“No. About your call. I thought you were keeping the position with your patient? At least, that’s the impression I got a week ago.”
“Well, that’s no longer the case. He doesn’t need full-time in-home assistance any longer, so my expertise are no longer necessary.”
“His loss. My gain. I’m glad to have you back, Grace. This place has missed you.”
“I was also hoping I could ask you for some advice.”
“On what?”
“Housing. I got rid of my own apartment to move in full-time with my patient, and now I need a place to stay,” I said.
“Oh, I’ve got that covered. My friend Ivy has been looking for someone to take up the spare space in her apartment for a while. She can’t foot that rent bill by herself but she’s been struggling to find a decent roommate. I’ll hook the two of you up.”
“I really appreciate that. Thank you.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“About what?” I asked.
“Why this guy fired you?”
I sighed into the phone as I fell back onto the bed. I really didn’t. Because talking to Emilia about this meant getting into why I was actually upset at the situation. Why I actually didn’t want to leave. Why I really had wanted to stay.
And there was no use in admitting anything now. All of that had been some idiotic illusion concocted in my own head.
Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be an in-home nurse at all.
“Not really. But if you could get me Ivy’s number, I’d really appreciate it,” I said.
“No problem. I’ll send it to you in a text message and you can give her a call.”
“Thanks, Emilia.”
“No problem. And if you can’t start tomorrow, let me know. Whenever you get moved and settled, you can start then.”
“I really appreciate it.”
“Trust me, I do too. Though I get the feeling you’re upset about the whole thing. But don’t worry. I won’t press if you don’t want to talk. Just know I’m here if you do.”
I hung up the phone and waited for her to send me that text. I couldn’t make a move until I knew where I was headed. I heard the sounds of Hayden’s wheelchair coming down the hallway and I held my breath. I didn’t want him to hear me in here feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t want him to think he had gotten the best of me. I didn’t want him to know how heartbroken I was at what had happened between the two of us. How I had completely misconstrued our interactions into some stupid fantasy.
But when his wheelchair stopped, I saw a shadow sitting outside of my door.
My phone lit up in my hand, but part of me wanted to ignore it. To throw open the door and see him sitting there. What? He was going to eavesdrop on what I was doing now? Hadn’t he done enough damage for one man?
I tapped the number in the text message and held the phone up to my ear. If he wanted to hear this conversation, then I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
“This is Ivy.”
“Hi. I um… well, my name is Grace Hunter. We have a mutual friend. Emilia?”
“Oh. Yes! Hi. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine. Um… well, I was talking to Emilia about needing a place to stay since I’m moving, and she said you had a spare bedroom in your apartment?”
“Yes, I’ve been looking to rent the thing out for months. How do you know Emilia?”
“I worked at the shop with her,” I said.