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“Grace, this is total bullshit! Everything about it is a lie.” He started pacing again, clenching and unclenching his fists. “What are your options?”
“To resign or face a school board investigation and hearing.” She rubbed an ache in the middle of her chest. “They’ve taken away my summer school position, but they’re letting me finish out the school year. I don’t have to make a decision right away.”
“Good.” He stopped and faced her. “I’ll come back before school ends. We’ll figure it out.”
We.Never before had she known the depth of what it meant to have someone at your side through both the good and the bad. He’d been so determined to protect her from a parent’s wrath and from the brutal truth of his injury, but now she had to protect him from so much more. Not for anything would she let this catastrophe stain his life and reputation.
“No.” Her heart began a hard, heavy descent that caused a rush of nausea. “I need to figure it out on my own.”
“Why? I’m fucking involved in this too.”
“You are not involved. That’s exactly the point. It’s my problem.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been here!”
“If you hadn’t been here, Spruce would have found another way to shove me out the door.”
The distress in his eyes seared through her heart. She rounded the desk and approached him, though she knew if she touched him, she’d be lost.
“Lincoln, you did a wonderful job. You’re a natural teacher, and the kids learned so much from you. Please,pleasedon’t tarnish that. Regardless of what happens to me, you can still come back next year. You can still work on expanding the program into other schools, which is a phenomenal idea. I will not let you get involved in this…this smear campaign.”
His jaw clenched. “I will notlet youface it alone.”
Images suddenly flashed in her mind—Lincoln at a microphone in front of the school board, answering questions about her curriculum and conduct, about how she taught poetry and if he’d ever witnessed inappropriate behavior…the surrounding seats all filled with parents and students, his brother, her father and the other friends he’d made, and maybe even—God forbid—a big-name reporter who’d caught wind of the famous author’s involvement in a school scandal…
And even worse, his involvement would only intensify the horrible speculation aboutthem. She couldn’t stand it if their relationship, if theirlove, were dragged through the mud and made fodder for gossip.
“It’s not your call.” She stiffened her spine and tried to harden her heart. “And what about Jake’s movie? The production ofTruthwas shut down last year because of the director’s inappropriate behavior. Do you really wantyour namelinked to another scandal? Would you put Jake’s movie at risk?”
“That production was shut down because of an asshole predator,” he snapped. “You are being falsely accused. The situations are totally different.”
“Do you think people are going to take the time to parse out the details? No. The only thing that matters is the accusation.”
“I’m not going to—”
“You need to go.” She felt as if she were about to crack right down the middle. “Please.”
He stared at her. “News flash, Grace. You might not have wanted a relationship, but we’ve been in one since the damned rhubarb pie. And arelationshipmeans that I get to stand at your side when you’re in trouble. It means I get to fight for you, defend you, and stop you from getting hurt.”
“Can’t you see that I want to do the same for you? That’s why I don’t want you involved.” She had one thread left to grab, the only thing she could think of to force him to walk away. “Lincoln, I told you I wasn’t looking for anything long-term. We’d have an affair and go our separate ways, right? Well, now you’re leaving. It’s over.”
“The hell it is.I love you.”
Tears stung her eyes. “What do you think could even happen with us? Your company is in New York. You live there…when you’re not traveling all over the world. No matter what happens with this stupid charge, I live here. Even if I have to resign, I’ll still be here dealing with the aftermath.”
“So resign.”
“What?”
“Resign and come with me to New York.” A sudden light flashed in his eyes. “Live with me. Stay in my house while I’m in Afghanistan. We’ll figure out a plan for you to start something new. Something bigger.”
Grace swallowed hard. “Lincoln, I can’tleave.”
“Why not? Forget all this crap and find a place where people will appreciate how much you have to offer.”
“Do you not know me at all?” She pressed a hand to her thumping heart. “I don’t want something new and bigger. I want to be here for my students and my father, to make a difference in my own way. I realize it’s all verysmallfor you, but this is my life. I’m not running away from it. Especially not to New York.”
A weighty silence fell. His eyes were twin flames of anger and frustration.
“Lincoln.” She tried to stop her voice from breaking. “We both knew from the start our lives are completely different. We knew it was going to end.”
“That was before I fell in love with you.” His mouth compressed. “This isn’t over, Grace.”
“Yes, it is.” She strode to pull open the door, staring fixedly at the whiteboard. “Your time here is up.”
He stalked past her to the corridor. She shut the door behind him. The snap of the lock echoed inside her, as if she’d just locked her heart away.
