Page 40 of Trusting Trey
I folded my hands and looked up at him after he stood. “You can call me Allison. I hope I didn’t roll out of bounds, but it wasn’t right to fire him because he loves me. All I’m asking is that someone explains to him how they reached the conclusion that he needed to go. Mr. Garrison gave him no explanation other than he was dating me. He fired him on Christmas Eve morning of all days. Needless to say, Trey is heartbroken over losing this job. He loves his patients here and he loves Duluth. He’s applying to several other hospitals around the area, but your patients will be the ones missing out on his talent and devotion to his craft.”
He stood there with his mouth open and shook his head a little. “He fired him on Christmas Eve?”
I nodded. “Yes. He called him in at seven in the morning to fire him. It was rude and disrespectful, even if Trey was technically breaking the contract language.”
“I can assure you, Allison, I will address this with Mr. Garrison. You’re certainly right, we can’t afford to lose good practitioners in a field that is important, relevant, and already hard to find good talent in. My hope is that Mr. Garrison simply misunderstood the nature of your relationship and this will be easily resolved.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Trey made it clear to him that we had dated before the accident, so while I was technically a patient, I was his girlfriend before I was his patient.”
His frown deepened. “I’m sorry for the strife this has caused you and Trey over the holidays. Allow me to look into this and I’ll contact Trey once I’ve talked with Mr. Garrison.”
I sat up straighter and shook his hand. “Thank you, George. I would appreciate if you kept my visit between us. I don’t want Trey to know I was here.”
“Of course, Allison, I won’t let on that we spoke,” he promised and then opened the door for me, so I could roll through. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will look into it and be in touch with Trey.”
I thanked him again, waved at the secretary, and pushed my chair back down the hallway feeling satisfied I had at least given it my all while trying to right a situation that was my fault.
I set the weights back on the rack and looked at the clock on the wall. I had spent the last forty-five minutes in the physical therapy room working on strengthening exercises. That way, Trey wouldn’t suspect that I had lied to him about why I was at the hospital. I rolled to the courtesy phone and dialed his number, but there was no answer. I tried his cell and he picked up on the third ring.
“Hi, you’re not home?” I asked when he answered.
“No, I got a call to meet Mr. Livingston in his office. Can you hang around for a few minutes while I speak to him? I have to turn in my badge and sign final paperwork.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Trey. Do you want me to come with you?”
“Yes, but you can’t. I’ll just have to take my punishment and move on. I shouldn’t be long. I’ll meet you in the front lobby.”
I promised him I would go there now, so he didn’t have to hunt for me when he was done. It was either going to be a short meeting that didn’t end well or a short meeting that ended with him getting his job back. Either way, I had to be sure I stayed neutral. I didn’t want him to know I had talked to the head of the hospital. Normally, I wasn’t a proponent of hiding things from each other, but this called for a different approach. All I could do was hope and pray I made the right decision.
I wheeled my chair into the house and hung up my coat on the coat rack. The house was nice and warm, and I wanted to take a nap, but that would have to wait.
It was a mere twenty minutes later when Trey walked into the lobby, his briefcase in hand. He never said a word to me, just handed me the briefcase and pushed me to where he had the car parked. He never said a word the whole drive home and I was afraid to ask him what happened. I sat quietly while he got my chair back out of the car and then unlocked the door. He didn’t push me in the way he normally does, instead going back to the car for something he had brought home.
I was a little bit nervous that things in the meeting didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Mr. Livingston assured me he wouldn’t tell him I had been there, so I tried to act cool when he came in the house and closed the door.
“So, what was the meeting about?” I asked when he had his coat off and was making a pot of coffee.
He didn’t make eye contact as he scooped the coffee in rather forcefully. He slammed the lid down on the top and hit brew. He got a mug from the cupboard and the cream from the fridge. I noted that he only got one mug. Something was definitely up. They must have told him I had been there. I didn’t feel like taking his bad attitude, and while he was busy with the coffee I rolled down to the guest bedroom and lay down on the bed, my eyes closed. Maybe if I gave him time, he would cool off and then we could have a conversation about what happened.
“You’re going to hide now instead of owning up to what you did?” he asked from the doorway and I opened my eyes.
“What does that mean?” I asked, sitting up.
“It means I know you were in Livingston’s office today. He told me he learned of my dismissal from a little birdie. It didn’t take but a second to figure out who the little birdie was. Why would you do that?” He was shaking with anger and I had no idea why, but it was scaring me.
“I didn’t think it was fair that you got fired because of me.”
“So you decided to go beg for my job back?” he asked, but I shook my head.
“No, that’s not what happened. I went to talk to Mr. Livingston about the contract he has employees sign. I told him it didn’t make sense to have a clause like that in a contract when it’s likely at some point a significant other is going to be a patient. I asked him if we had been married when my accident happened if you would have to divorce me. He said of course not. I told him straight out I didn’t come there to get your job back. I was there to address the issue with the contract, so the same thing didn’t happen to another employee.”
“I’m a big boy and can fight my own battles, Allison,” he said, his voice still angry.
I held up my hands. “I know that and I wasn’t trying to fight your battles.” I threw my arms up and let them fall back down to my sides. “Forget it. I didn’t beg for your job back.”
His hands were in fists at his side. “Do you know how humiliating it is to be called to the head boss’s office and given your job back because he feels guilty? He straight up told me he knows I need to take care of you and he wanted to make sure I had the means to do that.”
I opened and closed my mouth a couple times, but finally was able to say something. “I never said that to him, Trey. Did he really tell you that?”
