Page 109 of Don't You Dare Marry Me

She asked the question, but she was pretty sure she knew the answer too. Which was also an odd feeling. Normally when she asked that, she knew she was going to be fired almost immediately. But those old doubts still managed to creep into her chest and make their way into her heart.

“Not unless you’re planning on walking out sometime soon.” Lachlan pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “And are you?”

“No, ma’am.” Nicola grinned again. “I actually like this job. I wasn’t sure I would at first.”

“Well, Abagail seems to have a way with fitting people in where they need to go.”

“That she does,” Nicola agreed, her cheeks blushing. She’d spent so much time with Abagail in the last six months, and she’d gotten to know her better. In fact, Nicola was fairly certain the only person who knew Abagail better was Elia.

“I don’t really want to hear that name again for a while.” Nathalie grimaced as she stepped behind Nicola and gave Lachlan a hard stare. “Not that her work wasn’t useful for a while there, but I’d really rather not have to deal with her again.”

“I don’t think we will.” Lachlan straightened her back, flicking her gaze from Nicola to Nathalie. “I was congratulating Nicola on making it six months with us.”

“Has it been that long already?” Nathalie said.

“That’s her way of complimenting, remember.” Lachlan stared directly at Nicola. “She’s a work in progress.”

“We all are,” Nicola answered with a quick sigh. While she loved working for these two women, they were a force to be reckoned with on a good day. She felt so small and inconsequential next to them, not that they made her feel that way on purpose. It was entirely a complex that she had and couldn’t get rid of. They were well educated, rich, worked their asses off—and they had their shit together.

Then again, in the last six months, Nicola had also worked her ass off to get her life back in line. She had actually started going to a community college and getting her gen-eds so that maybe she could figure out what she wanted to do in life. At one point, before the accident, she’d wanted to go into math and teaching.

But that was before.

And she hated to admit it, but her life was defined as before accident and after accident. Abagail assured her that was normal—so did Lachlan for that matter—but it still grated on her nerves that she couldn’t seem to separate herself from that one big event in her life. On her own worst days, she just wanted to be normal. Then again, normal didn’t sound all that fun either. And she was certainly having fun with her life.

“I needed to talk to you about some scheduling changes.” Nathalie’s face morphed into a serious work one. Nicola at least recognized that look, and she knew she wouldn’t bear the brunt of anything wrong. “We’re taking a family trip.”

“Family trip?” Nicola raised an eyebrow at Nathalie. “All right, when?”

“The end of December, during the school break.” Nathalie flicked her gaze toward Lachlan. “We’re going to close down for two weeks during that time. It’ll be paid time off for you and the rest of the staff, but after the year we’ve had, we thought a trip would be good for the kids.”

Lachlan grinned in Nathalie’s direction. “We haven’t told them yet where we’re going.”

“Where are you going?” Nicola asked, pen between her fingers so she knew what days she’d need to start rescheduling patients for.

“California,” Lachlan answered.

“To a resort,” Nathalie supplied, her gaze deadlocked on Lachlan’s.

Lachlan reached out, her fingers covering Nathalie’s in a rare show of affection. Nicola had always been in awe about their relationship and how much they managed to keep it outside of the office. Then again, a lot of patients would probably have an issue with it, and with Lachlan’s ex-husband also working there, it would add to the tension.

But this was just the three of them. And Abagail had filled Nicola in on everything that she could of their relationship and who they were when she’d told Nicola to take the job six months ago. Once again, listening to Abagail had proven to be the best decision for her.

“When will you be gone?” Nicola asked, going back to the entire point of this conversation.

Nathalie rattled off the dates, and Nicola wrote them down.

“I’ll start rescheduling next week when I come in.” Nicola didn’t want to start that task now. She needed to leave the office and end her shift for the day. She had too many things on her to-do list.

“Sounds like a plan,” Lachlan said, her warm tone exactly what Nicola had come to expect. She was so opposite Nathalie sometimes that they made the perfect pair together. “You have big plans for the weekend, right?”

“Yeah.” Nicola couldn’t stop the grin from reaching her lips. “We’re moving my sister home.”

That word still sent a thrill through Nicola. She and Abagail had talked it over so many times in the last six months, and it seemed like the best option. Alanna living at home would extend her life, and they’d still make sure that she got all of the care and therapies that she needed in order to continue to improve her life. But she was ready to graduate from the facility and start to be a bit more independent.

Still, that sent a swirl of nerves through Nicola. Alanna had barely been home since the accident, and even with the extrahelp and support that they’d have now that Alanna hadn’t had before, it still was wreaking havoc on Nicola’s state of mind.

“That’ll be an adjustment,” Lachlan said, glancing at Nathalie and shaking her head slightly before focusing all that warm attention onto Nicola.

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