookies in the meantime—which she somehow managed to do every first day at school.

Today would be different though, right?

The long walk to the administration building seemed fast. The nerves running through Kamryn’s body were nearly too much and overloaded any good sense she had. Not that she had much of that to begin with. She wasn’t just coming back to Windermere as a teacher, she was coming back as the Head of School, an emergency and definitely temporary placement until the actual Head of School was out of the hospital and recovered.

It was temporary. At least she kept telling herself that. Because if she got her hopes up, then she’d be devastated at the end of the semester when things didn’t work out right. When the board told her she didn’t have enough experience or she wasn’t mature enough or she wasn’t ready for the responsibility. Certainly they would tell her that.

Because what else would they say?

Not “job well done.”

Not “keep going into the next semester.”

Not “keep this job for the foreseeable future and then we’ll talk about tenure.”

Or better yet, “here’s tenure! You don’t even have to try to get it!”

Pushing the dreams aside, Kamryn followed the sidewalk to the administration building. She wasn’t bringing in all of her books and personal effects yet. Not since this was supposed to be only one or two semesters while Dr. Waddy recuperated from his stroke. She would just use what she had and make do like she always did.

She’d been a scrappy kid when she needed to be, so what difference would being an adult make now? Except those damn nerves were still running rampant in her stomach. She really needed to get those under control.

Kamryn dropped her satchel on the desk after she let herself in with the key that groundskeeping had given her yesterday. She pulled out her laptop and her notebook and then stared at the desk before putting anything down. Everything was basically how it had been left weeks before when Dr. Waddy had collapsed on it. Pencils and pens strewn about, papers with random things she probably should read and figure out so she knew what was happening and when, and a computer that she still didn’t have access to.

What the hell had she been thinking? She wasn’t ready for this job. She’d applied on a whim since it had been the only open position that she somewhat qualified for, and when the board chair had called her for an immediate interview, she’d been scared shitless and beyond surprised.

But it had happened.

And here she was.

Moved into the dormitories since it was the only available housing, and she wasn’t going to make Dr. Waddy and his wife move out in the middle of a medical crisis—a place she’d never truly anticipated living again, even though it was her dream.

She just had to not screw this up and then maybe they would offer her a permanent position—even if it wasn’t Head of School.

The knock on her door startled her, but it was a welcome distraction from what she was facing on the desk in front of her.

“Dr. Ogden, the staff is ready for you in the conference room.”

“Right.” Was her voice shaking? Shit, she really did have to get that under control. Slow, deep breaths. That’s what Greer had told her. She could do this. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“If you don’t mind, I can clean up in here while you’re debriefing everyone.”

“Yeah, uh… okay.” That sounded like a really good idea. Mrs. Caldera, the long-serving secretary, was going to be a godsend for certain. Kamryn remembered her from when she was a student, and the woman had to be close to retirement, but thank all things holy that this wasn’t the year she was gone and Kamryn wasn’t stuck with a first-year administrative assistant while also dealing with the consequences of the former Head of School having a stroke.

“Dr. Ogden?”

“Yeah. I’m going, sorry.” Snagging the mechanical pencil that she saw first thing, Kamryn propped the notebook and computer under her arm and headed out of the office. The conference room was…where exactly? She hadn’t really been there when she was a student, and the memories were so far back in her brain that she wasn’t sure she could even call them forth.

“Second door on the right!” Mrs. Caldera called.

“Thanks!” Kamryn said back loudly. That was the best thing ever. She really needed to keep Mrs. Caldera around. Just so that she had someone who was going to show her the ropes, because at this point, Kamryn wasn’t convinced that the staff were going to give her the benefit of the doubt in anything.

At least five of them had taught her, though most of the teachers had retired by now and everyone else was new. She was going to have to prove herself at least three times over just to win their hearts as temporary Head of School. It was sheer dumb luck that she was in this position, and Kamryn was no idiot about it.

The door to the conference room was solid glass and heavy. When had they replaced that? Kamryn managed to hold back her grimace as she pushed it open. Inside were all of the teachers. Not just around the table, but around the edges of the room, seated and staring at her.

Fishbowl effect to the max.

Kamryn hadn’t prepared herself for that.

