Read Here Comes Trouble Online

Authors: Becky McGraw

Here Comes Trouble (3 page)

BOOK: Here Comes Trouble
2.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Divorced for five years, Terri hadn't been
celibate during that time. She'd had two year-long relationships
since then, and sex. Those experiences were easy enough to forget.
The men were easy to forget, after she figured out they weren't for
her.

Joel Rhodes was proving not so easy to
forget.

Blowing her hair out of her eyes, Terri threw
back the covers with frustration and headed for the bathroom. There
were other things she needed to deal with today, and she'd better
get in the right mindset before she left for work.

Avoiding her new touchy feely boss at the
hospital was job one. For some reason, the man they'd hired to
replace Jenny thought because he was a doctor, and her boss, he had
the right to put his hands wherever he pleased. To say crude and
demeaning things to her whenever he pleased. And he thought she had
to take it.

Terri had seriously considered filing a
complaint with the hospital board for sexual harassment, but she
knew she'd wind up on the losing end of that deal. Doctors were
revered like gods at their hospital, and the board backed them one
hundred percent. Even though she'd given them eight years of her
life, and he'd been there less than one, she knew challenging him
would be a losing proposition.

Dr. Wayne Gregory knew it too, the dirty old
bastard.

Damn, but she missed Jenny. Ever since her
best friend and former boss had left the hospital to move to
Amarillo, things had gone to shit. Not only was the doctor that
replaced her a lecher, he was also incompetent and lazy. More than
once, Terri had saved his ass, and that was getting old
too.

It never failed, if a nurse said white, he was
going to say black. If they suggested a particular treatment, he
would choose the opposite, without fail. It didn't matter to him if
his arrogance put patients at risk.

Someone was going to die because of him, and
Terri had a bad feeling she would take the blame for it, because
she had no choice but to follow his orders. Documenting her patient
files meticulously could only save her to a certain extent. Files
could be changed. Their computer system security was crap. It
hadn't been updated, since the 1980s and all of them knew each
other's passwords, even though she tried to keep hers
safe.

Terri huffed out a frustrated breath and
turned on the shower spray then stepped under it. What she needed
was a break, a real vacation, something she hadn't had in five
years. Using her work as a balm to salvage her soul after the
divorce had helped distract her then, but it had also worn her out
physically. Maybe she'd put in for some time off, before she let
her tongue loose on her bastard of a boss and lost her job. Holding
her tongue was not in Terri's nature, and doing it made her brain
want to short circuit.

At the hospital fifteen minutes before her
shift began, Terri parked her car in the employee lot and breathed
a sigh of relief. All she needed was to get yelled at for being
late again. It didn't matter if it was one time, and only two
minutes, Dr. Gregory would be on her two-yard-line, because he
could call her into the doctor's lounge...alone.

Grabbing her sack lunch off the car seat,
Terri got out and locked the door, then hustled through the sliding
doors at the front of the hospital. The ER was on the first floor,
and not far inside the doors. Hanging a right, she almost jogged
toward the triage desk, taking a glance at the already full waiting
room she passed on the way. It was going to be one of
those
days, and Terri was hopeful that Dr. Gregory would be too busy to
give her a hard time.

The night nurse manning the triage desk looked
up when she got near "Doc Gregory says you're in the back today,"
she told her with sympathy in her eyes. Everyone knew how he was,
hated working with him, but nobody did anything. People talked
though and she'd heard whispers that a couple of the other nurses,
were having the same issues with him. They weren't going to say
anything either though and lose their jobs.

With a groan, Terri gave her a tight smile,
before walking toward the nurses station. After stashing her
sandwich in the mini-fridge, she pulled on her lab coat, clipped on
her name badge, then put her stethoscope around her neck. As if
he'd sensed her presence, Dr. Gregory walked out of an examining
room and headed her way.

