“There you are,” she said, pushing away from the counter and walking toward me. “I was starting to think the dean kidnapped you.”
Her tone was light, though the curiosity in her eyes was impossible to miss.
“What did he want?”
I hesitated for only a second, and Giselle caught it.
“Edwina,” she said, studying my face. “What happened?”
I took a small breath.
“Nothing,” I said, even though the word sounded weak to my own ears.
Giselle crossed her arms.
“That’s not a nothing face.”
I managed a faint smile.
“He just wanted to introduce himself.”
“During your lecture?”
“Yes.”
Giselle gave me a look. “That is a very strange time for introductions.”
I leaned back against the edge of the table behind me, grateful for the surface beneath my hands.
Giselle watched me for another moment, her expression shifting from curiosity to something closer to suspicion.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said.
The words came closer to the truth than she realized.
“I’m just tired,” I replied.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
I exhaled softly.
“I’m not lying.”
You’re definitely not telling the whole story.”
gaze sharpened slightly.
“Wait.”
Her posture shifted, a thought beginning to form behind her eyes.
“That name,” she said slowly. “Stone.”
My stomach tightened.
“What about it?”
Giselle tilted her head.
