Page 64 of Promises We Meant to Keep

“So what do I need to do next?” Elia asked, already knowing the answer and already hating the fact that she knew what was coming.

“You need to talk to a lawyer, and you cannot tell anyone anything. And you need to talk to Kamryn, not about eighteen years ago, but you need to talk to her about your current relationship.” Abagail sounded so sure of herself.

“And tell her what?”

“That you’re done. End it now, before it blows up in your face.”

Elia curled in on herself. “And Yara?”

“Yara is going to be your worst enemy if you let her. Don’t. She doesn’t need to get under your skin any more than she already has. She was always a brute, and she’ll continue to do exactly what she thinks she needs to do.”

“It feels like the whole world is out to get me.”

“Not the whole world, babe.” Abagail’s tone turned tender. “But most of the people at Windermere, that’s for sure. At least the ones in power right now. I don’t know about Kam, yet. She might still be on your side.”

“I’m afraid she won’t be when she finds out.” Elia sounded so small, so scared. And she was. She cared what other people thought about her—at least about this—and she especially cared about what Kamryn thought about her. It mattered. She mattered.

“There’s only one way to know that,” Abagail answered. “But now isn’t the time to find out. You’re going to have to live in the ambiguity a little longer.”

“I hate that.”

“I know you do.”

Elia frowned. She checked the time on the wall and knew she was going to have to head back for the Speech practice soon. At least she’d gotten a small escape. Maybe she could take a few more minutes to put her head on straight and be able to hide the fact that she wasn’t okay. The last thing she needed was Kamryn to start prying.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Elia said. “You should get back to work.”

“Okay. I’m going to hold you to that, and if you don’t call me, I’m going to sic the hounds on you.”

That made Elia smile slightly. She could always trust Abagail to have her back. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Hanging up, Elia went to the kitchen to pour herself a cold glass of water. She stared at her phone, knowing that she needed to read the texts from Kamryn. And then she needed to follow Abagail’s advice. She needed to pull away and protect Kamryn as much as she could. Because this was turning out to be a disaster.

Sliding her phone open, she was relieved to see the first text was Kamryn saying she wouldn’t be able to make it to the Speech practice that night, that she was going to be stuck in a meeting for a few hours. And then her stomach twisted hard at the next ones.

Are you okay?

Can we talk soon? I have time later tonight.

You’re worrying me.

She was already in too far over her head, wasn’t she? She’d thought briefly that this might work, but now, she wasn’t sosure. Her mistakes from decades ago were going to come back and take her down again. And she wouldn’t let Kamryn bear the brunt of her past.

twenty-three

“Hey.” Kamryn slid into the seat next to Elia on the bus.

The day had been filled by the speech competition, so much so that Kamryn hadn’t even had a moment to take a breath, let alone talk to Elia at all. And since they weren’t staying anywhere overnight this time, she was stuck trying to talk to Elia on the bus with students chattering away behind them and passing around the whisk that Kamryn had brought.

“Hey,” Elia answered, but she scooted away slightly, putting space between them.

For the last few days, Elia had been so quiet. The stark change from the weeks before was unnerving, and Kamryn had searched her brain and every interaction they’d had to try and figure out what had happened and what she’d done to set Elia off, but she honestly couldn’t think of anything.

Except that interaction in the hallway with Yara Cole.

That was when all of this had started, and Elia had shut down on her. But Kamryn was determined. They’d had something good going, and Kamryn cared. That was her downfall every time, but she cared about Elia, and she wanted to make sure that there wasn’t something she could do to help out with whatever the situation was.

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