Page 34 of Doctor Frost

“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, Dalton, 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.

Amelia

Christmas Eve

I stoodin front of the disciplinary committee, my hands together as I waited while Connie gave her update to them. How the hell they even allowed that was beyond me. The woman was going to go to hell if karma truly was a bitch, I thought to myself.

Since I hadn’t liked Constance or her ultimatum, I faced the board on my own, and to be honest, ignoring all that had been said once I’d finally read the complaint. I planned to file my complaint against her with Dalton’s help once this was all over.

I took a deep breath as I watched Connie speak with the members of the committee. Each time she said something, she glanced at me over her shoulder, giving me some form of a smile. I could only imagine what she was telling them.

When she finished making up more lies, she made her way to the chair she’d been sitting in and took a seat, waiting while they made some notes and then turned their attention to me.

“Amelia, would you care to say anything before we begin?” one of the board members questioned.

---