"Don't, Cam. Just don't," he said, dropping heavily into his chair and running his hand through his hair. "I'm tired. I need a partner. A real partner, not just a guy who drops in occasionally and asks how we're doing."
"I get it," I said as I looked at my friend. Leo had aged considerably over the past few years, and for the first time, I could see the toll that the stress of running CSC had taken on him. "Let me think about it?"
"You have until Monday," he said. "After that, I'm either going to say yes to Metzler or submit my letter of resignation. It's entirely your call, Cam."
"Duly noted." I nodded as I got up and walked to the door. I turned and looked at Leo, and added, "Leo, I'm sorry."
"Save it, Cam," he said, shaking his head. "Just figure out what we're going to do and figure it out fast."
I nodded and walked out of the office wondering how I was going to make this decision.
Chapter Eighteen
Alex
When I woke up and found Cam's note on my pillow, at first I was hurt that he'd left without waking me up, but as I stood in the shower and felt the hot water flowing down over my body, I tried to see it in a positive light. He'd said he'd call, and so far he'd been a man of his word. I'd just have to trust that.
After a shower and two cups of coffee, I called Liz to check up on her. She didn't answer her phone, but since she normally didn't answer before nine in the morning, I didn't worry. I texted her and told her that I'd meet her at the train and then got ready for class. By the time I was ready to head out the door, Liz had texted, "Cya at the train!"
When I caught up with her, she was sitting on a bench leafing through her notes. Unlike the day before, Liz looked rested and healthy.
"Hey, how are you doing?" I asked as I sat down next to her.
"Much better." She smiled. "I'm not sure what happened to me yesterday. I just felt like crap, but there's nothing that fifteen hours of sleep won't fix! You go out with Mr. Hot Pants last night?"
"Is that what you've named him?" I laughed as Liz grinned. "Yeah, he took me to Grace and then came back to my place."
"Holy shit, lady!" she exclaimed. "That's the place where it takes months to get a reservation! He must have some serious connections!"
"Nah, he said a friend had the reservation and couldn't make it, so he passed it on," I said, trying to get her to quiet down as people waiting on the platform stared at us. The train came a few minutes later, and we hopped on.
"Did he spend the night?" Liz whispered as she elbowed me.
"No, he left before I woke up," I whispered back. "Had to let the dog out."
"Sure, sure." She grinned. "But was it good? I mean, is he worth it all?"
"Liz! What kind of question is that?" I giggled, knowing exactly what kind of question it was. I nodded and flashed her a big smile.
"Good, then my work here is done," she said with a satisfied nod. "Now on to more important things. About the practice exam, how do you think you did?"
"I'm not sure, I think I made a mess of the middle part, but the rest seemed pretty straight forward," I said, taking the cue that it was time to move from boys to more important topics. "How about you?"
"I have no idea." She shrugged. "It could have been the best test of my life or the worst, it's all a blur."
"Maybe you should tell Professor Jackson that you were sick?" I suggested. "She'd understand, and maybe she'd give you a chance to retake it if you didn't do well."
"Nah, I'm good," she said, looking out the window. "I'll take my chances. It's only a practice exam, anyway. If I did badly, then I can figure out what needs to be improved."
As we walked into the classroom, Professor Jackson motioned us over to her desk and said, "I want to have a word with you both after class."
As we headed to our seats and prepared for the lecture, I looked at Liz and she shrugged. The whole class, I was on pins and needles as I wondered what Professor Jackson needed to talk with us about, and by the time class ended, I was convinced that I'd failed the practice exam and that she was going to tell us we were out of the program.
After everyone had left the classroom, Professor Jackson shut the door and returned to the front of the room to retrieve our exams.
"Ladies, I'm concerned about these exams," she said as she handed them to us. "I've had a report that you two were seen cheating on during the exam."
"What?" I gasped. "I didn't cheat!"