Nate’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah.”
She put her hands to his cheeks, her own heart breaking in her chest. “Don’t worry. He wasn’t The One.”
Nate’s eyes lifted to hers. “How do you know?”
She pulled him back into a hug, needing her brother as much as he needed her. “Because there’s no such thing.”
* * *
After a long night of lying awake, Marin walked into Dr. Suri’s office first thing the next morning with her goals in mind. She would not lose this job she’d come to love. She would not jeopardize her brother’s dream.
But she also couldn’t lie.
As much as she needed to keep this position, she wouldn’t hold on to it by throwing Donovan to the wolves. He may have hurt her. He may have broken her heart. But professionally he’d done nothing wrong. She wasn’t going to say otherwise.
Women were harassed and taken advantage of at jobs every day. She had the utmost respect for Dr. Suri handling this with a swift and strict hand. Marin would’ve killed to have that kind of person on her side at her first waitressing job when her supervisor kept telling her how nicely she filled out the uniform. But with Donovan, this had been both of their faults. Two combustibles had been put into the same tank. Things were bound to ignite.
So when she sat down in Suri’s office, she was armed and ready to handle the questions she knew would be thrown at her.
Dr. Suri settled into the spot behind her desk and offered Marin a kind smile. “I’m sure you know why I asked you here today, Dr. Rush.”
“I do.”
“Do you feel comfortable with me being the person you speak with about it?”
“Yes.” Marin felt like she’d been put on the stand.
Suri nodded and folded her hands atop her blotter. “Dr. Rush, I have a list of formal questions I’m supposed to ask you. But I’d rather we just talk about this straight. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Marin cleared her throat and linked her fingers, trying to keep them from trembling. “First, I need you to understand that this was in no way harassment or coercion or anything like that. Donovan and I had a brief relationship back when I was eighteen. He didn’t know at the time that I was so young. I lied about my age.”
Suri’s brow quirked up almost imperceptibly.
“And I didn’t realize when I accepted the interview here that I’d be working with him. We hadn’t kept in touch. But when I found out he’d be my trainer, we talked it out on day one and agreed to let the past be the past and forget it happened.”
“I’m assuming that didn’t work out.”
Marin shook her head. She wanted to come up with a professional way of explaining it, make this less awkward, but the words wouldn’t fall together right. So the truth came out of her instead. “You ever had a person in your life who just sparks something for you? Like if he’s in the same room, even if you don’t see him, you somehow sense he’s there? Like your brain and body are somehow attuned to that particular frequency?”
Suri didn’t answer but something in her eyes told Marin that maybe she had had that experience at some point.
Marin sighed. “That’s Donovan for me. It’s my fault that I didn’t see the risk in taking the job. I thought I’d be able to block out that attraction. I’m a rule follower by nature. And this job means everything to me. Coming into this, I would’ve told you that nothing could tempt me to put this position at risk. Nothing. I would’ve bet everything I had on it.”
“Then Donovan West happened.”
Marin laughed, no humor there, but the sound blurting out. It just fit so perfectly. Donovan happened. Like he was an earthquake or a lightning strike or some world-altering event. He had been her world-altering event. “Yes. And I promise you that nothing ever happened that compromised my training or our clients’ care. Our relationship was off the clock and private. What you walked in on yesterday wouldn’t have gone further than that. We just got caught up in a moment because I was excited about a breakthrough with a particularly difficult client. Yes, we were reckless to start up this kind of thing because off-hours relationships can cause tension at work when things go badly, but neither of us would ever compromise care. That was never a question. When we were at work, we were working. I’m sure if you talk to any of the clients, they would say they were receiving professional, top-notch treatment.”
Suri sat back in her chair. “I have talked to some of your and Donovan’s clients as well as your colleagues as part of your probationary period. All have had good things to say about you. Well, mostly all.”
Marin released a breath. “Let me guess, Dr. McCray isn’t a fan.”
Dr. Suri smirked. “I’m well aware that Dr. McCray has personal feelings that are clouding her judgment. She and Dr. West have bad blood over political matters at the institute.”
If only it were just that. But Marin kept the thought to herself.
“And I’m glad to hear that this wasn’t a harassment situation. Though being in a relationship with someone who is training you is less than ideal.”
Marin looked down. “I know. I’m sorry.”