Page 111 of Gareth

A moment later, Nora breezed into the break room ahead of his mom. Nora’s brows pulled together briefly as her gaze swept over the men, then she settled into the chair beside Gareth.

“I wasn’t aware we had a meeting this morning,” Nora said, holding herself stiffly.

“It was a last-minute decision in order to address the situation with Aria,” his dad told her.

“More information has come to light regarding what you shared with us,” his mom said.

“Really?” Nora asked, sounding far too excited about the prospect. “What information?”

“Information that has made it a non-issue that Aria administered shots.”

Nora frowned. “What?”

“I’m not sure if you didn’t receive the information or if you just failed to pass it on, but surely you had to realize that we would do a little more investigating ourselves.”

“What are you talking about?”

“First, Aria didn’t lose her nursing license because of what occurred,” his mom said.

“She didn’t?” Nora stopped, then cleared her throat. “I mean, yes, it’s true she didn’t. However, she showed remarkably poor judgment in what she did.”

Nora was showing poor judgment herself by making it seem like she knew about the license issue.

“This is true,” his mom agreed. “But there were extenuating circumstances. I called Aria’s previous supervisor yesterday, and she spoke very highly of her, and she wished that they could have given Aria a second chance.”

Gareth was surprised to hear that his mom had called the supervisor, though perhaps he shouldn’t have been. She always liked to gather all the information she could before making a decision.

“Still, the whole situation wouldn’t reflect well on the clinic,” Nora said defensively.

“Except that we hired her as a receptionist, and she was living with Janessa, who would have seen any sign of excessive drinking being an issue for her. If that was still a problem for Aria, she wouldn’t have agreed to live with someone she worked with.”

Nora crossed her arms as her frown deepened. “What exactly is this meeting about?”

“We feel that you gathered this information for your own benefit, not the benefit of the clinic.”

“I don’tthinkso,” Nora barked.

“From the day Aria stepped foot in the clinic, you have been after Gareth to get rid of her. You then went digging for dirt on her, and I have no doubt that if you hadn’t found anything, you would have continued to try to get Gareth or Jay to fire her.”

“We do not tolerate harassment of our employees,” his dad said, his voice firm. “Your determination to get Aria fired for no reason is unacceptable.”

Nora glanced at Gareth, then glared at his dad. “It wasn’t for no reason.”

“It was,” Jay said. “You haven’t been happy with her in the clinic from day one. So yes, it was for no reason.”

“Unfortunately, all of this has led us to decide that it would be best for the clinic if we parted ways with you.”

“You’refiringme?” Nora demanded. “You can’t do that.”

“I think you’ll find that we can,” his dad said. “This is our clinic, and we can decide who we feel is the best suited to work here.”

“How are you going to run this place without a female doctor?” Nora scoffed.

His mom smiled at her, though it was a smile that made Gareth exchange a look with Jay. They both knew that this didn’t bode well for Nora.

“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” she said. “After all, I’m still a female doctor. Initially, I had hoped you could fill my shoes, but this situation has made it apparent that’s not the possible.”

“You’ve worked your last day here,” his dad said.

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