Page 73 of Bachelor Remedy

He paused. She might as well have jabbed a hot poker into his chest, right into that perpetually raw spot. The way she was looking at him had him believing what she’d said about possessing that insight thing.

He jammed a frustrated hand into his hair. “It’s not that easy, Iris. People can’t just snap their fingers and have families. Look at Shay.”

“At least our sister is trying.”

With an uncharacteristic bite to his words, he said, “Yeah, well, I can’t. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m up to my eyeballs, here. I don’t have time to try even if I wanted to.”

Tag immediately felt guilty for taking out his frustration on her. She’d done nothing but try to help him. It was the fact that he was beyond help that had him cross. But mostly, it was the growing conclusion that he and Ally were never going to work. Well, they were never going to work long-term, anyway, but he’d hoped for a little more time.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just… I don’t even know what I’m doing…”

Removing her feet from the desk, his sister sat up straight in her chair. “You don’t know what you’re doing, or you don’t know why you’re doing it? If you—”

“Iris, I do know that I do not want to talk about this right now.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll let it go. For now.”

* * *

OVER THE COURSE of a restless, blanket-tangling night plagued with alternating bouts of bone-chilling despair, disappointment, confusion and dismay, with a few violent flurries of anger sprinkled throughout, a numbness finally seeped into Ally. She hadn’t heard from Tag, had no idea if he’d broken up with her or even if he’d ever speak to her again. She thought about calling in sick but knew sitting at home would only make her feel worse.

Shortly after arriving at work, she proved herself wrong. Because if she hadn’t come in, she never would have seen the email that was waiting for her. She was still staring at it, trying to decide how long this extended nightmare could possibly drag on, when Flynn came through the door, a large coffee in each hand.

“Hey, good morning. What time are you heading to the rally? You’re supposed to help Iris with the food, right? We should…” He paused to look her over. “Wow, you look terrible. What’s wrong?”

Lifting her hands helplessly, she said, “All I want to do is help, Flynn. That’s all I try to do. All the time. Most of the time. Okay, I honestly almost always try to do the right thing. But sometimes it’s so hard to know what the right thing is, isn’t it? Do you ever feel that way?”

“I’m a doctor, Ally. I feel that way every single day. But listen, love,” Flynn said, walking closer and handing her a coffee. “You sound funny. What are you talking about, specifically?”

Despite her angst, the gesture managed to produce a half smile. “Thank you for the coffee,” she said gratefully, taking the cup. In her tired, emotionally overwrought state, the gesture nearly brought her to tears. “And thank you for being my friend. You’re awesome.”

“You’re very welcome and very weird. You need to tell me what’s going on because you are freaking me out.”

“To start with, Dr. Boyd is trying to have me fired.” And Tag hates me for trying to help his sister, she added silently. “I got an email from the hospital board secretary. There’s a disciplinary hearing next week at which my presence is requested.”

“What?” Flynn frowned and gestured at the monitor. “May I?”

“Of course.”

He read the message over her shoulder. “He can’t do this.”

“Yes, he can. That’s the problem. He warned me. He and his scary spider fingers told me his reach was far and wide.”

Settling into the chair across from her desk, he said, “You have to fight.”

She pulled one shoulder up into a shrug. “Of course I’ll fight. I don’t think it will do a lot of good. But I’ll never stop fighting for what I believe in, Flynn. Even if it costs me everything. Even if it upsets people that I care about.”

---