"Terri, I need to see you in the lounge," he
told her without stopping to make eye contact. He strode down the
hall toward the lounge and Terri got a sick feeling in her stomach.
With her feet moving like she was wearing lead shoes, she rounded
the nurses station and followed him.

When she entered the lounge, he was leaned
back against a desk in the corner and had a smug smile on his
face.

"Good, girl," he drawled then his hands went
to the belt at the waist of his trousers.

Surprise and alarm shot through her, because
he'd never been this blatant before. Terri stopped halfway across
the room and asked, "Dr. Gregory, what are you doing?"

"What are you going to do is the question, my
dear. I reviewed the case file from that ten-year-old we treated
for the dog bite last week. I got word that he's in intensive care
now with
rabies
, and I determined it was because of a
nursing error he didn't receive the rabies treatment protocol. You
failed to tell me it was a dog bite. We can fix this of course,
I
can fix it, with the proper
motivation
."

Terri searched back through her mind and
identified the child he was talking about. "That kid was fine when
he left here...I told you the wound was from a dog bite and you
determined the protocol wasn't necessary!"

The smarmy fifty-something doctor shook his
head and tsked a few times. "Your case notes are not indicative of
that, my dear. They simply state that it was a puncture and tear he
received while playing in his backyard."

"I put
dog bite
in there as clear as
day! And you know I told you that!" Terri shouted her hands
clenching into fists at her sides. The urge to punch him in the
nose was so strong, she had to fight to restrain
herself.

"No, I don't recall that at all...but maybe
you could refresh my memory. If I'm going to take the fall for your
incompetence, you're going to make it worth my while," he said and
finished unbuckling his belt, before he slid the zipper down his
fly.

"When pigs fly you dirty old bastard!" Terri
told him and spun on her heel then pushed through the door.
Standing in the hall, she leaned back against the wall trying to
calm her breathing and heart rate, before she passed
out.

She looked up and down the hall, and it was
empty. Shift change was the opportune time for the asshole to try
this with her. In a few minutes, the halls would be buzzing with
people, but not now. Terri pushed off of the wall and strode back
toward the nurse's station.

It would be his word against hers, but Terri
had no choice. She was going to file that complaint...today, right
now.

CHAPTER TWO

 

Well, they didn't fire her, that was a good
thing she supposed. Nausea seesawed in her stomach and Terri put a
hand there, as she stood to face the seven members of the hospital
board.

It had taken her two months to get through the
investigation of her sexual harassment case against Dr. Gregory,
and now they'd suspended
her
for six weeks. It was nothing
more than she'd expected though. Combined with the dog bite
incident they'd blamed her for that as well, she was lucky they
didn't recommend revoking her nursing license and firing
her.

Now, she had been given the floor to speak,
and she had some things to say.

Straightening her spine, Terri smoothed her
skirt, then told them, "I'm sorry you feel that way. I can assure
you my actions were not based on revenge, or to deflect attention
away from myself in the Tommy Boyd case. Dr. Gregory was informed
of the dog bite, it was documented in my patient's file, and he
chose not to implement the rabies protocol. I don't make those
decisions on my own. How that information disappeared from the
file, I don't know...other than everyone here knows my password,
including Dr. Gregory."

"Are you accusing him of altering your files
now, Miss Cassidy?" a stern dark-haired man at the end of the table
asked her in an agitated voice, his eyebrows lifted over steely
gray eyes. "Don't you have enough trouble, as it is?"

Terri lifted her chin, and told him, "I
apologize if it sounded that way, I was merely stating fact,
sir."

"Well, young lady, I think it's in your best
interest to keep your
opinions
to yourself regarding Dr.
Gregory. You've caused him enough anguish over this. Take your
suspension and develop a new attitude before you come back to work.
Otherwise, we may meet again," he threatened over his half-eye
glasses.

Anger, the likes of which she'd never known,
along with despair poured through her. They weren't going to meet
again, because Terri wasn't going to be here. She was going to use
the six weeks to find another job, but her options were limited in
Henrietta.

