“Fuck.” Caitlyn winced and rubbed her eyes. Why did it have to be so hard?

  When Caitlyn had first impersonated Chloe, she had imagined the worst-case scenario: security, handcuffs, the end of her career. Instead, the universe had devised a more sinister punishment—bringing Ruth into Caitlyn’s life and tormenting her with the knowledge that a true connection between them was impossible, thanks to her lies.

  Chapter 15

  Ruth’s pulse spiked on cue as she approached her office. She’d had the whole weekend to recover from the charged moment on the parking deck, but she still hadn’t fully calmed down. Passing the assistant’s desk shouldn’t come with a whirl of conflicting emotions, and yet—Ugh, him again?

  Gary Baker was loitering in front of Chloe’s desk again, causing a bitter taste in Ruth’s mouth.

  “You should really watch it.” Gary leaned in. “It’s the smartest show out there.”

  Chloe sat with arms crossed. “I totally would, but I don’t have a Hulu account.” She leaned her head back, putting a few more inches between her and Gary, who was practically breathing in her face.

  “Ah, never fear. I’ll gladly share my password.” Gary glanced up, and his friendly smile vanished.

  “Good afternoon.” Ruth didn’t know what she’d ever done to Gary, aside from refusing to tolerate incoherent phone messages. Alice must have turned him against her.

  “Welcome back,” Chloe said. In contrast to Gary, she straightened and smiled. Then she seemed to catch herself and tightened her expression, clasping her hands in her lap.

  Ruth dipped her chin as she passed the desk, wishing a single nod could convey everything she couldn’t say—that she’d cherished Friday night, but a personal relationship between them, even platonic, couldn’t happen. That she hoped their warm working relationship could continue, somehow, within the boundaries she couldn’t afford to discard.

  Of course, it was grossly inadequate.

  Sighing to herself, Ruth sat at her desk and began to scroll through the barrage of emails. Soon, her eyes glazed, and she instead listened to the conversation wafting in from the outer room.

  Gary continued his awkward flirting. Chloe’s disinterest was obvious, but she stopped short of telling him to scram, so he kept on talking.

  Didn’t he have work to do, or at least his own phone to cover?

  Seized with an impulse to interrupt, Ruth rose from her chair and marched back out. “Chloe!”

  Chloe turned her head. “Sorry. Did you need something?”

  Good question. Ruth’s neck grew hot as she drew a blank. “The… Yes. Please contact Eugenia Philips, and tell her the HVAC in my office is either broken or set to heat, and that this time instead of sending her grunty and incompetent lackey, I would prefer—” She took a breath. “Actually, just call her and tell her to stop by at her earliest convenience. Thank you.” She spun around and walked back into her office.

  “I guess I’ll let you make your phone call.” Gary’s morose voice drifted behind her.

  His palpable disappointment brought Ruth cheer. Leave Chloe alone. She huffed and pulled on her collar. Ulterior motive aside, her request was legitimate. The office was stifling.

  Satisfied that Gary was on his way out, Ruth returned to her email with renewed focus. One message in particular caught her eye. She read quickly, then slowly to be sure she hadn’t misunderstood. “Chloe! Get in here!”

  Chloe rushed in, hair whipping behind her. “What? What’s wrong?”

  Ruth pushed her chair back and stood. “I heard back from Jonathan. They’re approving Amari’s financial aid.”

  “Oh!” Chloe broke into a wide smile. “I’m so happy.” Despite having no connection to the student, she was glowing. “Does he know?”

  “Not yet. I found out ten seconds ago.” Ruth wanted to clap or dance or something. She stepped out from behind the desk, her blood buzzing with the rush of victory. “We did it—thanks to you.” A rush of gratitude swept through her.

  Laughing, Chloe moved closer. “This is amazing. He’s going to get thousands of dollars because of us.” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “I can’t believe it.”

  Ruth didn’t know how it happened or who closed the gap, but suddenly, they were in each other’s arms.

