Page 120 of The Other Side
I wasn’t sure how, but I ended up outside the kitchen. Pushing through the doors, I found it blissfully deserted. Hidden behind a countertop, I sunk to the ground and began to cry, too overwhelmed to do anything else.
How could I have been so foolish to have fallen for Chance? If what he’d said was real, if everything wasn’t some terrible nightmare…I’d never get over Chance Harper…I’d never get over what he’d done to me.
I replayed all the things he’d told me over the last few months. All the quiet, sweet words of adoration and devotion. He’d told me he’d loved me only a few days earlier.
How could this have happened?
The bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day. Spring break had officially begun. Twenty minutes ago, I had been oblivious, teaching in my classroom. Twenty minutes was all it had taken for my life to be upended.
I didn’t want to move, so I just stayed there, on the floor, for god knows how long. But just when I was considering going back downstairs to find Jolene, somebody else found me.
“Oh, kiddo…I heard what happened.” Chef Lenny gingerly sat down next to me.
“News travels that fast?” I felt embarrassment coursing through me. It was silly of me to think everyone would know immediately. I’d be a laughingstock. Maybe I would have been better off if I’d been fired. At least I could have had a fresh start somewhere else.
“It’s Montgomery.” Lenny sighed.
“Is he gone?” I whispered, terrified of whatever answer I’d get.
“Yeah. Left about an hour ago.”
I couldn’t believe I’d been sitting alone in the dark for that long.
“He’s probably halfway to Portland by now.”
The thought of him being so physically far from me sent me into a fresh wave of tears.
Lenny wrapped me up in a tight hug. “It’s going to be okay.” He spoke softly, making me wish I’d had a grandparent growing up. If they were anything like him, I think I could have used one.
“You didn’t hear what he said. It was awful,” I sobbed.
Lenny pulled back. “You didn’t believe any of it? Did you?” He was surprised.
“I don’t know what to believe.” I used the back of my hand to wipe my tears away.
“He fell on his sword for you, surely.” Lenny was adamant. “I’ve seen how the two of you speak of one another when theother isn’t looking. He can’t fake that shit with someone like me.”
“I’d never seen him look at me so coldly before…like I was nothing.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Jolene said he was isolating me from others.”
“Don’t listen to Jolene.” He scoffed, “That girl’s a busybody—has been since she was a student here.”
“I didn’t know she was an alumna…” I sniffed. “How’d she afford it?” I could have sworn she’d said she had gone to high school in Florida, that she’d grown up there. But Lenny had an excellent memory. Why wouldn’t Jolene have told me if it was true?
“Scholarship, probably.” He shrugged. “Have you talked to Chance? To clear things up?”
I shook my head. “They turned his phone off, and the headmistress forbade me from seeing him before he left. I’ve already lost him and made a complete fool of myself—I didn’t want to get fired on top of it.” I brought my palms to my face. I was exhausted. “I can’t believe she let me stay…”
Lenny snorted.
“What?”
“She was one of the headmaster’s many affairs. A woman scorned…well, you know the rest.” He sighed. “She’s been in your shoes. That’s probably why you’re still here. And because you have more allies at Montgomery than you realize.”
I choked back a sob. Chance had said the same thing to me once.
“You really think I’m wrong—that he still…” I couldn’t even speculate aloud. My heart wouldn’t let me go down that path.
“Nobody can fake the way he looks at you.” Lenny gave me a poignant stare.
I wanted to believe him, so badly. “I hope you’re right.”
“C’mon.” He grasped the edge of the counter to help himself to his feet, then extended his hand to me. “I’ll walk you back to the carriage house.”
