Page 31 of Promises We Meant to Keep (Love in Massachusetts #1)

thirty-one

“Well, that was odd,” Greer said, watching Elia leave.

“It really wasn’t.” Kamryn wanted to cry. She had Greer with her now, but she still felt so very alone. “You’ve missed so much.”

“I know.” Greer frowned and tugged Kamryn in for another tight hug. “How’s the bride?”

“She’s fine.” Kamryn snorted. “Rosie’s in there making a fuss and everyone just wants her out of the damn room.”

“Should I go kick her out?” Greer was ready to play mama bear, and Kamryn loved when she did that. She wished Greer would do it for her right now.

“No. I think Andra can handle her. Don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” Greer tilted her head to the side. “So what’s with Elia?”

“Simone Parks…a.k.a. Andra’s new stepmother-in-law teaches chemistry at Windermere.”

“No shit!”

Kamryn frowned and nodded. “I didn’t know that she was Garrett’s stepmother, and neither did Elia, apparently. And Susy Butkis is here. She’s on the board. I’m not entirely sure how she’s related yet.”

“Windermere is a really small world, isn’t it?” Greer put her hands on her hips and scowled at the room.

Kamryn could have laughed at that look. Greer always had a smile on her face. She never allowed the world to get her down, and so her scowl looked so out of place. “It is. But so is the world in general. Six degrees of separation, right?”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

“Why?”

Greer wrinkled her brow. “I’m struggling to get another job. And it looks like I might have to move back in with my mom.”

“No!”

“Yes,” Greer answered. “I’m not sure either one of us will survive that if we do it.”

“Damn it. I wish you could come move in with me. You were my backup plan when I’m done with Windermere.” It wasn’t really the truth, but Kamryn had to give her something. If she could live with Greer, she would in a heartbeat. Greer had occasionally stayed with her and Lauren on a long short-term when she’d been between jobs, but it had never been more than three months. She missed those days.

“Guess you’ll have to figure something else out.” Greer wrapped her arm around Kamryn’s back. “Looks like the wedding is getting started. Come on.”

They found seats as close to the front as they could possibly get. Kamryn was already worn out from the day and now knowing that she was also going to have to tell her friends about the fact that she and Elia had been fake girlfriends was weighing on her. Elia really had left her in a bind to clean up the entire mess, hadn’t she?

“Here she comes!” Greer clapped her hands lightly as the music changed.

Everyone stood up, and Andra started down the aisle. She was stunning. Kamryn couldn’t have wished for a better day for her. It was exactly like she wanted it. The ceremony went swiftly, and before she knew it, Kamryn found herself at the reception, her arm still wrapped in Greer’s for safe keeping.

“Where did Elia end up?” Simone stopped Kamryn as she headed toward the open bar.

“Oh, something came up and she had to leave.” Kamryn forced the lie through her teeth. She wasn’t ready for this. But it was all about to unravel now, wasn’t it?

“That’s a pity. I could use a friend at this thing.”

“Friend?” Kamryn looked at Simone. She was a quiet teacher, rarely said anything during the staff meetings, kept to herself.

Simone shrugged slightly. “I always considered her a friend.”

“You should tell her that then. She could probably use one right about now.” Kamryn swallowed a gulp of the beer she had in her hand. She really shouldn’t have said that.

“I heard about the accusations stirring up again. Pity. Elia’s one of the best teachers Windermere has.” Simone ordered a glass of wine, and then took Kamryn by the arm to lead her away from the bar. “Susy has been going on about it.”

“Are you serious?” Kamryn’s jaw dropped. Of all the people who were going to slip up and talk about confidential information, Kamryn hadn’t expected it to be Susy Butkis. Yara, yes, but not Susy. She was going to have to report it with the board itself, and that was going to be its own drama for her to contend with.

“Yeah. It’s really quite tragic.”

“What is?”

“What happened.” Simone gave Kamryn a curious look. “Don’t you know?”

“I know some of it.” That was always Kamryn’s go-to answer when she wanted more information and wanted to make it seem like she was ignorant.

“There was a student who accused her of sexual harassment. And then when that one was proven false there were three others.”

