Page 3 of Promises We Meant to Keep (Love in Massachusetts #1)

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’t know 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.

“And Elia Sharpe didn’t give you any trouble with that?”

That’s what this was about. Kamryn glanced toward her open doorway and decided to lower her volume. She didn’t need anyone to overhear what she was going to say and only get half the conversation. “No, she didn’t. In fact, she said it would be good to get back to how it was when we were in school.”

“Really?” Heather seemed surprised by that.

Kamryn could understand why, especially if this was something Heather had been pushing for a while. She likely would have come up against Elia’s backbone at least a time or two. “Sometimes it just takes the right person to ask.”

“Right,” Heather said, dropping her tone. “Well, I’m glad. It’ll help keep the students safe.”

“It absolutely will.” Kamryn started to draw spirals on a yellow pad. “Let me know if you hear anything about Dr. Waddy. I’d really like to give the staff an update before the students get here.”

“I will.” Heather’s voice had that tone to it, the one that was half-fake and half-real.

Which was rather unexpected. Kamryn hung up, squared her shoulders, and rolled her neck. She really needed to sit down and figure out what she was doing for the rest of the day. She needed to prioritize everything.

Bending over her desk, Kamryn lost herself in organizing. This was at least one thing that she could accomplish today—even if it was the only thing. When Mrs. Caldera knocked on her door lightly, Kamryn stretched her back, an ache settling into the center of it.

“Lunch is only being served for the next thirty minutes today.”

“Oh.” Kamryn glanced down at the work that was spread over the desk. “Go on ahead, then.”

“You’re not coming?”

Kamryn’s back went up. She had so much work to get done. It wouldn’t be the end of the world for her to skip one meal. “Tomorrow.”

“Make sure you eat dinner.” Mrs. Caldera pointed a finger at her. “I’ll bring you back a snack.”

“Thanks.” Kamryn smiled a little, and as soon as her office was empty, she went back to work.

“I brought the schedule for you.”

Kamryn jerked with a start. She blinked her dry eyes toward the door and tried to relax the muscles in her neck and shoulders. Elia Sharpe stood in her doorway, the light from the window in the office outside of it shining against her back and giving her an ethereal glow.

“Schedule?” Kamryn shook her head in confusion. “Schedule for what?”

“Speech.” Elia stepped forward and dropped the papers onto the desk with a soft thump. “Since you’ll need it.”

“Ah. Thank you.” Kamryn stared down at the papers that were now covering what she had been working on. Her head ached, no doubt from the stress, and from staring at a computer screen and Dr. Waddy’s scribbled handwriting all day. “They’re only serving lunch for thirty minutes today.”

Elia frowned slightly before catching it and smoothing her features out again. “Lunch was an hour ago, Kamryn.”

“Oh.” Kamryn glanced at the clock on the far wall, realizing way too late that it had been a whole lot longer than she’d thought. Covering her embarrassment, Kamryn picked up the papers Elia had dropped on the desk and started to skim over them. “How many kids are on the Speech team this season?”

“Twenty-six. Not including any incoming students or new students that would like to join.” Elia crossed her arms.

“How many do you anticipate?”

“No more than ten new.”

“Shouldn’t be too bad a crew then.” Kamryn settled the papers back down. She wasn’t entirely sure why Elia was bringing her these instead of just emailing them over, or why she would dare to come into the office after the disaster they’d had earlier that day. “Was there something else you needed?”

“I thought you might appreciate a bit of an orientation.” Elia spoke slowly, as if choosing her words carefully and trying not to make a mess of this conversation.

Maybe she wasn’t as changed as Kamryn had thought this morning. Relaxing slightly, Kamryn canted her head to the side and waited a beat before responding. “Orientation?”

“Usually any new staff gets an orientation. I realized belatedly that Miller is usually the one who does this, and the board for the Head of School position. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was missed in the…chaos of the situation.”

“You’re right, it was missed.” Kamryn’s lips pulled up into a gentle smile. “But I don’t think I need an orientation to the school. Thank you.”

“Your choice.” Elia started toward the door, her long legs carrying her swiftly away from Kamryn’s desk.

“I could use an orientation to the board.”

Elia halted, her shoulders so rigid that Kamryn wondered if they would break. Slowly, she turned and faced Kamryn, her cheeks pale and her eyes wide. “I don’t deal with the board often.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t know who the players are. There seem to be a lot of missing communications between Dr. Waddy and the board and the board and Dr. Waddy. I’d like to rectify that before I leave if I can—maybe help get everyone on the same page.” Kamryn didn’t tear her gaze from Elia. There was something here that was off. Elia looked scared almost.

“That’s something you’d have to talk to them and Miller about, not me.”

“I understand, but I’d like an outsider’s point of view, if possible. And since you offered an orientation—”

“To the school,” Elia corrected, “not to the board.”