  Chloe’s firm breasts pressed against Ruth’s chest, and her hands locked behind Ruth’s back.

  Ruth hugged back, inhaling the scent of coffee and dessert—some soap or shampoo that smelled like food. Chloe’s heartbeat pounded against her, fast and hard.

  “Ahem.” Eugenia’s harsh voice interrupted them.

  Chloe gasped as they broke apart. “Sorry! We were celebrating.”

  Ruth stepped back. Her cheeks flamed.

  Eugenia regarded them with narrowed eyes. “I see what you mean—it is hot in here.”

  * * *

  Caitlyn managed to refrain from scratching her arms, but she tapped her foot, bounced her knees, and swiveled her chair back and forth.

  We hugged. First that look on Friday night, and then we hugged…

  Ruth’s door was closed, but the muffled sounds of Ruth arguing with Eugenia drifted out. The conversation would probably continue for some time, and then Ruth would be in meetings. Would they ever talk about it?

  Caitlyn imagined Ruth sitting her down for a stern talk about how nothing could happen between them.

  No kidding. If Ruth knew the truth, she would never speak to Caitlyn again. Ruth would regret every kind word, every gesture, and—of course—the hug they’d just shared. Caitlyn bowed her head, feeling like scum.

  Maybe if Caitlyn kept the focus on work, they could avoid an excruciating and ultimately pointless conversation. Work was all she could do for Ruth anyway in her short stint as Chloe—and she would put her guilt and longing aside to do her very best. She owed Ruth that much.

  Chapter 16

  Ruth had led countless meetings at Pulaski, but this one was different. The retention working group was her initiative, and she’d gone around the faculty council to invite people directly. She would hate to see poor attendance—especially in front of Chloe.

  Not that Chloe’s opinion mattered, of course. This was about enrollment.

  Holding her breath, Ruth pushed through the door.

  Phew. Almost every seat was filled. In addition to the administrators she’d invited—who had little choice but to come, several faculty were there. Joe from sociology sat with Kimberly from political science and Miguel Fumero. Across from them, Lena Batalli and Kyle Marks from math were huddled together, whispering. Ruth nearly fell over when her gaze landed on the woman next to Kyle: Jenn Christiansen from philosophy.

  This should be interesting.

  Chloe stood at the podium, fiddling with the buttons that controlled the projector. She wore a maroon blazer with her black dress, and her hair was pinned up in a neat bun. Her eye makeup was subtle, yet striking. Chloe’s style had evolved over the summer, and Ruth couldn’t help but appreciate the result—from a distance, of course.

  When Chloe noticed Ruth, she ran over as fast as her three-inch heels would allow. “Hi! Everything is ready.”

  Ruth nodded. “I had no doubt.”

  “It’s a good turnout, right?”

  “Very good. Especially for summer.” Ruth suppressed a comment about the faculty’s dedication to their summer vacation. After all, they did come.

  “I agree.” Chloe smiled. “So, I’ll wait until you call on us?”

  “Yes, I’ll call on you two.” Ruth’s lips twitched as she withheld another comment. Chloe had been determined to include Maggie as a co-presenter, insisting that she had done half the work. Ruth suspected this was an exaggeration, but no matter—it would be good for Maggie’s self-esteem. “You’re going to do great.” She lifted her hand to touch Chloe’s shoulder, then jerked it back down.

  As Chloe walked away, Ruth curled the fingers that had almost betrayed her. Get a grip, Holloway. The last thing she needed was to start touching Chloe in front of everyone. Or to touch her at all.

  Ruth sat at the head of the table and waited for conversations to quiet. “I’m happy to see so many faculty here, especially during summer. I’m very appreciative.”

  Chloe gave her an encouraging smile.

  “We are here because we need a comprehensive strategy to boost retention at Pulaski, and we can’t wait until fall to start. I’ve been working on this problem since I arrived, but I invited faculty to the table because administration cannot solve this problem alone. You know the students best, and I need your insight to fully understand this problem.”