Kamryn’s stomach plummeted. “What?”

“They were all proven false. All of them were from the same friend group, and once Rylann’s story was disproven it was easy to disprove the others. They weren’t as bad as what Rylann was saying anyway. But it was all because they were friends with Felicity Cole, and when she dropped her accusation, that was the end of it. Nothing else since then because it was all a bunch of bullshit.”

Kamryn shook her head. “There were four accusations.” It wasn’t a question.

“There were, but all of them false, all of them from the same clique. They were out to get Elia fired. That was their goal.”

“Were you working at Windermere?”

Simone shook her head. “I wasn’t. But I was working at John Adams, and we heard all about it over there. When Elia tried to get hired there, they wouldn’t even give her an interview.”

The shock ran through Kamryn. If Simone knew this much, how many other people at Windermere knew about what had happened and were just refusing to talk? How many people knew where the recantation was? Because that’s what Kamryn really needed to find.

“I hated what happened. It’s so easy for that to happen to any of us.” Simone touched Kamryn’s arm lightly. “I hope you can figure it out to keep Elia around. I’d hate for her to get fired over something she didn’t do.”

“Right.” Kamryn was flabbergasted as Simone walked away to join the family again.

“What was that about?” Greer asked, stepping next to Kamryn.

“I’m not entirely sure…” Kamryn still couldn’t take her eyes off Simone. “But it’s at least somewhat comforting.”

“O…kay?”

“It’s about that thing I can’t talk about but apparently everyone else on the face of the planet is.” Kamryn frowned at that. She really was going to have to report Susy for that violation. It was a massive breach of confidentiality.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not. But it’s also a problem for future Kamryn. Tonight, I want to get drunk. I want you to crash in my room with me. And I want to wake up so hung over in the morning that we can’t pull ourselves out of bed for the stupid brunch that Andra insisted on having.”

“Deal,” Greer answered. “Because when else is a good time to get sloshed than with your best friend at a wedding!”

Kamryn chinked her beer bottle against Greer’s. “Bottoms up.”

Without hesitation, both of them tipped their bottles upward and started chugging their drinks. They might not get completely wasted, but they’d at least get a good buzz on before the end of the night. And Kamryn was no happier to do that than with her best friend. God, she’d missed Greer.

“I needed this,” Kamryn said.

“Me too,” Greer responded with a laugh. “We can do it more often now.”

“Yes!” Kamryn went over to the bar and ordered them new drinks. Finding a quiet corner where they could talk was fairly easy. Kamryn leaned against the standing table with a candle on it. “I do need your advice though.”

“Shoot. That’s what I’m here for.” Greer leaned in closer. “Are you finally going to let me in on all the secrets?”

“No.” Kamryn laughed lightly. “Well, some of them. There’s a group at the school who’s trying to fire Elia. One of them is here tonight. That one.” Kamryn pointed the top of her beer bottle toward Susy.

“Susy?” Greer narrowed her eyes in that direction. “That’s Garrett’s aunt, I think.”

“Are you sure?” Kamryn asked.

“Pretty sure, but I could be wrong. If we’re sober in the morning, we might be able to find out.”

Kamryn hummed, her brain processing that information. “She’s on the board.”

“And the plot thickens.”

“Not really.”

“Here’s what I don’t get,” Greer changed the subject. “What does any of this have to do with Elia and you?”

“With me and Elia?”

“Yeah.” Greer nodded emphatically. “Because from the reports that I’ve been getting from the crew, you two have gotten mighty close in the last few months.”

They had. But when it was in front of Kamryn’s friends it had all been an act. Hadn’t it? They’d agreed to that. It was part of their deal. The fake dating routine, the keeping things strictly off property. Well, they’d failed at that one spectacularly, hadn’t they? And Kamryn wasn’t even sorry about it. That was the worst part. She didn’t regret one moment of the time that she’d spent with Elia. Not a single one.

“What’s that look for?” Greer pushed.

“Nothing,” Kamryn mumbled into her beer before she took a long chug from it.

