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“Well, when the baby arrives, I presume you’ll be conflicted over it.”
Baby? What baby? I suddenly feel the need to throw up. I swallow hard, but acid creeps up my throat anyway. I take a deep breath in through my nose. Sandra is pregnant and this is how I find out? “Why would the baby bother me?”
She lifts her eyebrows at me. “You were already aware of the pregnancy?”
“Of course,” I lie.
“We are all very excited for Charles and Sandra,” she insists.
“As am I.” Another lie.
She heaves in a breath as if she doesn’t believe me and starts to spin a pen top on her desk. “I’d be happy to write a letter of reference for you.”
“Don’t bother. I’m certain I won’t have any problem finding other employment.” I stand up. “Is this effective immediately?”
“It is.” Her voice is quiet now.
“Thank you very much for your thoughtful consideration of my
situation.” I turn toward the door.
“Abigail,” she says softly.
I turn back. “Yes?”
“I wish this had turned out differently.” She says it so quietly that it’s almost a whisper.
I smile at her, but it feels more like a grimace. “It’ll all turn out the way it’s supposed to.” I nod at her. “Have a wonderful day.”
As I walk back down the hall toward the lounge, I grab a cardboard box from a trash cart and go to clean out my locker. I toss things in, one by one, until it’s empty. Then I turn to leave the room, my box of belongings hitched under my arm.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and a loud voice booms out, “That bitch better not think she can just stay here and that the rest of us will just accept what she did to you!” My friend and fellow nurse Camille rushes at me and grabs me in an embrace I can barely accept. She hugs me tightly, and then stands back so she can look into my face, her hands on my upper arms as she holds me tight. “Are you okay?”
“Did you know?” I ask. I watch her face, because I feel like I’ll know if she’s lying.
She shakes her head. “If I had known, I would have told you, right after I let the air out of her tires.” Her face tenses. “But a lot of people did know,” she says quietly. “I only found out today.”
“She’s pregnant,” I say blandly, but I blink back tears that are threatening to fall.
“I heard,” she spits out. “That backstabbing bitch. If she wasn’t pregnant, I’d kick her right in the cooch.” She mimes a karate kick, her shoe flying through air. “Whoops,” she says as she goes and retrieves it. She looks toward my box. “Wait… What are you doing?” She looks from the box to my empty locker and back. “Why do you have your things?” She points toward the locker. “Put your things back. Don’t you dare let her run you off!”
“They terminated my contract.”
She jerks her thumb toward the reception area down the hall. “They terminated your contract because that backstabbing acquaintance of yours fucked your husband?” She shudders dramatically. “I can’t figure out why either of you wanted to ever fuck Charles, but to each his own.”
“They said they wanted to avoid problems,” I explain.
“Then they should have fired her lying, cheating ass,” she rails on.
I shake my head. “It’s okay, really. I can find another job.”
She huffs. “I’ll go give them a piece of my mind.”
One good thing about Camille is that she’s loyal. One bad thing about Camille is that she’s loyal. To a fault. I catch her arm as she spins to leave, presumably to go give the boss a piece of her mind. “Don’t,” I say. “Don’t mess anything up for yourself.” I force myself to smile. “I’m going to be okay. This is all going to work out.” I don’t know if I’m trying to convince her or to convince myself. Either way, I’m failing, because I’m not at all sure everything is going to work out.
“So what are you going to do?” She stares at me.
I have no idea what I’m going to do. “I’ll start looking for a job. No big deal.”
