Dalton
I listened to her muffled message and sobbing cries once I’d gotten into my car, trying to make out what she was saying. It was so garbled, I had to replay it.
As I listened carefully to the message, my heart raced. She mentioned something about being forced to follow along or be fired. When I got to the next message, it was her again, only the second message there was no way I could understand. It sounded as if she’d been outside when she’d called and left the message.
I gripped the steering wheel of the car, debating what to do. I’d been forewarned by my advocate not to have contact with her, but she was hurting and needed me. I hated the position Connie had put us in.
Almost as if on cue, Connie appeared, walking in front of my car on the way to hers. She held up her hand and waved as if we were best friends, then signalled for me to roll my window down.
I hit the button, the cold winter air hitting my cheeks.
“Have a great night, . I am glad everything went well today with all the patients, and I look forward to getting more hands-on tomorrow!” she yelled as she waved.
Irritation flooded me. She was a horrible nurse, horrible with the patients, paperwork and reports hadn’t been filed all week, I couldn’t find anything I needed, and she was lazy as hell. The moment the office closed, she was out of there. How the hell she’d ever become the head RN baffled me. I now remembered why I’d denied her promotion when we worked together at the last hospital I was at.
My phone rang just as I started the engine. I grabbed it immediately, seeing it was Amelia. Only when I answered, the line went dead.
That was it. I didn’t care that I’d been warned; I was going to her. This was absolutely ridiculous and beyond anything I could ever imagine could have happened because of this.
I knocked on the door of her apartment, waiting in the hall. I heard nothing as I listened at the door. Perhaps she wasn’t home, I thought to myself. I was just about to turn and leave when I heard the door unlock. I stopped, turning in time to see her red, swollen eyes.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside, shutting it behind me before I grabbed her and wrapped her in my arms. Almost immediately, she cried heavy sobs as I held her in my arms.
When she finally stopped and I let her go, she looked up at me.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know, but when I got your message, I had to come. This is all my fault.”
“What? No, it’s not,” she cried, getting upset again. “I just want this all to go away. It was so horrible today.” She sniffled.
I’d never seen her this upset, not even when I’d had my worst days, so I could only imagine how bad it must have been.
“It will soon, and it is my fault. I was the one who pursued you. This is all on me.”
“What are you saying?”
I’d battled internally all day with my thoughts on how to deal with the situation. This was Amelia’s livelihood, and I knew if they gave her any type of ultimatum, which, from what I’d made out in her message, they had, that they meant what they said. She’d be without a job before Christmas if she didn’t side with them. Even though this was my livelihood as well, I was in a far better position to give it all up.
“What I’m saying is that I’ve given things a lot of thought and—”
“I’m not siding with them, , I’m not. They are accusing you of things that never happened. I refuse to allow them to do that to you.”
I placed my hands on her shoulders and met her eyes. “You don’t need to side with them because there is nothing to side with. I’m just going to come clean.”
“About what? What they are accusing you of? That isn’t fair, and I won’t let you do that,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her, that stubborn, fiery side of her that I loved so much coming out.
“Look, I know how much you love this job. It’s your passion. What you need to do is put a little trust in me and not worry about how things turn out for me. I will not be angry at the outcome. It will be what it is. It will change nothing between us.”
“I’m not siding with them. I’m not accusing you of something so heinous. You did nothing. All they did was twist my words to fit the story they want to hear. It’s wrong. I don’t understand how you can tell me to do what they want.”
“Whoa, I just said you don’t need to side with them. You need to put your trust in me and what I’m about to do.”
She got quiet as she looked at me. I could tell she wanted to say something, so I waited.
“What are you going to do?” she finally questioned, her voice shaking.
I couldn’t help but softly smile at her. If it meant that everything would go away, I’d do this over again if ever it came up again.
“I need you to put your trust in me. I’m going to protect you in any way I have to,” I said, swallowing hard.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect you because when you love someone, that is what you do.”
It was the first time I’d said it, and even though we hadn’t been dating all that long—less than six weeks I’d fallen head over heels for her—truth was, I’d fallen for her a long time ago, way before we’d ever even become friends. I’d only realized it today, as I looked around my office, at the mess before me, waiting and wanting to hear that playful giggle she always gave when she was working so hard at annoying me with the say please and thank you speech.
Tears filled her eyes as I looked at her and she brought her hands to her eyes to clear them away.
“I’m in love with you, and that is what I am going to tell them,” I said, bringing my lips to hers.
When I broke our kiss, not another word was said. I slipped from her apartment and took off down the hall, leaving her until the hearing.