Page 108 of Promises We Meant to Keep

“Mostly. Heather threw the biggest fit. I found out at the wedding that Susy has been spreading rumors about you, some true, most untrue. Simone helped me to uncover even more and to trace them back. Susy has had a vendetta against you, and the creation of the ethics team with Heather and Yara was fully with the intention of getting you out of Windermere. We were able to prove that tonight. In case you’re wondering, Simone has taken over chairing that team, and I’m working with her to rebuild it from scratch, again.”

“Simone will be good for that.” Elia lifted the crystal glass to her lips and finally took a sip of the amber liquid. It burned going down but not as much as everything else lately had.

“For now, Jensen has taken over supervising your position at the school.”

Elia jerked her head up at, locking her eyes on Kamryn’s in confusion. Kamryn was staring at her intently, as if trying to read between the lines for what Elia was thinking and feeling.

“It’s only temporary until Marshall Dean returns from parental leave in a few weeks,” Kamryn added.

“I’ll be supervised by the Assistant Head of School? Not by you?” Elia tightened her grip on the glass, but she wasn’t understanding something. Kamryn wasn’t telling her something intentionally, and she was completely lost as to why the change was happening.

“I told them about our relationship.”

“Kam.” Elia’s heart sank, and that same fear from before came rushing back. “They fired you?”

“No, they didn’t fire me.” Kamryn’s lips twitched upward, a small smile taking over what had been exhaustion for such a brief moment. “They extended my contract to the end of the year.”

“What?”

“And in order to avoid a conflict of interest and favoritism, they’re placing you under different supervision. Marshall will be back in a few weeks, and I’ll update him about the changes going forward.”

“I don’t even know what to say.” Elia set her drink onto the coffee table. “I don’t know whether to be pissed off that you did all of this without talking to me first or to thank you.”

“Both is probably a good place to start.” Kamryn knocked back the rest of her drink and added her glass to Elia’s. “I couldn’t tell you about a good portion of that.”

“I understand, but it still involved me.” Elia stared down at her hands. “And to tell them about our relationship? We’re not even—”

“I want to be,” Kamryn interrupted. “And I want to make that very clear. If you want to be with me, Elia, then be with me. But even if you’re not because of our history, the board deserved to know. I need to be as open with them as I possibly can, and our relationship causes a conflict of interest when it comes to certain things, even if we don’t continue to be in a relationship together.”

Elia steadied. Kamryn still wanted to be with her? She wasn’t sure she’d be as gracious as that, not with the way Elia had treated her lately. She’d ignored all sides of a personal relationship between them—or at least she’d tried to.

“You don’t have to answer me about that tonight if you don’t want to. I know this is a lot to take in at once.” Kamryn stretched out her legs and pointed her toes. “And you haven’t had a lot of the information that I’ve had.”

“You asked me to trust you, and I didn’t.”

Kamryn turned sharply to her at that.

“I didn’t trust you,” Elia repeated, making sure that her point was clear. “I pushed and nearly bullied you into accepting my resignation, and you just stood there and took it.”

“In all fairness, Elia, I pushed and nearly bullied you just as hard. I just needed you to stay long enough for me to get things in order and make things happen. I needed you to stay until after this meeting, so you could choose to leave on your own terms. And if you want me to accept your resignation, then I will. I won’t hold you here any longer. I’ll curse you when I have to teach your damn classes until I can find a long-term substitute, but that’s the extent of it.”

Elia’s lips parted in surprise. She was free to leave. And it was the first time that she’d truly felt that. She had all the powernow, to leave or to stay, to make the decisions about whether or not their relationship continued. Kamryn had laid it all out so beautifully for her, giving her all the options and more, and the absolute freedom to make these choices.

“I don’t want to leave,” Elia whispered. That much she knew to be true right in this moment. She’d never wanted to leave Windermere. It’d been her home for so long and she was comfortable here.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Kamryn snagged her glass and started toward the kitchen.

Elia stayed on the couch, sitting in silence as she processed through everything she’d just been told. It was so hard to not be the one doing anything, to not be defending herself, to not be trying to keep up with all the accusations and politics that came with teaching and especially with teaching in a private school.

“So can I burn your resignation? Because I’ve been dying to do that, in all honesty.” Kamryn sat back down heavily, but she hadn’t returned with a refilled glass.

“Sure.” Elia smiled at the comfort and ease that they’d found again. “The board didn’t have questions about when you were my student?”

“They did.” Kamryn ran her fingers through her hair. “But they didn’t seem to question my answers when I gave them.”

“Because they’re the truth.”

“Yeah.” Kamryn grinned and rubbed her hands over her face. “I know it’s not all done and solved, and now I have to hire a new administrative assistant and get a temp in this week, but I feel like I can honestly say that the drama is done.”

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