“Four weeks?” I ask.
“Yes,” Dr. Preston answers.
“That’s it?”
Where am I going with this?
“Excuse me?” Dr. Preston returns.
“If the codes of conduct that I’ve been found to have violated are indeed so serious as you would make out. then why is my license being spared at all?” I ask.
“First off, we haven’t decided not to recommend the revocation of your license, Dr. Churchill. Still, some feel that, although you have been misguided, there is still an opportunity for you to do good things at this hospital,” Dr. Preston answers. “If you have an objection to that point of view, however, we would be more than happy to revisit the subject.” Dr. Preston says, “At the end of four weeks, we will reconvene to decide whether or not to recommend that your license be revoked permanently.”
So that’s it. My career is up in the air.
In a lot of ways, the hearing went better than expected, but there’s no way of telling what’s going to happen next, and I’m not too optimistic about coming back here in four weeks.
If nothing else, though, it’s over for now. I’ve got a month between now and a final decision: plenty of time to update and circulate my résumé, though I’m not sure who’s going to hire me.
That’s not what’s pressing on my mind, though.
I pick up the phone and call Grace. She doesn’t pick up, but I leave her a message, simply telling her to be at her apartment at 8 o’clock tonight.
I just hope she’s there.
Chapter Twenty-One
Learning to Breathe
Grace
I’m sitting in the back of a cab that Jace apparently sent for me, wondering just where the hell I’m being taken.
I got Jace’s message.
His hearing’s over and there’s no more damage to be done. Everything in my life has completely fallen apart.
KJBP came out with their announcement that they accepted the offer of…it doesn’t matter. They did what I expected them to do and chose the better deal. For me to expect anything different would have been pure idiocy.
Rather than take personal responsibility for her role in ensuring that M.E. would never land a contract with KJBP, Mrs. Sutton immediately called for my termination, and she got it.
John had a great big smile on his face when he told me that I’m fired.
So that’s it. M.E. is going to stay local and completely overlooked. Everything I’ve been working toward these last couple of years is out the door, along with me.
I don’t know what Jace is planning, but given the way everything’s been going lately, I’m not getting my hopes up.
“We’re here, madam,” the driver says, and I look out the window.
It’s the junkyard.
I get out of the back of the car, and I’m surprised that Jace would want to meet me here after the last time.
We’ve drifted apart, but despite myself, I begin to hope that things are going to change. Why would he invite me here if there were to be no forgiveness between us?
As soon as I close the door to the cab, the driver speeds away, leaving me standing alone next to the fence. It’s always astounded me that whoever owns this place never invested in any kind of security, but right now, that’s not a bad thing.
I’ve had some time to recover since my last round of chemo, but I’m still nervous to find out how much strength I have. The good news is, I’m able to get over the fence.