Page 104 of Gareth

“I want to apologize,” Aria said, needing to get it out before he told her to go. “I shouldn’t have left the way I did without explanation.”

“Oh. We know why you left.”

So even though Nora had told her she would tell them about her past if she didn’t leave, she’d gone on to tell them even after she’d done what Nora had asked.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell all of you what had happened at my old job,” Aria said, then swallowed, her gaze dropping to her hands. “I just really needed to leave Sacramento, and honestly, I was embarrassed by everything.”

“You put our clinic at risk.” The coldness of his voice killed her a little inside, though she had to admit to herself that he was definitely entitled to his anger.

“I understand. I just wanted to apologize.” As her worst fears were realized, Aria turned to the door and opened it. “Thank you for everything.”

When he didn’t stop her as she stepped out onto the porch and closed the door softly behind her, Aria knew that she’d lost everything where Gareth was concerned. Tears clouded her vision as she made her way back to her car.

There would be no future for her in Serenity. She’d gone to Gareth first because she’d been desperate to see him, but also because she knew that if he couldn’t forgive her, there was no way she could stay.

Settling behind the wheel, Aria blinked back tears as she started up the car and pulled away from Gareth’s house. If she allowed herself to cry, she wasn’t going to stop, and she still had one more person to see.

It didn’t take her long to get to the house she’d shared with Janessa and Charli. Her anxiety wasn’t as high as it had been prior to seeing Gareth because she had nothing left to lose. Regardless of how things went with Janessa, she already knew she’d be leaving.

Still, she sat for a minute after parking. And even though her prayer hadn’t been answered with Gareth, she tried again, asking God to help her get through this next conversation without breaking down completely. She grabbed a tissue from the box and blew her nose, trying to edge back from the weepiness that wanted to grab hold of her.

When she finally got out of the car, pain and weariness seemed to drain all the life out of her. But pushing through it, she put one foot in front of the other.

Both Janessa’s and Charli’s cars were there, so she knew they were home. She kind of hoped that Layla would be the one to answer the door.

Instead, Janessa opened the door. Her eyes widened, and then she flung her arms around Aria. Her friend’s hug soothed some of the hurt Aria was carrying, and she clung to her, trying not to break down, but desperately needing the comfort.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Janessa said, stepping back and gripping her arm to pull her into the house. Janessa led her into the living room and pushed her down onto the couch before she sat down beside her. “Why did you leave?”

“Nora said that if I didn’t, she’d tell you about what happened with my last nursing job.”

“You should have told us,” Janessa said. “We would have understood.”

“I was struggling,” Aria confessed. “And I’d dealt with the end of my engagement and my mom’s death really badly. I was working as much as possible to escape my grief, and when I wasn’t working, I was drinking. When they called me for the extra shift that day, I said yes because I’d rather have been working than sitting home alone. I called for a ride and off I went.”

“So you didn’t drive drunk?”

“No. Of course not.” Aria sighed and looked down at her hands. “Which sounds ridiculous because I was prepared to work drunk.”

“What happened?”

“As soon as I got to work, someone noticed I appeared intoxicated and confronted me. My supervisor got involved, and they fired me. They were actually really good to me, all things considered, taking into account my previous record and what I was dealing with personally.” As Aria explained what had happened, the memory of that time brought with it so much pain.

“So they suspended your license and fired you?” Janessa asked. “That doesn’t sound like they were really good to you.”

Aria shook her head. “They didn’t suspend my license. Just fired me.”

“Huh.” Janessa frowned. “We thought you’d lost your license. So that was why we got upset about you having given shots to a patient.”

“My license is still valid,” Aria said. “I was just so… ashamed of the bad decisions I’d made that I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Are you not wanting to work as a nurse anymore?” Janessa asked.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to,” Aria told her. “It was that I would have had to share about my last job before anyone would hire me. It felt easier to just… do something else. Plus, my confidence in myself and my abilities was shaky.”

“What did you do after you were fired?”

“Got a job as a cashier at a big box store. I had to get a cheap apartment and a roommate. I didn’t realize at the time that she was a drug addict, and she came with a boyfriend who also did drugs. It was horrible. When you contacted me about coming to work here, I was so grateful.” She sighed. “And then I messed it all up.”

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