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“What about schools?”
I swallowed. “Are you thinking of quitting?”
“I don’t know.” She turned in her seat to look at me. I was grateful we were nearly back to her apartment. We could talk about it over the grilled cheese she’d offered, and hopefully I could convince her to see that leaving the school wasn’t the right choice. At all.
“Is this because the principal talked to us on Friday?”
“Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I wondered if she talked to you.”
I sighed. “I should have said something. I guess I was still processing. Nothing quite like a subtle threat that your job is in danger because of something completely out of your control, right?”
“Something like that.”
I turned into her parking lot and found a visitor spot. I wanted to comfort her, but wasn’t sure how. I truly believed this would all, eventually, settle down. Go away? No. But get to a level that was something we could deal with or ignore? Yes.
It didn’t seem like that would be reassuring to her. At all.
We walked in silence into her building and up to her apartment. She unlocked the door and the jingling of the bells on the cats’ collars made me smile.
“You put bells on?”
Kayla shrugged, but a grin tugged at the corners of her lips. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Uh-huh.” I squatted down and scratched Ada behind the ears. “And what do you think about that, girl? You like your bell?”
She meowed at me.
I chuckled and scooped her up to carry and scritch as we made our way into the kitchen.
“You’re still okay with grilled cheese?” Kayla stood with a loaf of bread in her hands.
“Yeah. It’s a classic for a reason. Can I help?”
She shook her head. “It’s easy. Two?”
“Please.” Ada wiggled out of my arms and I let her leap to the floor. She padded off, probably to brag to Charles about all the scritches. Or not. I couldn’t say what cats talked about amongst themselves. I settled on one of the stools at her kitchen counter. “Are you really worried about your job?”
“Are you really not?” She looked up from buttering bread. “She was serious. You know that, right?”
I did believe the principal was serious. But also… “Tristan sent a statement out to all the press outlets that have covered the story. I really think it’s going to calm things down.”
Kayla scoffed and reached for a pan.
“I’m not big news, Kayla. I’m just not. There’s going to be something else local any minute now that will take the attention off me. And now, with Tristan’s statement and the announcement of the learning center and scholarship? They’ve been fed. I don’t have anything more to say that they could possibly want to hear.”
“Do they know that?” Kayla turned on the stove and sighed. “Because that’s the thing. You know that and I know that, but the press? They’re going to dig around and keep looking, because ‘billionaire teacher’ is a great human-interest story. It sells ad space.”
I watched as she put the sandwiches together and set them in the pan. She had a point. But I still believed they’d let it go, to a tolerable degree. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. “Say you’re right. You’d what, quit and then…?”
“I don’t know. Are they going to follow me around? I’m only interesting because of you.”
My stomach sank. I’d offered her an out before and she’d said no. She’d said she wanted to stay. Had that changed? “I guess you can remove me from the equation if that’s what you need to do.”
She closed her eyes. When she opened them again and met my gaze, she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t want that. I know this is hard on you, too. I don’t know why I keep taking it out on you.”
“Easy target conveniently located?” I offered a weak smile.
Kayla flipped the sandwiches in the pan, then came around to where I was sitting and wrapped me in her arms. “Probably. I’m sorry.”
