“Yeah. But please don’t tell anyone. And if he shows up here, now you know, okay?”
“Of course. I’ll kick his fucking ass,” she hissed and stomped her foot, which, to be fair, made an impressive sound with her heavy combat boots.
He smiled at her. “You do that. Okay, thanks for the mail. Let me know if you need me to look after Squishy. I got to get ready for tomorrow.”
“All right. Take care, Francis.” As he turned to go, she added, “Just… remember that it’s your life. You get to make changes that might make it better. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“When did you get so smart?”
“It’s the philosophy major thing, you know.”
They both chuckled as he left her place to go to his own.
* * * *
Luckily the drive had tired him out enough that he got some sleep. In the morning, he cleaned his place and procrastinated by paying bills and trying to make up his mind about what to do, depending on the situation at the clinic
He still hadn’t made up his mind when he stepped inside through the staff entrance at ten to twelve. He waved to everyone who greeted him on the way up to Talia’s office. Since he was ten minutes early, he sat and waited. Five minutes later, Josh appeared from the elevator and walked to him, obviously smug.
Francis felt… tired. He gave Josh a blank stare back, which seemed to surprise him. Josh was about to open his mouth, when Francis beat him to it. “You don’t talk to me. At all.”
His tone must’ve warned Josh enough to snap his mouth shut again, and Francis kept his gaze in Talia’s door for the four minutes they had left.
She called them inside and they sat after greeting her.
“So, we all know why we’re here. I’ve heard from both of you, and now I need to know what you want to do to resolve this situation,” she said evenly, glancing from Josh to Francis.
Francis cleared his throat. “What do you suggest?”
“I think the options here are very limited, but if Mr. Walker wants to take this to Mr. Mitchell and make an official complaint immediately, then as your boss, I have to encourage him to do so,” she said, looking at Josh with her piercing gaze.
Francis could hear the audible click of Josh’s throat as he swallowed. Someone was nervous. Good to know.
“Well, I’m not sure—” Josh started, and in that split second, Francis made his decision.
“I’ll save you the trouble of proving that what you said is true,” he told Josh, who was considering his options. Then he turned to Talia. “I’m going to leave my resignation today, if that’s okay? I’ve been needing a change for a while now, and this seems like the push I needed to make it happen.”
Josh gawked at him. “B-but—”
“If you’re sure, Nurse Archer, then I will accept your resignation and wish you good luck in the future. Any recommendations from us will be stellar, of course, you don’t have to worry about that. After all, there’s nothing on your record and nothing will go on your record unless it can be proven without a doubt.” Her smile reminded him of a shark, especially as, at the end of the sentence, she turned her gaze at Josh who almost cowered in his chair.
Francis wasn’t sure what Josh’s plan had been. If he really knew Talia so little that he’d thought he’d get away with this? That she’d just believe him and he could what, exactly? Tell them that he was prepared to pull his statement if… what? Francis didn’t even want to know. His best guess was that Josh would’ve asked for time to think and then told him in private that he’d be willing to reconsider if Francis began to date him or something along those lines.
“Uh….”
“Was there anything more, Mr. Walker?” Talia leaned forward in a subtly threatening manner. “I assumeyouwould still like to continue working here?”
“Oh, uh, no, I mean yes, I mean—”
“Then I suggest you go continue your tasks for the day.”
Josh excused himself and left faster than Francis had ever seen him move, and he’d seen him in emergency situations downstairs.
Once Josh was gone, Talia sighed. “Are you sure about this, Francis? Of course, I’m not going to hold you to the notice period if you want to leave. I can’t think of a reason to make you work with him if you don’t want to.”
He smiled at her, knowing that his heart was set now. “I’m sure. The trip to Wisconsin was an eye-opener for sure. I don’t like it in here anymore, I mean the city and the state even. The clinic I love, you know that, but….” He let himself relax and exhaled slowly.
“But it’s time for you to move on?” She smiled at him.
