It's Definitely Not You - Abby Brooks Page 0,67
her desk, offering me the saddest of smiles. “I’ve been thinking very seriously about letting you go.”
My eyes widened and I let out a gunshot of a laugh. It all made sense. Emmanuel’s missing stopwatch. Ramsey treating me like I didn’t exist. Mira’s sudden flip in attitude.
They were playing a joke on me.
Doctors didn’t get fired unless they’d done something truly awful. Aside from running late most days, I was good at my job.
“That’s funny. You guys totally nailed it,” I said as I let out the breath I’d been holding and melted into the chair. “You really had me going there.”
Mira drew her eyebrows together in the least sincere “bless your heart” I’d ever seen. My laughter dissolved into a choking cough. I covered my mouth with my fist and got control of myself post haste.
“I’m afraid I’m not joking. You’ve had trouble keeping up with the workload. Something Doctor Middleton has made multiple offers to try and help you with…which I understand you’ve turned down time and again.”
I frowned through the high-pitched siren blasting in my head. “At the time, I didn’t realize his invitations were professional in nature.”
Pro-tip: they weren’t.
Mira tsked, then shook her head as if to say I was a fool for thinking someone like Ramsey Middleton would be interested in little old me. “I was prepared to let all that slide, because I feel like you have a lot of potential, even if you are a little rough around the edges. But, Doctor Monroe. Inviting Ramsey for drinks under the pretense of needing help? Only to turn around and sexually proposition him? I admit. I didn’t see that coming.”
“That’s not what happened.” I laughed again, my jaw dropping as all the blood rushed from my head. The nerve of that guy. Not only did he trick me into meeting him for drinks, but when things didn’t go his way, he ran to our boss and tried to get me fired.
Or succeeded in getting me fired.
The next few minutes would clear that point right up.
Mira waved my statement away. “Doctor Middleton also suggested you volunteer at a free clinic in your spare time. Is that correct?”
“I do.” I frowned as anger crept up my spine. “I can’t see how that would be a problem.”
“You’re telling me that a new physician with time management problems wasting precious energy at a free clinic seems fine to you?”
“What I do in my spare time is up to me.”
“And what you do while you’re here is up to me. From where I’m sitting, not only are your priorities skewed, but you’ve made a seasoned doctor uncomfortable in his place of employment. He said it was either him or you.”
“And you’re choosing him.”
Mira arched an eyebrow. “Not exactly. Like I said, I see a lot of potential in you and I hate to throw that away, but Ramsey is more than potential. He’s an asset to this practice.”
“He’s also lying to you. He tricked me into going out with him, promising he had nothing but a professional interest in me. When that turned out to be false, I told him I wasn’t interested romantically and left.”
I expected my revelation to take Mira by surprise. I expected her to ask questions. To clarify my side of the story. I did not expect her to roll her eyes and dismiss me with a wave of her hand.
“I’ve decided to put you on probation. You’re to work directly with Doctor Middleton to improve your performance and professionalism when dealing with patients. I highly suggest you discontinue your affiliation with the other clinic while you focus on improving your approach to medicine.”
“You mean the approach where I focus on my patients and the realities of their problems instead of prescribing the drug with the best marketing and sales department and calling it a day?”
Mira’s jaw dropped. “I’m not sure what you’re insinuating, but you are way out of line.”
I choked back the rest of the tirade. Arguing wasn’t going to get me anywhere. The decision had been made, and if it had been that easy to come to, I really didn’t want to continue working for Key West Pediatrics in the first place.
“You know what? Your first instinct was right. It’s better for all of us if I don’t work here anymore.”
“You can’t just quit.”
“I think I just did.” I stood, thanked the woman for the experience, and left in a daze.
Collin West crooned over my speakers on the way home, the familiar lyrics