  Ruth paused to sip her water and glanced around for their reaction.

  Several of the faculty nodded.

  That was a good sign, so Ruth continued, “I also need your expertise. I want to implement solutions that work, and I’ll need your help to evaluate the results. To get us started, Chloe and Maggie will present some preliminary data.”

  Several people turned to look at Chloe, who offered a shy smile in return.

  They have no clue what she can do.

  “After the data presentation, we’ll map some of the causes and brainstorm solutions as a group.” Ruth turned to Chloe. “If you’re ready?”

  Chloe’s chair screeched against the floor as she jumped up. “Yes, we’re ready. Thank you.” She motioned for Maggie to join her.

  They stood at the front of the room. Maggie removed her hands from her pockets, then shoved them in again.

  Chloe, however, looked comfortable at the front of the room. She tapped the laptop, and the screen filled with one of her gorgeous charts. “So, this is the average year-to-year retention at Pulaski.”

  Jenn had the decency to look impressed. “Wow! That’s a nice visualization.”

  Miguel grinned. He had probably come to support Chloe—and perhaps Ruth too, since he was her top suspect for leaking Steve’s plans for the board meeting.

  Chloe advanced to the next slide. “Next, Maggie will review some student demographics.” She stood back and gave Maggie an encouraging nod.

  “Okay. Thanks. So this slide looks at age and gender…” Maggie appeared nervous at first, making excessive hand motions as she spoke. As she continued, however, her confidence grew.

  When Maggie finished, Chloe resumed control of the laptop. As she paged through her charts and tables, the audience watched with wide eyes and raised brows.

  At one point, Beverly caught Ruth’s eye and mouthed, She made this?

  Ruth merely curved her lips in response. Inside, though, she swelled with pride. Chloe was poised, professional, and in command of the room. Not bad for an office assistant.

  The faculty interrupted with numerous questions, and Chloe fielded each one with ease. When Lena asked about first-generation students—information Chloe hadn’t prepared—she spoke about possible ways to study the topic, then smoothly promised to look into it. If Ruth didn’t know better, she’d think Chloe was a seasoned lecturer who had presented data countless times.

  Chloe dedicated several minutes to the results of Ruth’s early-alert initiative, dwelling indulgently on each slide showing the positive results. While she kept her tone neutral, the joy in her eyes left no doubt that she loved every second of proving that Ruth had been right.

  She’s on my side. Ruth relished having an ally who was both brilliant and loyal. Chloe was special—and Ruth had discovered her first.

  Finally, Chloe reached the last slide. “That’s all we have for now. I appreciate your attention and the great questions.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence.

  “So!” Joe cracked his knuckles. “How much is Ruth paying you? Because it’s not enough.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Chloe averted her eyes. “I’m paid enough.”

  “What’s your background, Chloe?” Kimberly asked. “Where did you learn how to do this?”

  “Oh gosh. I don’t want to take up time with my life story.” Chloe slipped out from behind the podium and returned to her seat, flanked by Maggie, who seemed just as eager to be out of the spotlight.

  Ruth realized Chloe must feel embarrassed that she didn’t have much formal education. She cleared her throat. “I’m fortunate to have an assistant with many talents. But we should use this time to talk about retention.” She stood and walked over to the dry-erase board on the wall. “Let’s start by making a list of the reasons students drop out.”

  Uncapping the blue marker, Ruth prepared for a waste of time. She had already reviewed the relevant research and mapped out the problem on her own—which she was more than qualified to do given her PhD in education. However, Chloe had insisted this part was necessary. Faculty need to feel like you value their opinion. So, fine—they’d go through the exercise.

  “Poor academic performance,” Joe said.

  Obviously. “Great.” Ruth wrote it on the board.

  Kimberly raised her hand. “Financial reasons. I’ve had students who can’t afford to come back. Some of them end up working to support their families, and they say it’s temporary—but it doesn’t turn out that way.”

