The two of us finished Ted’s beers, then moved on to whatever we could find in my fridge. Too emotionally drained to talk about Whitney anymore, we turned on the TV and watched sports until we both fell asleep on the couch.
Just because we stopped talking about her, didn’t mean that I stopped thinking about her. I wondered if there were still an ounce of hope in me, that somehow, I could convince her of things Ted couldn’t. I dreamed up and imagined different scenarios where we could make things work, each crazier than the last. By the time I fell asleep, I had exhausted every idea that I could think of and still hadn’t found the right one.
By the time I woke up the next morning, Ted was already gone. I quickly showered, shoveled tasteless breakfast into my mouth, put on my scrubs, and trudged out the door, feeling miserable. It all just seemed so pointless without the hope that we could make things work.
I wandered down the halls of the hospital, not really able to concentrate on anything. I kept expecting to walk into an exam room to see Whitney ordering blood tests for a patient. Then, when I heard whispers amongst employees, I remembered that I had driven her away.
“Chad,” my dad said as he came around the corner. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”
I jumped, not expecting to see him, which was silly of me because he still worked at the hospital.
I was not looking forward to whatever he wanted to tell me. In fact, I was really tired of seeing him around the hospital and wished he would have retired already so I could work in peace without having to watch my back all the time.
“I think you’ve probably heard by now that Whitney’s resigned from the hospital,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, I’ve heard.”
“When do you plan on doing the same?”
“Wait, what? I stammered. “Didn’t you just want us at different hospitals so people would stop talking?”
“Don’t forget, her mother and I still work here too.”
“For how long? The two of you will be gone in years, at the longest. I’m the one who just started working here. Why should I have to go?”
“Because you’ve made a fool of yourself. No one here will respect you as a professional if you don’t resign and find work elsewhere. There are nurse shortages everywhere. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a new job.”
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered. “My own father is pushing me out of his practice.”
“This should be a learning experience for you,” he said pompously. “Next time, you’ll think twice before getting into trouble with your coworkers.”
“Do you think this could be a reoccurring theme?” I exclaimed. “Do you really think I was just trying to fool around with one of my coworkers?”
“I don’t understand your rationale for most things. I never really have.”
I scoffed. “Whitney isn’t just some girl. I’m in love with her, and I wish you could understand that.”
“Well, I hope you find a way to get over this silly crush, or else you’re not going to be able to attend family events for a while. This is highly inappropriate, and I don’t want to have to talk to you about this subject ever again. Do you understand me?”
I felt the rage boiling over again. I had already told my dad I didn’t want anything to do with him if he was going to be unsupportive like this. This was the final straw. I was finished with him.
“Oh, I understand, loud and clear. Don’t worry, I’ll get out of your hair for good.”
“Stop being so dramatic.” My dad sighed. I didn’t s
tay to respond to him. If I stayed in that room any longer, I knew I would say something that I would regret.
I didn’t have the luxury of being able to quit my job at a moment’s notice. I had rent to pay and I didn’t know how long I could go without work before I would be broke. Instead, I used my lunch break to apply for new jobs. If my dad didn’t want me at his hospital, that was fine. There was clearly never room for both of us anyway.
By the end of the day, I had managed to cool down to the point where I wasn’t ready to get into a shouting match with my dad whenever I saw him across the hall. With any luck, I could find a new job by the end of the week and hand in my resignation then. It sucked because I liked working here, but it was probably best to get away from my dad.
That night, I showed up at Ted’s apartment with a six-pack of beer.
“You had a bad day, too?”
“You know it. Are you busy?”
“Not at all,” he said. “Let’s sit and be miserable together.”
True to his word, we sat down on the couch in silence for a while, just moping around. As weird as it was to be sitting next to my competition, it felt good to have someone to share my misery with.
“Do you know what?” I said after getting thoroughly tipsy. “I’ve thought of every possible scenario where we could make things work with Whitney. Not a single one of them makes sense.”
“This is definitely a lose-lose scenario,” he agreed.
“For a while, I thought we could flip a coin and whoever won could go out with her.” I chuckled. “Isn’t that a great way to make major decisions?”
Ted cracked a smile. “Or, I could see her on weekdays and you’d get her for weekends.”
“We move to Utah and enter into a polygamist marriage. Like the ones where one guy has multiple wives? Except it will just be the three of us.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” Ted said.
“You’re spoiling the fun,” I groaned, throwing a pillow at him.