She cleared her throat and set her things down on the one open place at the table. She wasn’t even sure she could look up and into the eyes of the staff she was now in charge of. She had experience teaching, yes, and she had some experience in administration. But being in charge of everything and everyone? Having to answer to the board and run the school? Yeah, that was more than she’d bargained for. Well, not really. She had bargained for it. She just had to make sure that the risk paid off in the long run.

Kamryn dragged in cool air and blew it out slowly. Stop this insane worrying, Kam. You’re better than this. And she was better than her anxiety. She knew that. She just had to get her feet under her to keep moving forward, and another two days would have been totally welcome for her to accomplish that.

“Good morning, everyone,” Kamryn said, glad her voice wasn’t wobbling or full of anxiety. If she could manage to fake it until she made it, then she would. “I know I haven’t met all of you yet, but I’m looking forward to it.”

It was like someone had stuck blinders over her eyes. She couldn’t actually see the faces of the people in the room with her. She was in some sort of alternate-reality state. Oh well, this was going to have to do for now.

“I’m Dr. Ogden. I’m temporary Head of School while Dr. Waddy is recovering.”

“Do you know how he is?” Someone in the back spoke up.

Kamryn’s stomach dropped. In the rush of everything, she had failed to get the one update that people were going to want. And that was probably her first major failure as a leader in this school. What was she fooling herself into? She had to do better.

“I don’t have a recent update yet,” Kamryn said, leaning back on her skills of avoidance to tackle this one. “I’ll make sure to find out by the end of the day and let you all know. I’m sure the students will be just as anxious to know when they return in a few days.”

“Yes, they will be.”

Kamryn froze. That voice was one she hadn’t expected to hear, at least not yet. Which was ridiculous. She should have. She knew that Dr. Elia Sharpe was still a teacher at the school, that she was the head of the English department, and that she hadn’t moved up in the ranks to become admin like she’d said she wanted to all those years ago.

Raising her gaze to meet the cool blue eyes of the teacher sitting precisely to her left, Kamryn balked. She hadn’t expected to feel this way in front of her former teacher. She hadn’t thought that it would make a difference to her—and yet, it did. Something about Dr. Elia Sharpe always seemed so impersonal and distanced, like she was a greater-than-thou character in a book that Kamryn swore she never read but actually lived for. She’d looked up to Dr. Sharpe throughout her entire career at Windermere, and now, Kamryn was Elia’s boss.

Elia?

Could she even call Dr. Sharpe by her first name now?

That seemed impossible.

“Yes, they will be, and I’d like to let them know as much as I possibly can.” Kamryn straightened her shoulders. She remained standing, wanting the added height difference between her and the staff to give her some kind of element of authority that she still wasn’t sure she was worthy of. “I’ll make sure that they have all the resources they need to process this trauma and this temporary transition.”

She made sure to emphasize temporary because she certainly didn’t want it getting back to the board that she was trying to take over and make a million changes. Not while she was still on their short list for permanent positions should Dr. Waddy never make a full recovery.

“That’s good to hear, Kamryn.”

That tone, that name, falling from Dr. Sharpe’s lips should have been the warning that Kamryn needed. No one had called her by her given name except her grandparents in a very long time. And no one should be addressing her by that name in this room—not right now. They should be calling her Dr. Ogden and nothing else.

She had worked hard for that degree, and she had worked hard for her education. And it was a simple sign of respect. The fact that Dr. Sharpe was doing the opposite was a very personal and intentional point that she was making.

“Absolutely, Dr. Sharpe. ” Kamryn made sure to use her proper salutation, emphasizing it even. If Dr. Sharpe did it again, then Kamryn would probably correct her, but not this first time. Kamryn wasn’t such a brute that she would ruin a good thing while it lasted—if it could be a good thing at this point.

Turning to the rest of the group, Kamryn prepared the speech that she wrote late last night over the glass of whiskey that she had desperately needed in order to calm some nerves.

“I haven’t had much time to sit down and sort things out, so this meeting is going to be short today, and I’m going to assume that most of you know what needs done. I was only hired for this position last week, and the notes that were sent to me were scant at best. I know we need a secondary co-leader for the Speech team, and that we need someone to help with Model United Nations. Any takers?”

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.”