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His mom smiled. “It’ll be fine. We have two more doctors scheduled to go to the clinic in two weeks’ time. Your dad will overlap with them for a couple of weeks, then come back home. The clinic there is taken care of.”
“Thank you,” Gareth said, not realizing until that moment how much he wasn’t looking forward to continuing to work alongside Nora.
“Please keep us up to date,” his dad said as he leaned closer to the camera. “And we’ll be praying for you, son. Don’t let your anger rob you of your happiness. Make sure you’re seeking God’s purpose in all of this.”
“We saw the happiness you had with Aria,” his mom added. “Pray hard before you give that up.”
Gareth nodded, though he wasn’t sure that he could do what they wanted him to. At least not yet. “Love you both.”
“And we love you too, darling. See you tomorrow.”
After the call ended, he tossed the phone onto a dishtowel on the counter. He rubbed his forehead, trying to massage away the tension there. An ache was slowly blooming in his head, and he had a feeling no amount of medication would wipe it out.
He had to admit that he was glad his parents were going to take care of Nora. While at one point he had thought he’d enjoy being the one to fire her, in this particular situation, it was better that it wasn’t him, Jay, or Janessa. Nora would have had plenty to say about them caring more about their friend than the clinic.
Gareth didn’t think she’d say the same things to his parents. But he could be wrong. After all, he hadn’t imagined the lengths she’d go to in order to get rid of Aria, especially after Jay had made it clear that Gareth wasn’t interested in her.
The idea of being in the clinic with Aria again filled Gareth with a mess of emotions, and he had a feeling his sleep that night would be as restless as every other one had been since discovering Aria had disappeared. And the next night was also his men’s group, and for the first time in a very long time, he had no desire to go.
Thankfully, it wasn’t at his place, so he wasn’t forced to attend. Jackson and Wade could cover for him, just like he’d covered for them on the occasions they’d been unable to attend. He’d only have to endure a million questions from Jackson about why he couldn’t be there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
When Gareth arrived at the clinic the next morning, his parents and Jay were already there. He dropped off his jacket and briefcase in his office, then he joined them in the break room.
“We would like you both to be present at our meeting with Nora,” his dad said. “I want her to see that we are united in our decision. Plus, if she makes any accusations about the two of you, we want you to be able to defend yourselves.”
Gareth would have rather avoided the confrontation, mainly because his headache hadn’t gone completely away. The meeting with Nora would no doubt ratchet it up.
“I don’t think she’s going to take this well,” Gareth said as he filled his mug at the coffeepot. “She’s been far too happy about what she managed to accomplish with her machinations.”
Jay nodded. “I think she figures there’s no way we’d be anything but grateful to her for sparing the clinic a potential problem.”
“She definitely seems to have been able to kill two birds with one stone in her favor,” his dad mused as he lifted his mug.
“What if she spreads rumors about the clinic and Aria working here?” Gareth asked. “How do we defend against that?”
“If necessary, we present the facts. Aria never lost her license, so any medical work she does here in a nursing capacity is legal,” his mom said. “Most people see her strictly as a receptionist, so would likely be confused by Nora’s accusations.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” His dad set his mug back down on the table. “We’ll see what Nora says, then prepare ourselves for moving forward.”
Gareth didn’t think his parents truly grasped how conniving Nora had been since Aria’s arrival. But his head—and heart—hurt too much for him to press for them to consider it more right then.
“Why don’t we spend a little time in prayer for this meeting?” his dad suggested.
Though Gareth didn’t feel like praying, he knew better than to argue with his dad. Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. Over the next few minutes, his mom and dad both prayed. They must have suspected that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to pray, because his dad ended the prayer time without waiting for him to join in.
Then they sat in silence, drinking their coffee, waiting for Nora to show up. She usually arrived right before it was time to see patients, unless they had a meeting scheduled.
“I asked Janessa to tell Aria to wait to come in until after we’re finished with the meeting and Nora has left the building,” his mom said. “That way, she doesn’t have any sort of run-in with her. Janessa can handle the reception desk until then.”
Gareth didn’t relish starting the day late, but it couldn’t be avoided.
When they heard the back door open, his mom got to her feet and left the room.
“Good morning, Nora,” Gareth heard her say. “We’re just having a quick meeting, and we’d like to have you join us.”
“Oh. Sure.”
