“Everything alright, honey?” Cleo took the seat at her desk.
I didn’t hear her approach because I was busy working on the schedule. “Yeah…just had a rough night.” I felt a lot better after talking to Dex. There was something about him that always made me feel better. “I’m better now. Dex talked me down. My eyes are just puffy because once they get puffy, they never go back.”
“You seem to have taken a liking to him.” She turned in her chair to regard me directly, her toned legs crossed, her heels shiny like they were brand-new. Reading glasses were on the bridge of her nose because she always put them on once she sat at the desk so she wouldn’t strain her eyes as she read the screen.
“How can I not?” I said with an uncomfortable laugh. “The guy is perfect.”
“Why do you say he’s perfect?” There was a slight smile on her lips, probably because she held her own affection for the same man, a motherly love that seemed to take everyone under her wing.
“Because he’s got a heart of gold.” The answer shot out of my mouth immediately. “How is a guy that intelligent and that hot that humble? That just doesn’t happen, you know? Most men have way less and think they’re God.” I rolled my eyes, thinking about almost every guy I’d ever been with. “He’s funny, easy to talk to… Everyone here is like that, but he’s especially kind. And then everything that happened with Mr. Carlton—the guy is a hero. But he never thinks of himself that way. It’s strange.”
She kept her eyes on my face and gave a slight shrug. “Sometimes it’s hard for us to see what others see because we think we don’t deserve it.”
“He definitely deserves it. I just hope he sees that someday.” I turned back to my computer because I assumed the short conversation had concluded.
But she didn’t turn in her chair to look at her computer again. Her eyes stayed on me, fixed.
I turned my head back to her, unsure if I’d missed something.
“Did you like working in the medical office?”
It was such a random question that I didn’t know how to answer it. “Of course. I was really sad when he retired.”
“Why?” She crossed her arms and behaved the way she had in my interview, gleaning as much information from me as possible. Her blue eyes were shrewd and observant, possessing a lot of intelligence that was so ingrained, it was impossible not to notice.
“I guess the patients. I used to see those kids come in every year, getting older, getting cuter, and I’d always give them their favorite sucker flavor because I memorized their preferences. That always made them smile. But I miss working with my physician as well. He was a good doctor. It makes all the difference in the world if you believe in the person you’re working for, because when they make a difference, you want to do everything possible to make sure they succeed. But I really love it here too. It’s a different pace, a different world, but I still think I’m helping people.” I didn’t want to brag about my old job so much. Otherwise, it might seem like I didn’t want to be there—which wasn’t the case.
She watched me with her intelligent gaze, her hand slightly rubbing her arm like she was a tad bit cold.
My curiosity got the best of me. “Why do you ask?”
She turned her head away and stared at the coffee cart, where the electrician team waited for their coffees. The residents paid for the coffee cart and food station with their monthly dues, so it was complimentary for the residents as well as anyone who worked there. “As much as I enjoy having you as part of our team, I think I have to let you go.”
I couldn’t control my stunned expression. My entire body went slack because it felt like someone had slammed their fist into my stomach and knocked the air out of my lungs. I loved working for the Trinity Building, working for Cleo, seeing my coworkers every day. I didn’t want to lose the one thing getting me through this painful breakup. “I…I don’t understand. I thought I was doing a great job here—”
“You are doing a great job, Sicily. I really don’t want to go through that stack of applications again when you were the best one in the pile. But I think you’re better suited for a different position.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m so confused right now.”
She turned back to me and gave a slight smile. “How would you feel about working for Dex?”
“Working for him how?”
“As his medical assistant in his new practice.”
My heart fell into my stomach on instinct because I was disappointed that he intended to leave, even though it was a good thing. “I didn’t realize he’d had a change of heart.”