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“Wow!” Ali breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn’t what she expected to hear, but she was overjoyed and slightly overwhelmed. “Thank you for letting me know. I can assure you that I will do what I have to do to get this promotion. It’s been weighing heavily on my heart, and I know I will do you proud.”
“I have no doubt,” Julia replied before her face fell. “There’s just one more thing.” Ali waited for the ball to drop. It was too good to be true, and there was always something that would wreck things for her. “As you know, I have been observing you.”
“Haven’t really noticed,” Ali admitted.
Julia smirked. “Then clearly doing the job, as it’s not supposed to be too obvious. Nonetheless I have been, as have some of the board members.” Ali’s brows furrowed. “What I’ve witnessed and what other members have witnessed is a bit unsettling.”
“How so?” Ali frowned.
“You can’t show favoritism, especially if you get this promotion and it appears that there’s a certain nurse that’s new to CAPMed, and you are giving her the majority of your attention. I just want to warn you that it can appear like there’s something going on outside of CAPMed’s walls.”
“What? She’s doing a great job, and I feel you should commend the workers that put all their efforts into their jobs. That’s a bad thing?”
Julia shook her head. “I didn’t tell you who that one nurse is,” Julia pointed out. “That speaks volumes, and rewarding someone for doing a good job isn’t always a bad thing, but there’s been some talk, and I would hope that you would know better that if people see that you are favoring one over the other, they might just think that you’re not qualified for this job. We both know that’s not true, right?”
Ali nodded but tore her eyes away from Julia’s. She felt the reprimand would only get stronger, and she couldn’t get too defensive, or Julia would know there was cause for concern. “I understand, but you have nothing to worry about.” She nodded and reached her hand out for the door, opening it so Ali could leave. “Thank you for letting me know that I’m one step closer.” She then turned and headed away from her. The problem was that she didn’t know how she could even celebrate when the only person she wanted to go to was Jo.
She heard Jo’s laugh echo through the corridor, and she turned and hurried away from it. She reached for her phone and pulled up Nolan’s contact information.
Nolan:
Could use some company tonight. Meet me at Alley Bar eight o’clock?
Nolan knew more than anyone, and he was a confidante that she could rely on. She couldn’t wait until she got to the club, got that drink, and had a real heart-to-heart with her best friend.
Luckily, he was able to meet her, and Ali was the first one to arrive. “I’ll take a beer.” She waved down the bartender and sat back on a stool, waiting for him to get there. He arrived ten minutes later. He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. “I’m ecstatic you could make it,” she admitted.
“I’m ecstatic you still have time for me,” he teased. “What happened to another hot night with you know who?”
Ali groaned. “She had to work, and frankly, I guess I’m kind of avoiding her.” They grabbed their beers and headed to a table.
“Uh oh. Rough waters in lover’s lane?” he asked. “I mean, don’t take that as a bad thing. Brody and I had our share of trouble at the start. It all worked out, though.”
Ali shook her head and sipped on her beer. “It’s nothing like that. I mean, we are vibing well together. Maybe a bit too well. I worry that maybe I’m getting too close to her and just being naïve.”
“You can’t be serious,” he replied. “Love looks good on you. Don’t shy away from it. I happen to think that Jo is the perfect woman to be with you.”
“You, maybe, but hospital protocol, not so much.” She grimaced, and he gawked in her direction. “Julia informed me that people are talking and that it’s obvious I’m showing favoritism to one particular nurse.”
“Tell her she’s wrong!” He shrugged, taking a drink of his beer. “Although, you might want to stop making heart eyes to that said nurse.” He laughed when Ali tossed a napkin at him. “It’s simple, though: if you don’t let someone see you rattled, then they’ll never truly figure it out.”
“I wish I could believe that,” Ali mumbled. She downed her beer and stared at her empty bottle. “I guess I didn’t realize that people in the hospital would be talking.”
“What about Jessica?” he asked. She had already caught him up on the garage sale and how she had run into Jessica. She secretly wondered if Jessica had mentioned something to the hospital board. Was she the other person still up for the promotion? Those were things that made her question everything.
“It’s possible, it was her. I’ll probably never know.” She stood up. “Want another beer?”
He held up his bottle and shook his head. “Not quite yet.” She left the table, and her thoughts rushed back to Jo. It would be disappointing to end things simply because they worked in the same hospital. But if it came down to it, she didn’t know how she would handle that. She would just have to lay low and try to keep things even safer while in CAPMed. There was no reason for rocking the boat.
Johanna
Jo rifled through the bills, her breath hitching as she stared at the pile of debt that continued to rise. She was making decent money, or so she thought. However, her bills at the hospital, along with Maverick’s vet bills, she was struggling even to get by. Living paycheck to paycheck was something that she always told herself she would never get down to. But that was a laugh, considering now she was lucky to make ends meet with the bills that continued to crowd her kitchen table.
She grabbed her phone and pulled up Ali’s number. Ali could sometimes take that stress away from her. Unfortunately, she had been too busy to get together over the past week and that was giving the drowning in debt a whole new meaning.
She called Ali and leaned back in her seat. “You’ve reached the voicemail of Ali. Leave me a message.”
“Hey, babe,” she began. “It’s been a few days, and frankly, I’m missing you. I thought I saw you were off this weekend, but perhaps I read that wrong. Call me when you get this message. Maybe we can take Maverick for a walk in the park. Or you could just spend the weekend here.” She hesitated. Three words were aching to be said, but they hadn’t said that yet, and she didn’t want to scare Ali even further away. “I’ll talk to you soon.” She disconnected the call and turned back to her bills. If Ali knew the financial strain she was in, she probably would want to end things straight away. Her phone rang, and she was hopeful until she spotted May’s number. “Hello?”