  Ruth had already considered this one too, but she nodded and wrote financial hardship on another section of the whiteboard. “Good one. Thanks.”

  “Sometimes it’s personal reasons,” Joe said. “Pregnancy, mental health, substance abuse.”

  “Yup. The worst is when the girls drop out for some loser boyfriend,” Jenn added.

  As she wrote personal on the board, Ruth recalled Chloe’s explanation of her stalled education. Some heinous girlfriend was responsible for Chloe squandering her academic potential. Well, Ruth would get her back on track. Somehow.

  Turning back to the room, Ruth waited for someone else to speak. She’d expected the pool of insight to be shallow, but had they hit the bottom already?

  “So,” Chloe said, “we’ve got three big categories, but maybe we should drill down a bit further. Like, for the first one. Why do some students struggle with academics?”

  “Poor preparation,” Kyle said immediately. “In math, we have students who are in over their heads from day one.”

  Ruth frowned. “But we have a placement test. No one should be unprepared.”

  “Yes, but it’s optional,” Lena said. “Some of us think it should be mandatory, but even that won’t solve everything. Honestly, we have students who need at least two semesters of high school math before they’re ready for the lower-level course. I don’t know how they passed math in high school.”

  Was it really that bad? Pulaski admitted most students regardless of SAT scores, but the students should at least be college-ready. “What about the peer tutoring program? Doesn’t that help the students who are behind?”

  “Some,” Lena said. “If we can get them to go. It’s not easy.”

  The other faculty nodded.

  As Ruth scribbled on the board, her thoughts ran in several directions at once. Should the placement test be mandatory? How could they help students who placed below college-level math? And why weren’t students going to tutoring?

  “We need to have a longer conversation about math.” Ruth turned to Chloe and Maggie. “I’d also like to see data on this. Do we know which students go to tutoring? And how often they go?”

  Chloe gave Maggie an encouraging nod.

  “Yes, we have some data,” Maggie said. “We can look into it.”

  “What else?” Ruth asked.

  “The ones who struggle stop coming to class,” Jenn said. “I can’t help them if they don’t show up.”

  Joe nodded. “Attendance is an issue. No question.”

  If only we had some way to monitor attendance. Ruth swallowed the comment, remembering Chloe’s advice. This wasn’t the time to push her initiative. The goal was for the faculty to propose solutions.

  Instead, Ruth simply wrote attendance on the board. “Now there’s something to think about. What else?”

  Over the next forty minutes, Ruth filled the white board with all of the different reasons students struggled. She knew several of the problems already, but the faculty also surprised her with new insights.

  When she asked for possible solutions, she received some of the unrealistic proposals she’d expected: grants to pay students’ personal bills, a mental health center—nice ideas for an alternate universe where the college wasn’t struggling to remain solvent. But they also had ideas for how faculty could help for free: mentoring groups and working more closely with the tutoring program. When the meeting came to a close, Ruth had an entire list of ideas to ponder.

  “That was great,” Joe said as he passed Ruth on the way to the door.

  Kimberly walked up behind him. “I’m so glad you reached out to faculty. We’ll be at the next meeting too.”

  Jenn passed by Ruth without a word, but her chin dipped in acknowledgment.

  No smart remark? Amazing. Ruth couldn’t have asked for a better response, particularly from a curmudgeon like Jenn. The first meeting was a resounding success.

  Soon, Ruth was alone in the room with Chloe.

  Chloe switched off the projector. “I thought that went pretty well. What do you think?”

  “Your presentation was excellent. And the meeting was…revelatory. I should have done this two years ago.” Ruth tilted her head. “Well, two years ago I didn’t have you.”

  Chloe blushed. “I’m glad I could help.”

  “Schedule another meeting for the two of us. We’ll talk about our next steps—and I want to talk about your next steps too.”

  “My next steps?” Chloe blinked rapidly. “What does that mean?”