“Oh, don’t lie to me now. You’ve never lied to me before.” Greer gave her a serious look, one that meant business, and she didn’t let up.

Kamryn withered under that stare. But she had no idea what to say. She didn’t understand what to do next or if she could even begin to find the right words to even explain it to Greer.

“Maybe you’re not lying to me,” Greer said, pressing her hand over the top of Kamryn’s on the table. “Maybe you’re lying to yourself.”

“I’m not lying to myself,” Kamryn muttered. She hated when Greer called her out like this. Her shoulders tightened, something like a string being pulled in the center of her back. She looked around the room again, wishing that Elia was there with her to experience this.

“You keep looking for her, don’t you?”

Fuck you, Greer. How was she so damn good at this? Kamryn immediately pulled her gaze back to her drink, her cheeks flushed. But she wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or if it was from the alcohol.

“Lauren’s breaking up with Rosie.”

“I heard about that,” Greer responded. “And I assume that she hit on you?”

“At the party last night.” Kamryn nodded her agreement. “She implied she and I should get back together again.”

“And will you?”

Kamryn pressed her lips together into a thin line as she thought. The longer she’d had to think about it, the more solidified she became in her answer. She wasn’t going to do that to herself. When she’d said that the last time was the last time, she’d meant it. Even though she’d said that before, she actually meant it now.

“No.”

“I think that’s the most resolute I’ve seen you when it comes to this.”

“It is.” Kamryn breathed in deeply, sucking down the rest of her beer. “I can’t keep going back to her, Greer. I can’t keep living my life and expecting her to change or thinking that I can change her.” Those words that Elia had said really were coming back to bite her in the ass.

“What changed this time?” Greer seemed so sincere when she asked that. And she would be. She’d genuinely want to know, and she would truly care about the answer that Kamryn gave.

Shrugging, Kamryn started to rip the label off the bottle, trying to get it off in one piece. “Elia.”

“What about Elia caused the change?” Greer was fishing again, but Kamryn didn’t mind it.

Kamryn wasn’t ready to answer that question.

“Kam…” Greer pointed at her. “Quit avoiding.”

“Elia is…someone special.”

“Obviously.”

Kamryn smiled at that. Her cheeks rushed with heat, and she shook her head. “Like I told you before, it wasn’t all fake.”

“But how much of it was real?”

“All of it,” Kamryn whispered. “All of it and more.”

Kamryn wanted another drink. But she stayed where she was, trying to make sure that she did exactly what Greer had asked her to—stop avoiding. Greer wasn’t wrong. She really needed to figure this out.

“If the circumstances were different? Hell yes, I think we’d be in a relationship together.” Kamryn circled her finger around the rim of the beer bottle. “But with everything else going on right now? I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Love is the easy part, right?”

Kamryn snorted at that and then rolled her eyes. “Sure it is. If that’s what this is.”

“Are you going to argue with your best friend?” Greer put her hand over her heart and feigned hurt. “How dare you?”

“You’re a jerk sometimes, but no, I’m not arguing with you.”

Greer stilled. “Are you serious? You’re in love with her?”

“I don’t know.” Kamryn wrung her hands together before straightening up. “And even if I am, I’m not sure it matters in the long run. She’s not here, is she? I needed her tonight, I asked her to be here, she agreed, and then she left.”

“Yeah, but it sounds like she didn’t leave without good reason. She was here. She did show up.” Greer looked stern. “Don’t get angry over something that isn’t worth it.”

“But isn’t it? I’m not going to be in a relationship with someone who runs out on me. Not again.”

“Ah, so that’s where this is coming from.” Greer sighed. “Elia definitely isn’t Lauren. You honestly couldn’t have chosen someone more opposite of Lauren.”

“I’m not sure they are all that different.” Kamryn had been pondering that one for a while now. She was cleaning up both their messes. Lauren’s she’d cleaned up for decades, and now she was cleaning up Elia’s. They were both people who were followed everywhere by an inordinate amount of chaos. “I think I just need to focus on work right now. I need to figure out who’s been messing with the records, and I need to get everything in order for when I leave.”

“That’s it?” Greer asked.

“That’s it.”