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My jaw dropped open. “What? What kind of favors? I haven’t asked him for anything.”
She lifted an eyebrow and then looked down at the paper in front of her. “It says here you attempted to use your connection with Dr. Hudson to change your schedule.”
I shook my head. “He doesn’t control the nurses’ schedule. That doesn’t even make sense.”
Except Mark did have a lot of pull at the hospital. He was the son of the Chief of Staff, and his family founded Hudson Memorial thirty years ago. As we’d laid in bed together a few nights prior, he had brought up getting my schedule changed so we could spend more time together. I’d told him I didn’t want to make any waves and, instead, we needed to make the most of the time we were both off work.
“Well, a request was made to change your days off. The person who filed the report made it quite clear that you invoked Dr. Hudson’s name when asking for the change.”
Someone falsified a report, and I had no idea why. The only person at the hospital who knew that Mark and I were dating was Melissa, but I’d never had any problems with her before. And it never occurred to me that she might rat me out to HR after seeing us at dinner almost a week ago, especially since she acted like nothing had happened when we worked together the following day.
“I’m happy to discuss this with whoever made the report. I’ll ensure they understand that I won’t use my relationship to demand any special accommodations.”
“Ms. Ashford, it’s not that simple.”
I swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“I’m afraid the board of directors has found your behavior inappropriate. They have decided to terminate your employment here at Hudson Memorial.”
“What? I don’t understand. I read the employees’ code of conduct and there is nothing that forbids Dr. Hudson and I from dating.”
“You’re correct. However, trying to use your relationship to gain preferential treatment is not acceptable.”
I wanted to continue arguing, but Felicity didn’t seem willing to listen. Besides, I wasn’t sure how much job protection I had since Hudson Memorial was a private hospital.
Tears threatened to spill over, but I held them at bay. “Is Dr. Hudson facing disciplinary action as well?” While it wasn’t fair that I was the one in trouble when I had done nothing wrong, I also didn’t want him to face any consequences.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss anything regarding another staff member.” She shuffled folders around on her desk.
I was handed a stack of paperwork and given my final paycheck before Felicity called security to escort me off the premises after collecting my belongings from the locker room. I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating, and I was thankful I didn’t run into anyone I knew on my way out of the building.
Once inside my car, I texted Mark: We need to talk. I’m on my way over.
He had the day off and hadn’t mentioned any plans, so I assumed he’d be home. I pulled up in front of his house and checked my phone to see if he’d responded to my message, but there was nothing.
Climbing out of my car, I walked to his front door and rang the bell. A couple of minutes passed, and he still hadn’t answered. I rang the bell again, and as I was about to leave, the door swung open.
“Kayla, what are you doing here? I thought you got off at noon,” he said as he stood in a pair of sweatpants and rubbed a towel across his head, clearly having just come from the shower.
The view of him shirtless distracted me momentarily, but it only took a second for me to remember the horrible reason I was there instead of at work. “I’m sorry. I should have waited for you to respond to my text, but I needed to see you.” My voice cracked as I spoke. “I got fired.”
“What?” He frowned, and I began to cry. Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he led me inside. “Let me get you some water, and you can tell me exactly what happened.”
I waited on the couch as Mark grabbed a couple of water bottles from the kitchen. He handed me one and then took a seat next to me. “So, what did HR say?”
I recounted the entire story, explaining how someone reported us to Felicity and accused me of using my connection to him to request preferential treatment. “It had to be Melissa.”
He lifted a questioning brow. “Why do you think that?”
“I didn’t say anything to you before, but she saw us together at Mirage. She didn’t mention it the next day, so I assumed she didn’t care. If it was her, I’m surprised she went to Felicity.
“I’m not,” he muttered under his breath.
“Wait. What do you mean?”
He ran his hand over his head. “Now, don’t get mad—”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “People only say that when they know the other person has a right to be mad.”
