Yes—if it means keeping her alive.
She’s not Sarah. She’s not Sarah.
“In that case, I can’t be your fake boyfriend anymore.”
The corner of her mouth twitches to one side. “If memory serves me correct, I already dumped you. Unlike our fake relationship, that was real.” She releases a heavy breath and winces again. “Besides, maybe the killing curse doesn’t differentiate between real love and fake relationships. It might get the wires crossed and end your life like it did the others. It’s a risk you can’t afford.”
I should be telling her that she’s got it all wrong. She’s not responsible for the deaths of those men. She’s not cursed. Someone else ended their lives.
I should be saying all those things, but that’s not what I blurt out. “Good luck, Chloe, with everything. Adam or Jayden will be taking over my role with this mission.”
My heart aches that I won’t be there to watch the kids perform in the concert. They’re working so hard to prepare for it.
I don’t give her a chance to say anything else.
I walk out the door.
Liam and Adam are talking to Agents Ramsey and Foden in the hallway.
“I quit the mission,” I tell Liam and keep walking.
I can’t be around if anything else happens to her.
I’ve already lost a woman whom I loved because of the actions of someone else. I won’t go through that again.
28
Chloe
Four days later,Adam unlocks my apartment room door after driving me home from school.
Thanks to the Christmas Grinch, I have a broken arm, my ribs and left ankle are sore, and my face doesn’t feel like it belongs to me.
But I’m still alive, so I’m incredibly thankful for that.
The part where I live in an apartment with no elevators kind of sucks. But after everything I’ve been through, I’m really not interested in staying anywhere else.
This is my home.
Adam steps inside, and I wait while he checks to ensure there are no nasty surprises. I’m hoping that also includes spiders, should he happen upon one.
“What the hell happened to you?” Eric asks, coming down the hallway.
Ignoring the discomfort, I grin at his shocked expression. “Yes, I know, I look fabulous.”
He chuckles. “Yep, that’s exactly what I was going to say. Does this mean you’re not up for our first date quite yet?”
It’s not just my body that’s currently a mess. My clothes aren’t much better. Despite Principal Woodnut’s insistence that I take another few days off to recover, I returned to teaching today.
As the paint on my pants can attest.
“My evenings will be busy for the next while. My kindergarten class will be performing for the seniors at the Golden Sunshine Retirement Village next week, and we still don’t have enough elf hats.” And thanks to my arm being in a cast, it’s taking me longer than planned to finish them. I was only able to start working on them again yesterday.
“I can always help. I’m pretty handy with a needle.”
“This is more a job for a sewing machine.”
“My grandmother has one I can use. I’m assuming it still works. She hasn’t used it in a bit. Her hands and eyesight aren’t what they used to be.”
