Chapter Seventy-Four

She stared out at the morning, the sun peeking over the horizon, as she sipped her second cup of coffee of the day. Valerie loved Sundays. They were relaxing, without pressure. And she needed that after last night and before what she feared she would face tomorrow with Dean Foster as her teacher’s aide. She still wasn’t sure what happened at the end of the night. Holly seemed in a perfect mood all night, right up until the end, and then she merely turned. It was almost as if the woman tried to torture Damien, and it must have worked with the way he sent everyone home, including her. She worried about what happened between him and Holly after they left but had been too afraid to knock on their door or text him.

She also worried about what Holly’s mood change meant for her future with Damien.

Lifting the cup to her lips, she took a slow sip of her coffee just as a starling drifted across the sky. As she lowered it once more, she heard the door behind her open and close. It could only b