“’K. I just pulled up out back if you need me.” He was picking her up today. She wasn’t surprised he was already at the employee entrance.
“They said they had seen you around town with two different men, both together and separate. They also implied you acted inappropriately with both men and that both of them have been seen kissing you behind the hospital while dropping you off at work.” Marian softened her voice. “They even told precisely who the men were.”
Rebecca closed her eyes. She thought she might faint. She didn’t respond.
“I’m sorry, hon. I know you. I know whatever relationship you’re involved in is your business. But I’m not sure how well I can go to bat for you against the board of directors with this kind of pressure.”
“Am I being fired?”
“No. I’m just letting you know what’s coming up. I’ll meet with the board again on Monday. Hopefully they’ll be reasonable.”
Rebecca’s hands shook in her lap. Who would do this to her? The only person she knew who she was certain was aware of her involvement with both men was Cecelia, and it wasn’t likely Cecelia would comment to Rebecca’s face while stabbing her in the back at the same time. Would she?
“’K.” She couldn’t think straight. She needed to get out of the hospital and take the weekend to ponder this development. Who was being so hateful?
Marian leaned forward. “Try to enjoy your weekend, hon. I’ll talk to you again on Monday. Okay?”
“Yes. Thanks for the heads up.”
Marian looked extremely remorseful. Her face was drawn, and Rebecca thought the woman had tears in her eyes. “For what it’s worth, you’re a wonderful nurse with an enormous heart. If we can’t resolve this amicably, I’ll recommend that you resign so your record won’t show you’ve been fired. I swear I’ll write you a glowing recommendation to any place you apply.”
The thought of losing her job over this made her see flames. She moved from sad to fucking pissed in a hurry. “Thanks, Marian. I appreciate your friendship.” She forced a smile and scurried from the room before she lost it and bawled again in the poor woman’s office.
On autopilot, she headed straight for the locker room, grabbed her bag and purse, and left the building. Normally she would change first into workout clothes. Today she just wanted to get the hell as far away from the hospital as possible as quickly as possible.
She looked both ways as she stepped outside. Her skin crawled. How often was someone fucking watching her?
She tugged open the door to Griffen’s pristine black truck and folded into the front seat without looking at him. “Drive.” She knew the second she made eye contact she would fall apart. She preferred to do it at home.
She could hear Griffen and Miles communicating about her in the back of her head, but she didn’t hone in on it. She tried to ignore them and just exist for the five minutes it would take to get out of the public eye.
It seemed like ten years before Griffen pulled up outside his condo and rounded the truck so fast to let her out that she didn’t have time to collect her things from the floor before her door was open and he had her arm in his.
She almost ran to the condo, holding it together until he unlocked the front door and let her step by him to enter first.
“Baby?”
Tears threatened. They’d been hovering at the corners of her eyes for fifteen minutes. Now that she could finally release them, her emotion switched to totally fucking pissed on a dime.
She threw her purse and bag on the floor and stomped across the room to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of wine and took a long drink.
“Rebecca?”
“Do you know what some asshole has done?” she began rhetorically. She took another drink and set the glass on the counter to avoid hurling it at the wall. “Some motherfucker with the moral police has complained about me to the board of directors.”
“For what?” Griffen stepped forward, but wisely chose not to get too close.
If he touched her, she would probably hit him at this point. Instead, she steered clear of his space and stomped back and forth across the living room. “Seems I’ve been spotted with not one but two different men in and around town. And get this—gasp—I have kissed both of them in the parking lot of the hospital.” She met his gaze briefly at her sarcasm.
“Apparently this doesn’t jive well with the mission statement of the hospital, so they want me fired.”
Griffen flinched. Bless him for not interrupting, though.
“Can you fucking believe this? I’m a model employee. Anyone would be lucky to have my skills as a nurse at their service. And some mother fucker thinks it isn’t in the best interest of the hospital to keep me on staff because I happen to sleep with two men.”