Page 42 of It Starts With A No

Seth didn’t realize he was staring at Clary until she glanced up at him.

She gave him an apologetic smile, then turned her attention back to Gemma. “Don’t listen to the naysayers. What was it you said? Haters gonna hate, right?”

“But I can’t catch up.” There was a pause before the girl continued. “The teachers are saying that they’ll have to put me back a level or two.”

Clary sighed softly.

“I’m sorry, Clary.”

“Don’t be. It isn’t your fault. You didn’t choose to miss school.” Clary clicked her tongue. “Where’s your foster mom? What did she say?”

“Mrs. Bester says she’ll keep tutoring me, and we’ll catch up.”

Clary nodded. “She was a teacher before she retired—a really good one. You don’t trust her?”

“But I’m too slow.”

“It always feels that way in the beginning, Gemma. Foundations take time to build. You’ll get there as long as you don’t give up. Remember what you told me? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A lawyer.”

“Law school will be tough too. If you’re going to start giving up on things now, then you can forget about your dream. But Gemma, I know you’re not the type to give up.”

Seth’s gaze shot to the rear-view mirror when someone behind him honked their horn. Only at the second honk did he realize the light had turned green.

He stepped on the gas. This time, without any effort, he missed the rest of Clary’s conversation.

Chapter 9

Seth led the way toward the elevator in Movement’s parking garage. Clary had been on the phone for the whole drive, ending the call only when he was pulling into his parking spot.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the call to last that long.”

He jabbed the button for the elevator. “You give out your personal number to all the kids and families you work with?”

She bit down on her lips.

“And they just call you whenever they want?”

“I know. I know. I’ve heard it all before,” she said. “I don’t give my number out to everyone. But there are some kids who’ve been through a lot, and it takes a lot for them to trust again.” Clary stepped into the elevator after him. “I don’t see what’s wrong with giving them the number to give them a little security, knowing that they can call me if they ever need anything.”

From the moment he was adopted, Seth hadn’t heard anything from the orphanage. No one thought there was any need to check up on him. After all, he was adopted by an Eolenfeld. He was one of the lucky ones.

“I know I shouldn’t live my life around Safe Homes.” She rolled her eyes. “I should draw a line between my work and personal life.”

His lips curled. Work had been—and still was—his life too. “Why did you give up a job you love so much to fix an Eolenfeld mess?”

“Because it isn’t about the Eolenfelds.” She gave him a wry smile. “Nearly half a million accounts opened without permission. Over two million ripped off from those people.” Her tongue darted across her lips. “Two million dollars is nothing to the Eolenfelds, but to the half a million account holders? Credit scores have been ruined. People, who could be living paycheck-to-paycheck, whose every dollar and cent matters to them, have been robbed. And I get to make it right.”

Seth ran his tongue under his teeth.

“Then there’s the money, of course.”

He sighed at that—relieved. Because Seth was getting more confused with every minute he spent with her.

He’d drawn a clear line between them, and he’d stacked on reason after reason to build and fortify a wall.

The reasons, however, were crumbling away.

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