Page 90 of I Think He Knows?

“I think you should give yourself some grace,” she insists. “You finally have the very thing you’ve been hoping for, and it’s being threatened. It’s only natural to have doubts and questions.”

“Yes, but what if enough is enough?” I ask. “What if I push him away because of my fears? And then Lilly gets what she wants, and they still don’t end up together. Cam will eventually move on with someone.”

She listens as I continue talking.

“Honestly, part of me wonders if Cam is fooling himself. Maybe the connection they share goes too deep to ever be fully over. It happens all the time. You hear stories about people reuniting after years apart.”

“That’s a great question,” she says. “And one you need to ask him before you get any more involved.”

Eliza is just confirming what I already know.

“I saw them talking in his office this afternoon,” I admit. “It wasn’t a big deal, but it just reminded me they’ve shared so much, and the family relationships are real.”

“What were they talking about?”

I shrug. “I left before they saw me. I didn’t want a weird interaction, so I rushed out. And then Ms. Wilcox spoke to me before I left.”

“Hey. Maybe she’s forgiven you from stealing the coach from her,” she says with a laugh.

“Hopefully,” I reply. “I have my hands full with Lilly. I was late the other day, and she was sitting outside my class with the students. It feels like she’s trying to catch me messing up. Did I tell you she spent hours in my class observing me?”

“Is that normal?”

“Yes, the administration does observations and evaluations. It just seemed like she was in my classroom far longer than usual.”

Eliza presses her lips together. “Stay on your toes, just in case. I doubt she’d try to interfere with your job, but sometimes people are capable of more than we think.”

This is what I’m afraid of. I’d hate to think she’d go to such extreme lengths to keep me away from Cam, but who knows.

“I’m keeping my eyes and ears open,” I tell her. “Ariel already warned me to watch out.”

“How is Ariel?” Eliza asks. “Still trying to convince people to get matching tattoos?”

I laugh. “Not recently. I think she’s finally given up.”

We spend the rest of the evening eating way too many cookies and then make a pinky promise we will use our bootcamp packages.

Of course I already know she’ll be dragging me to all the classes in preparation for her wedding.

After Eliza leaves, I check my phone. There’s a text from Cam waiting for me.

So tired. Hope you had a good day.

I send a quick reply.

Me too. It was a long day. Had a pizza and sugar night with Eliza.

I go to the bathroom to get ready for bed, and my phone buzzes again.

I’m still hoping to be invited to one of your pizza and sugar nights.

I send a laughing face emoji back.

This is the Cam I fell for. The kind and warm man who makes me laugh and truly loves kids as much as I do. He has all the qualities I’ve ever wanted. I’m just not sure he’s able to give me his whole heart. A piece of it might be otherwise occupied forever.

Chapter Twenty

As soon as I see the email regarding a mandatory staff meeting, I know it’s going to be a continuation of the Lilly show. She told me she had a lot of ideas she wanted to introduce to our school after the event was over, and I’m sure she’s ready to hit the ground running. I believe Lilly genuinely cares about our school, in addition to being able to work with Cam.

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