“The board is what leads this school, and there’s a lot amiss there. They don’t even have an ethics review committee.”

“I know,” Elia said, and then shook her head.

Had she not wanted to say that? Had the great Elia Sharpe who prided herself on her speech and debate skills let something slip? Now Kamryn was fascinated.

“Would you consider being on it? Not only as someone who has high ethical standards, but as a connection point back to the school?” Kamryn stretched her legs out under the desk.

“Absolutely not.” Elia shook her head sharply. “And don’t for one second think that I’m someone with high ethical standards. I might surprise you.”

“That would surprise me.” Kamryn frowned.

“Good.” Turning on her heel, Elia walked out.

Kamryn was left in the wake of anger that followed. At least it felt mostly like anger, but something was under the edge of it that she couldn’t really put her finger on. Sighing heavily, Kamryn picked up the papers Elia had given her again.

Elia Sharpe was clearly going to be her problem child.

Yet, she had offered a helping hand, so perhaps Kamryn was overthinking the issue. In fact, she’d been the only one to outwardly offer help on anything. Mrs. Caldera was just doing her job, but the board had basically left Kamryn to fend for herself.

But she’d never seen Elia so shut down before. What exactly had happened to the woman she remembered? The one who was her teacher, who was passionate and energetic, and open? Because this woman was closed off and icy. Not just icy. She was liquid nitrogen in a bottle, sucking the air and freezing everything around her that she touched.

Kamryn shook her head.

She had to stop thinking like that. It wasn’t going to do her any favors in the long run. She had to keep an open mind about everyone who was here. It was the only way that she was going to survive her temporary position.

Her cell phone buzzed on the top of the desk. Kamryn smiled when she saw Greer’s name light up on the screen. Sliding her thumb across the screen to answer the video call, Kamryn set the phone up against the computer screen and grinned broadly.

“Lunch time?” Kamryn asked.

“Yeah.” Greer leaned down and wrinkled her nose. “Has the first day been as bad as you thought it would?”

Kamryn flicked her gaze toward the open door and stood up immediately to shut it. She needed privacy for this one. Plopping back into the chair, Kamryn sighed heavily. “It could be better. I’ll tell you more about it when I’m not in the office.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Not bad.” Kamryn pursed her lips. “Interesting for sure.”

“Oh, I sniff a good story.”

Kamryn chuckled. “Why are you calling on your lunch? I thought you had a long day today.”

“Yeah, I did too.” Greer’s face fell. “I’m being laid off.”

“What?” Kamryn’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“I knew it was coming.” Greer lifted her shoulders up to her ears and dropped them. “They want the boys to start preschool, which means that my position is kind of pointless. No use for a nanny when the kids are in school.”

“Greer…” Kamryn frowned. “You’ll find another position.”

“I know I will. It’s hard though, leaving the boys. I’ve been with them for five years straight. They’re my babies.” Greer gave an over-accentuated pout. “At least I have until the New Year with them.”

“What about Andra’s wedding?”

Greer smiled. “They said that I could still have that time off for the wedding, not for anything else. So no bridal shower, no bachelorette party. They want to use as much of my time as they possibly can.”

“Greer.” Kamryn wanted to drive over there and hug her best friend, but it was damn near impossible to do that right now. And they both knew that.

“I’ll be fine. It isn’t the first time this has happened.”

“I know, but it’s hard.”

“It is. But worth it.” Greer forced a smile and winked. “Is everything as much of a mess as you thought it was?”

“More. Which I probably should have suspected. I’ve been digging into the board a bit. I still find it really odd that they wouldn’t just hire from within for this.” Kamryn ran her fingers through her hair and stretched again. She really should get up and take a short walk somewhere. It’d be good for her.

“What’d you find?”

“Nothing.” Kamryn frowned. “At least not yet. But I have taken care of two issues that the board wanted me to work on. There’s a third one that I think is going to be a bit harder.”

“What’s that?”

“I need to form an ethics committee. Want to be part of that?”

“Hell no!”

They both laughed, the lightheartedness of this conversation exactly what Kamryn had needed. Sometimes it was like Greer was psychic when it came to these kinds of things. When they settled again, Kamryn looked directly at Greer. “Think you can sneak away on Friday and come to town? They’re having their fall festival. I remember it always being amazing.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises.”

“Perfect.” Kamryn ended the call shortly after and rolled her shoulders.

With her first day done that meant her first week was nearly in the books, and while she’d be bringing a lot of the work home with her that night, it had been well worth it. And she hadn’t created chaos yet, so that was a good thing too. Picking up the phone on the desk, Kamryn searched for Dr. Waddy’s home number. She really had to make this call, no matter how much she didn’t want to. But she needed to update the staff like she’d promised.