Lily was touched. She knew she’d been crappy company all day, barely saying a word at lunch after spending a truly horrific forty-five minutes in the school cafeteria refusing to turn her head too far in case it put Eva in her direct line of sight.
At her last job, she’d been cordial with her colleagues, but they hadn’t been particularly friendly. They hadn’t hung out together outside of work, and they wouldn’t have ever brought her a treat to cheer up—because they wouldn’t have noticed anything was wrong in the first place.
“You’re amazing.”
“I know.” Mei grinned and perched on a nearby desk, swinging her legs back and forth. “We haven’t known each other for that long, but I hope you know you can come and talk to me about anything. I’m a good listener…even if easily distracted.”
“Thanks.” Lily took a sip of coffee, made exactly how she liked it. “I…had a rough weekend.” She wanted to give Mei enough details to stop her worrying, but knew she couldn’t tell her the full story.
Lily had a feeling Eva wouldn’t take that well.
“But I’ll be all right.”
“How was the dance Friday?”
Lily tried not to wince. If not for that stupid dance, none of this would have happened. She’d be sending a dumb text to Elsa right now. She wouldn’t remember what Eva sounded like when she came.
“Boring.” Lily hoped Mei believed the lie. She needed to change the subject. “How was your weekend? How are things with James?”
“Good, and amazing. I’m meeting his daughter next weekend.”
“Ooh, that’s a big step. How old is she?”
“Six.”
“That’s a good age. Old enough for them to hold a conversation, but not so old they’ll start talking back,” Lily said, and Mei laughed at her assessment. “You nervous?”
“Terrified.”
“But you’re good with kids. You were an elementary school teacher, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, but it’s been a while.”
“Still, I’m sure you’ll do great. Are you taking her somewhere nice?”
“The zoo. Giraffes are her favorite.”
“If you’re finding it hard to win her over, buy her a stuffed giraffe.”
“Bribery?” Mei’s brows twitched. “I like the way you think.”
Lily laughed, already feeling better. Mei lingered a while longer, engaging her with idle chit-chat, and Lily appreciated it to no end. She had work to do—as always—but she knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on it here.
Lily gathered her things before slipping out of her classroom. As she locked the door, she couldn’t help but glance down the hall. Eva’s room was dark.
Had she been off her game today, too? Was she hurting as much as Lily was? Had her fingers been itching to pick up the phone, to take back what she’d said earlier, and see if they could salvage something?
Lily shook her head. It didn’t matter. Eva had drawn a line in the sand, set a clear boundary, and Lily was going to stick to it.
No matter how much it might hurt.
* * *
When Eva’s phone rang late on Wednesday night, she was scared to look at her caller ID.
She was scared of it being Lily, scared of what Eva would do if it was—would she answer? Would she break? Would she tell Lily how much she’d missed her messages over the past few days? How hard it had been to walk past Lily in the hall and pretend she didn’t notice her at all?
Eva breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Kate’s name flashing across her screen.
