Page 72 of Morally Black Betrothal
I looked down at the green pants and a white top covered in oversized strawberries. “Scrubs. I wear them during my shifts at Mass Gen.”
“But we discussed this. You can’t be going to work today because you have the photo op scheduled with Mr. Black.” Shechecked her watch. “Kate Zola will be here in forty-five minutes to get you ready.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I won’t be available for Kate Zola or the photo op. And usually I’m scheduled several days a week at the hospital. I won’t be available any afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays.”
“B-but—” Ruth was starting to sound like my dad’s tractor when it wouldn’t start. “But what will Mr. Black say?”
“You’ll have to find out when you see him.” I shrugged, though worry tickled my spine.
Before she could offer any more “buts,” however, I closed the door on her shocked face and started down the stairs for the exit.
My steps were sure, but just like in Brendan’s office, I wondered where my sudden courage had come from or whether it was something this man and his demands brought out of me.
I feltgood about my decision to leave Brendan’s assistant high and dry for twenty whole minutes. By the time I arrived at the hospital, however, guilt had solidified into a tight knot in my belly, and I was mentally writing an apology text to Ruth. After all, it wasn’t her fault her boss was a control freak with no communication skills. I’d send it as soon as I got her number from Brendan.
Then my entry card was denied, and all of my guilt evaporated.
“What the heck?” I muttered as I turned the card this way and that, trying to see if it would work a different way. “What is wrong with this thing today?”
Nothing worked.
Just before I was about to take the card to security to get the thing replaced, the thick steel doors opened, and Joan, the head nurse, walked out of the cardiac wing, clearly on her way for her mid-shift coffee break. “Simone? What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for my shift, but my card isn’t working.”
Joan watched as I swiped the card over the security pad. The light flashed red again, not green.
“Oh, honey.”
I cringed. Joan was using the same tone I used with Kylie when she kept banging her finger on my remote, looking for another episode of her favorite show after she’d watched them all.
Before I could try again, she closed a hand over mine and pushed the card back toward me. “The program sent up a new aide this morning. Said you were no longer with them.”
My mouth fell open. “I—no longer—what?”
Joan shook her head with obvious pity, though not without confusion. “You don’t work here anymore, honey. Sounds like your new fiancé needs you. Doesn’t he?”
I searched her face for something that would tell me just how aware she was of my new arrangement. God, this was so much harder than I thought. I barely knew these people at the hospital. How was I going to lie to my family and friends when I couldn’t even do it with her right now?
“Congratulations, by the way.” She nodded at the gaudy engagement ring I had put on, despite Brendan’s stupid reminder.
God, it washuge. Blinding, really. So ostentatious and so unlike me.
“We didn’t realize you knew the family, but it makes sense now, how much time you were spending with Mr. Black. He must have really appreciated you being there for him.”
I tried to summon the kind of bride-to-be bliss that I was being paid ridiculous amounts of money to display. “Oh, yes. Yes, it was sudden, but…meant to be.”
My smile was broad.
My feelings were not.
Because how dare he?
Howdarehe?
I shrugged, trying to play off my “mistake” with my ID card. “I thought my last day was today. Silly me.”
Silly no one. Or silly Brendan Black, who was about to be on the receiving end ofeveryfrustration I’d endured this morning.