There was only one other hospital within a
hundred miles, and she'd have to move to work there. Her only other
option was a quick clinic one town over, but her pay would be
substantially reduced, and her skills only
half-utilized.

Besides, if she had to move, her mother would
have a stroke. Her mother liked having Terri and her brother Ethan
living close. He was a fireman with the Henrietta Fire Department.
Only her sister Lauren had moved away, she was in Dallas at school.
Terri remembered the battle Lauren had to wage to go away to
college, instead of staying closer to home.

"Yes, sir," Terri grated and picked up her
purse from beside the chair. After looking into the eyes of all
seven men, she turned and walked out of the conference room. Maybe
she'd hire an attorney and sue civilly for sexual harassment, she
thought, then shot that down immediately. It would be the same
rigmarole, her word against his again, and she'd spend money she
needed now to support herself during her forced leave.

No, she needed to cut her losses and get the
hell out of Dodge.

Tears burned behind her eyes, but Terri
refused to let them fall. Holding them back made her nose itch, so
she swiped her arm across it, but kept walking. On the way out, she
passed the triage desk, but refused to make eye contact with her
co-worker there. Those women had sold her out too. The board had
interviewed them all about any similar incidents, and not one of
them had stepped up to defend her, or protect
themselves.

Somehow, Terri made it out of the front door
and to her car at the back of the lot before the dam of frustration
broke, and tears poured down her face like a waterfall. Through
blurry eyes, she glanced one more time at the hospital that had
been her home for eight years, then opened the car door and slid
into the driver's seat. She couldn't even see, let alone drive in
the state that she was in, so Terri just sat there and let go of
the emotion choking her.

With a hiccup, she grabbed a wad of tissues
from the box on the seat beside her and cleaned herself up. Her
hands shook when she put the key into the ignition, but she was
finally composed enough to start the car. After she pulled out of
the parking lot, instead of heading home though, she headed for the
interstate.

She needed someone to talk to who might
understand, the other night she had finally broken down and called
Jenny. Knowing her friend was pregnant and had troubles of her own,
she had tried not to call her about the situation, but she finally
had to talk to someone.

Her mother hadn't understood, she was from a
different generation and had told her to keep her mouth shut and
avoid Dr. Gregory. She didn't tell her brother or father, because
she knew they would go to the hospital and kick his ass, which
would have caused more trouble. Terri had kept it to herself, until
she couldn't do that anymore.

When she called Jenny, her friend's advice had
been to stand her ground and keep her chin up. That's what Terri
had just done, and they'd hit her with an uppercut that left her
staggered. She didn't regret her decision though.

Although the end result hadn't turned out like
Terri wanted, she wasn't sorry she'd done it. There was hope that
she'd eventually be vindicated, because she knew Dr. Gregory would
find another victim. Maybe if one of her traitorous co-workers had
to eventually file a complaint too, they'd have Terri's case as
precedent to finally see justice done.

But it didn't matter to her if that happened
now. Those women had chosen to remain sheep, now they needed to
face the consequences. Terri did not have to do that though, she
was done with Henrietta Memorial Hospital and Dr. Gregory
forever.

What she needed right now was her best friend,
and a phone call wasn't going to do this time. Even though Jenny
was five hours away, and due to deliver her baby any day now, she
was going to Amarillo to lick her wounds. Maybe helping her friend
bring a new life into the world would help her get over losing her
own.

 

BOOK: Here Comes Trouble
2.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Never Been Witched by BLAIR, ANNETTE
The Last Werewolf (The Weres of Europe) by Denys, Jennifer, Laine, Susan
Her Hometown Hero by Margaret Daley
West For Love (A Mail Order Romance Novel) by Charlins, Claire, James, Karolyn
The Wild Child by Mary Jo Putney
Friend Zone by Dakota Rebel
Larkstorm by Miller, Dawn Rae