"Clearly, you're not. Do I need to see if I can find someone to drive you home?"
"You don't. Come on, Tyler. Don't do this to me. I need to work," she pleaded.
"You have plenty of days built up, so it's not like you're not going to be paid. Wilson and Bette can handle what's going on here, and I'll ask one of the other counselors to come and help. You do your fair share. No, you do more than your share around here, and it's time other people stepped up. Now, get your shit and go home."
He left without entertaining any further argument from her.
Kerrie stared at the door in disbelief. What just happened? Had one of her worst nightmares just happened? Never had anyone told her to go home. Work was a lifeline to her. She needed to keep going, moving, and helping.
Kerrie pounded her fist onto the desk, causing the monitor and keyboard to bounce. Her chest tightened, and her vision blurred a little from all the movement. She was so angry. Just so angry. Why did people not understand?
Her attention turned to Bette. Tyler wouldn't have known what the doctor said had Bette not told him. He probably wouldn't even have realized that she was at work. He was never the most observant boss.
She turned off the computer with a huff. She could only imagine the kind of crap she was going to come back to. A whole week off was going to be miserable to catch up on. Nearly impossible. It would take forever. The whole point of hiring Bette was to take some of the load off, and here she was making it worse.
She didn't bother grabbing her lunch box or her thermos. She was too angry.
Shutting her door with a hard thud, she stalked down the hallway. She didn't bother to knock on Bette's door.
Bette jumped at the sudden intrusion, a startled look on her face. The look turned to concern as she looked at Kerrie.
"How dare you interfere with my job? You had no right talking to Tyler about me and my medical problems," seethed Kerrie. She knew her face was red from the blaring heat overcoming her.
If Bette was intimidated, she didn't show it. She turned her nose up. "If you're not going to take care of yourself, then someone has to."
Kerrie couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could she not see the boundaries Bette crossed? The huge problems she was causing. "You're crossing boundaries, Bette. You don't get to make decisions for me. I am not your child, and I'm not your wife. You don't get to take away my bodily autonomy."
Bette looked surprised, her brows knitted together as she frowned. "I wasn't trying to control you. I care about you, and I want you to be okay."
Kerrie sucked in a breath, trying to calm herself, but was quickly losing the battle. Bette still didn't get it. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't do this."
"Do what?" She asked, her frown deepening.
Kerrie motioned between the two of them. "This. This thing that we have going on. It's just too much. We work together, live in the same house, and now this. I can't do it. I don't want to be with somebody who can't respect my boundaries."
The bewildered look on Bette's face gave Kerrie a momentary sense of victory. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"Yeah, I am. I think we should just remain co-workers and landlord and tenant. I think it's for the best."
Bette stood and started walking towards Kerrie, but Kerrie put her hands up. If Bette touched her, she may go back on her decision. She was too upset to let that happen. "I've made up my mind. And now I'm going to go home, where I have been banished for the rest of the week because of you. If you think I'm stressed now, just wait until you see me next Monday when I'm having to clean up all this shit that I should have been doing this week."
Kerrie turned and slammed the door behind her. She clocked out and left The Church.
Chapter 30
Getting through work had been hard. Exhaustingly hard. It took everything in Bette not to break down crying. The shock had taken a bit to wear off. She couldn't believe it. Kerrie just stormed into her office and completely lost it on her. All Bette was trying to do was take care of her. Kerrie was awful at taking care of herself, and she couldn't see that. It's like she couldn't let go of being in control. There was nothing wrong with needing to take a break and reset, but for some reason, Kerrie just couldn't. And now she'd broken up with her.
She texted Missy to let her know a little bit about what had gone down. Missy immediately replied that she would be over at Bette's place at 6:00 with takeout and wine.
Bette's first reaction was to tell her no. She would be fine because that's what Bette had done for so long—take care of things on her own. But then she would be just like Kerrie, who couldn't let go of her pride and allow somebody to help. She gave Missy her address and tried her best to focus on her work. She would let herself break down later.
There was something really awkward about pulling into the driveway of the house she shared with her ex. Bette didn't even like to think of Kerrie as an ex. But she couldn't help but notice how Kerrie's part of the house already felt uninviting. Cold. She didn't feel like she could just go upstairs like she had been. She didn't even feel like she could knock on the back door.
She hurried into her apartment quickly. She would come completely apart if she saw Kenny poke his nose between the curtains.
She quickly tidied up the apartment, even though it wasn't really messy to begin with. She was happy that she went ahead and put a down payment on a few pieces of furniturewith her last paycheck. She would be making payments on the furniture for the next year, but it was a manageable price, and she desperately wanted a fully functioning home. The light beige couch with a little lounger on one end fit the living area perfectly. She still had her recliner and would keep that until she could replace it with something nicer, but it was clean and was comfortable, so she threw a blanket over it to make it not look so old.
Missy arrived right on time with Chinese and two bottles of wine. One white and one red.
