Page 7 of Justice for JoElla

“Oh, shut up, Brandon. You’ve been boffing a nurse. I have to believe that by this time, Maria knows. Hell, your mother already knows. Won’t be long before your brother knows, with the EMTs in and out of here. What the hell were you thinking?”

“The truth?”

“Oh, sure, since you seem to be so big on that.”

He hung his head and shook it slowly. “I thought I’d have a little fun and then walk away.”

“Well, you thought wrong. It appears your little dalliance will wind up costing you dearly, especially in your work.”

“But you can help me out there, right? You’re the chief of staff, and you?”

“Brandon, the board is going to take this up, and I have it on good authority that they’re going to ask the licensure board to at least suspend your license, if not revoke it.”

“No! What the hell am I supposed to do? I’m a doctor! That’s all I know! This has nothing to do with my personal life!”

“You’re wrong. Your actions directly put your patient in jeopardy. A patient, Brandon. This hospital is small. It’s almost considered rural. We don’t have a lot of money for new equipment, and we struggle to keep enough income for supplies. We’re short staffed. We’re overworked. Our nursing staff is due a raise, and we don’t have the money. If we didn’t have that gallery window in surgery, the university wouldn’t throw us a dime, so you treated all the medical students watching to quite a show. And now this. Do you know how much harder you’ve mademyjob?” RobertFox rose, leaned forward toward his son, and planted his fists on the desk’s surface to glare into the face of his offspring. “Go home, Brandon. You’re suspended from practicing here. You should just hope you have a job when the hospital board and the licensure board get through with you.”

Brandon’s blood was very nearly frozen in his veins. “Yes, sir.” There was nothing else to say, and home was the only place to go.

He dreaded opening the door. Maria surely knew what had happened by then. She had friends on the hospital board, and he knew they’d probably called her. But it turned out she’d worked extra fast. His key didn’t work in the front door, so he went around back, but that key didn’t work either. Standing there on the patio of his own home, he called her. When she answered, all she said was, “There’s nothing to say, Brandon. I’ve already called my attorney.”

“But Maria, at least talk to me!”

“There’s nothing to say. You fucked a nurse at the hospital, and our kids go to school with hers. What do you think is going to happen, hmmm? It’ll be all over. Hell, it’s already spreading like wildfire through town. So you need to find somewhere else to sleep, because you’re not sleeping here.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I’m paying for this house!”

“You won’t have to worry about that. I’m asking that it be sold in the divorce and you won’t have a house to sleep in. But child support? Yeah, you bastard. I’m hitting you for that, so get ready.”

“Maria, I?”

“Save it. Go home to Mommy and Daddy.”

“I can’t. Dad just called me in and fired me.”

The hysterical laughter coming from the other end of the phone was not what he had expected. “Oh, is that right? Sounds like you need to call your little nurse and ask her if she’ll let you stay with her!”

Oh, that’s not happening, he wanted to tell her, but that was a moot point. She obviously didn’t care what happened to him, and whatever Kalia had thought they were doing, that wasn’t happening either. What the hell was he going to do? He’d no more than hung up from talking to her when his phone rang. Landon.Dear god, I can’t talk to him right now either, he told himself.

Four hours later, he was holed up in a simple motel in town, and Maria had sent a driver with all his belongings. He had gone from being a prestigious surgeon to being an unemployed, divorced asshole in less than ten hours.

The painful truth? It was all on him. His marriage was over. His career was most likely over. His fling was over.

His life was over.

* * *

He scoured the internet,looking in Taylorsville, Shelbyville, Louisville, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Frankfort, anywhere he could think of. Nothing. He didn’t know how to drive a semi tractor trailer rig. He’d never sold TVs or cars. Operating a cash register was a mystery to him. So was slinging drinks at a bar or slinging hash at a restaurant. Things had gotten particularly tough, so he called his mother and Louella had given him ten thousand dollars, but that wouldn’t last long. Maria had hired an expensive attorney and at that point, fighting with her was useless. He had no job, and she’d cleaned out their bank accounts, so the money his mother had given him and the credit card with a balance he couldn’t pay were all he had. He had enough money for one more week at the motel and then he’d be out on his ass.

He called his younger sister, Liella, but his soon-to-be brother-in-law answered the phone and let him know in no uncertain terms that asking Liella to be supportive when Brandon had been so dismissive of her was a pretty low thing to do. Breckin wasn’t a guy who’d put up with assholes, and Brandon was one. If that hadn’t been clear before, the big ginger firefighter had highlighted it, bold-faced it, underscored it, and lit it up in neon. If he was looking for help from his sister, that was not a tree he was welcome to bark up.

There was only one person left to call, and he dreaded it. Landon had tried to call him over and over, but he wouldn’t answer the phone. Listening to the brother who was older than him by only minutes lecture him was something he’d avoided, but it couldn’t be put off any longer. If Landon wouldn’t take pity on him, there was nothing else he could do.

Instead of the customary greeting, Landon answered the phone with, “I assume you must be desperate, since I’ve been calling you and you wouldn’t answer. Backed into a corner?”

Brandon rolled his eyes. “I knew I shouldn’t have called you. Major mistake. I’ll just?”

“Brandon! Listen to me. As much of a dumbass as I think you are at this moment, you’re my brother?mytwinbrother. I’m not sure what it is you think I should do for you, but I’d really like to hear it. I’m not going to completely shut you out. And I could use a good laugh. I’ve got a ten month old who is Satan incarnate.”

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