A PROMISE KEPT
By Cece Peters
Copyright 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
I do not want to be here. I swore I would not be here. But here I am, at my ten-year college reunion.
Make no mistake: I had done everything I could to avoid this event. I was out of the country on a European vacation during the five-year reunion. Yes, I may have booked that trip once the date for the reunion was announced. But, regardless, I was touring Paris while my former classmates gathered without me. But my luck ran out for the ten-year occasion, as not only did I live in the same town as the college I had graduated from, but I also worked there. And with this reunion planned right smack dab in the middle of the summer session, during which I teaching, there was no way I could escape.
So here I was, suddenly regretting my decision not to relocate after graduation, as avoiding reunions would have been much easier if I lived somewhere else. I should have considered that when I decided to take my job at the university. Fortunately, I had come with my best friend, Krista Miller; and I knew that a lot of friendly faces were waiting for us inside. And thanks to social media, it’s not like I hadn’t already been in touch with a lot of former classmates. But tonight, I not only had to get dressed up, but I also had to spend the entire evening chit chatting; I would have to be “on” for hours on end, which was not something I ever enjoyed doing. I longed to be at home in my pajamas, snuggled with my dogs, flipping through magazines, and watching TV. Or just sitting alone in my house with no electricity and nothing to pass the time. Either would have worked for me.
“Come on, Leah; it isn’t enough to come to the venue, you have to actually go IN,” Krista said while laughing at the sight of me still standing by my car. “These are our friends; no one is going to bite you!”
“Who is to say I won’t bite them?!” I responded sarcastically with an evil look before rolling my eyes and falling into step alongside Krista. “At what time can we leave?”
“Oh, good grief! We haven’t even gotten in the door yet. This may be the most fun you’ll ever have in your life; don’t be such a downer!” Krista, always bubbly and outgoing, her dark brown, almost black, curls bouncing at her shoulders and her pink dress rustling in the wind, was bursting to get inside, where no doubt she would spend the entire night jetting from group to group to catch up. Lord help us if a bunch of her fellow elementary education department alumni were in attendance; they could suck all the air out of room with their non-stop talking. Grade school teachers were the perkiest people I had ever met. And I, myself, was the antithesis of perky. Which made my friendship with Krista seem very odd to outsiders.
Krista and I had gone to school together our entire lives, from pre-school through high school and then on through college. We were the only two kids from our high school graduating class to attend Lakeview College, choosing it as it offered us a chance to go somewhere new without being too far from home as it was only one state over and a four-hour drive from our parent’s homes. We were able to experience another part of the country without having the leave the Midwest. And Midwestern girls we were. And while neither of our families were hurting for money, the partial scholarships we received were another bonus for us accepting admission to Lakeview.
While we were a bit of an odd pair, we balanced each other out. Krista was spontaneous, fun, and happy, always up for whatever life had in store. I, on the other hand, was quiet and cautious. While I wasn’t anti-social in that I could hold my own in a gathering, I didn’t needto be surrounded by people the way Krista did. She pushed me to expand my horizons, while I was the source of reason when she was taking things too far.
And, even though we had always been good friends growing up, we had become much closer during our college years and were now solidly best friends. Krista was an extrovert to the extreme. So, while she had had fun during our Lakeview College experience, it was surprising that she had also decided to stay in our university town after graduation as I, and she, had fully expected that she would move to a larger city with more action. But she had fallen in love with a fellow teaching student during our senior year and they had both gotten jobs at the local elementary school after graduation. By the time they eventually broke up a couple of years later and he had, thankfully, moved away to teach at a different school, Krista was already deeply embedded in the community. In Lakeview, she was a big fish in a small pond. Krista loved her status in the town, and she lived for nights like college reunions.
Unlike Krista, however, I was an extreme introvert. Just the thought of making small talk for several hours, even to people I knew, made me sick to my stomach. Yes, I could put on a happy face and keep up with the conversations, but it was going to drain me. I was exhausted just thinking about the night ahead. I’d only left my house ten minutes ago and hadn’t even gone inside yet, but I was already thinking of excuses to leave the event early.
However, I was here now, and I told myself that there was no escape; I knew that I had to just suck it up and get through the next
