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“He can’t justget rid of you.” Lincoln’s tone hardened. “I’m telling him I’ll be contacting my lawyer and—”
Grace swung her gaze back to him. “Youcannottalk to Hank about this.”
“The hell I can’t,” Lincoln snapped. “I’m telling him he’s a fucking idiot for suspending the best teacher in this school. There’s no way he’s using my donation and our relationship as an excuse to hold a bogus hearing. The school district legal team will be facing a tough battle if they try and force you out of your job.”
Though she experienced a swell of gratitude over his defense of her, hisbeliefin her, she knew that kind of drastic action would only make things worse. “Lincoln, you can’t do that. I told you the first day you got here that you can’t interfere in school issues.”
“This isn’t a school issue to me.” He paced to the student desks, his hands fisting. “Did you seriously think I didn’t know something was wrong? That I couldn’t tell? I love you, Grace. What happens to you happens to me.”
She gripped the edge of the desk, as if she could ground herself while her heart suddenly took flight. “Lincoln—”
He threw her a dark look. “Yeah, I get it. We’re not in a relationship, right? Isthatwhy you didn’t tell me?”
She pulled in a heavy breath. “I couldn’t tell you because it’s confidential information. But even if it hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have told you.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Her throat hurt. “Because I don’t want you to get involved. I don’t want people to think you had something to do with it. What if that somehow backlashed on you? It’s a horrible accusation that could follow me around no matter where I go. I don’t want to stop teaching, but if I get a reputation as an insubordinate teacher who’s morally corrupting her students, do you think anyone will hire me?”
“That’s the point, Grace! They can’t make that charge without evidence. There’s no way any of your students or their parentsoryour colleagues will back up that kind of bullshit.”
“No, they won’t, because I don’t want them to know the first thing about it.” Desperation began crawling up her spine. “Look, I know you mean well, but—”
“I don’t justmean well. I’m putting a stop to it.”
“Lincoln!” She slammed her hand on the desk. “You are not doing anything. This is none of your business.”
His mouth compressed. “Everything having to do with you is my business.”
Though Grace’s soul itself yielded to that declaration, she shook her head. “No. I told you at the start you can’t strong-arm your way into my work life. You still can’t, no matter what we’ve come to mean to each other. This is my problem to fix.”
“Why can’t you accept my help?”
“Because I don’t want it to affect you negatively. And your responsibility at this school ended at the five-week mark.”
“My responsibility toyoudidn’t.”
“You don’t have a responsibility to me.” It physically hurt to say those words.
“The hell I don’t.” He stalked to the whiteboard, his muscles locked with frustration. “When I got here and found out that you hadn’t expected me, I said I’d quit. But you told me I couldn’t, that I had a contract. Why were you so desperate for me to stay when you didn’t even want me here in the first place?”
Grace tried to come up with a plausible reason, but Lincoln would see through a lie. Worse, he’d go searching for the truth again if she didn’t tell him.
“Hank Spruce threatened my job if your experience here was anything less than aresounding success.” She held up a hand. “It wasn’t about you, specifically. Well, it had to do with you being a famous author, but it was also about funding, the school’s reputation, and the lengthy history of problems I’ve had with this administration. I needed you to stay, and I needed your experience in my classroom and with my students to be successful.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “It was.”
She couldn’t respond, but her nod was a fraction too late.
“What?” he demanded. “What are you not telling me? Again?”
“Lincoln, you need to give me your word that you won’t go to Spruce.” She squared her shoulders. “Yourword.”
He gave a sharp nod.
“Todd Oliver told his parents he wants to quit football. His parents are blaming me. They said that between your talk with him and myfailureto help him pass my class, he gave it up. Given his position, that will have a big impact on next year’s football program.”
She almost took a step back as Lincoln’s expression darkened with storm clouds. “There was nothing you could or should have done differently. Obviously, they used Todd’s quitting and the corruption charge as a way to build a stronger case against me.”
