“I’ll take care of it,” he says as he hangs up. My phone suddenly rings, and it’s my father.
“Hello?” I say, glaring at her while she turns her hand and looks at her nails.
“I don’t know what you did, but you’d better undo it,” he hisses.
“Dad,” I try, but he ignores my pleas and continues.
“She is going to be the best thing to happen to that nursing staff in forever, and I will not let you and your craziness turn her away.” I look back at Crystal who is almost tapping her foot. “Be nice,” he says then he disconnects.
“Are you okay?” she asks me. “The vein in your forehead looks like it’s going to explode. Do you need medical attention?”
I swear I’m going to throttle her. Right after I kiss the shit out of her.
I turn and storm down the stairs, out the door, and straight to Darla’s car. I’m really fucking glad the keys are in the ignition, so I start it up and get the fuck out of here. What the fuck was I thinking? From now on, no more thinking of that fucking night. She works for me and nothing else. Easy, I can do this. I head to Walker’s house because he’ll know what to do. When I pull up and go inside, I find Mila on the couch watching The Boss Baby.
“Uncle Gabe!”
“Hi.” I smile at her, going to kiss her head.
I walk to the kitchen, open the liquor cabinet, take out a glass, and down a shot. “What’s gotten into you?” I pour myself another two fingers. Once the burning fades away, I hang my head. “So are we discussing this, or are you just going to sulk in the corner?” he asks, and I glare at him.
“I just met the woman replacing Laura,” I tell him as he whispers, “Oh.”
“Yeah, that,” I say, going to sit on one of the stools. “Plus, she lives in your old fucking house.”
“Don’t even fucking think about it.” He points at me. “She doesn’t need you sniffing around her just to add another name to that list of yours.”
I look at him with a confused look on my face. “What the fuck are you talking about? What fucking list? You know Crystal?”
“Oh, her.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “I thought you were talking about Hailey.”
“And if I was?” I ask him now, my eyebrow shooting up.
“Why are you so pissed about it?”
“She wants to put her bed in the middle of the room. Diagonally,” I tell him, gesturing it with my hands. “Who does that? We would never be able to work together so I fired her.”
“So you fired her?” he asks me, folding his lips and trying not to laugh.
“Yes, but then the little … the little,” I try to come up with a name, “the woman called my father and quit.”
He doesn’t even try to hide his laughter as he belly laughs out loud. “It’s not fucking funny. He took her side.”
He puts his hand in front of his mouth and gasps. “Shocking?”
“Fuck you, Walker,” I say. “I knew she was fucking trouble from the moment I got her application. She comes from one of the top hospitals in the US. She was even given a reference from the head of surgery, who called and begged me to turn her down.” I get up, getting more scotch. “I told my father to turn her down, that it wasn’t a good idea, but then Gram came in, and it was a done deed.”
“Why would she want to leave a big hospital for a small medical clinic?” he asks, but then the oven beeps and he goes on dad duty. I sit at the counter with Mila eating fish sticks with her. When Walker goes to give her a bath, I sit on the couch and watch SportsCenter. And as I fall asleep on his couch, I hear her moans in my dreams.
Chapter Thirteen
Crystal
The alarm goes off at six a.m., and I groan. I was so nervous about starting my new job today that I didn’t get to bed until way after two a.m. Rolling out of bed, I step in the shower, finally waking up when the cold air hits my ass. I grab my blue scrubs and slip them on, feeling like going home. I grab my white Nikes and slip them on, too. I put on a coat of mascara and pin my hair on top of my head.
I try not to make noise when I make my coffee and toast and grab things to make lunch. The hot coffee hits my tongue first. “I would give up sex I think for coffee,” I tell myself. “Okay, not sex. Maybe after-sex conversation.”
The toast pops up just as Hailey storms into the kitchen ranting and raving about a dog who bit her. I roll my lips together when she mentions the asshole neighbor.