Man Enough For Me (21 page)

“Nothing,” Max said quietly.

“Maxine!”

“All right, all right. We have a skeleton team of nurses who are keeping things going on the floor,” she said. “We might be dissatisfied, but we’re not barbaric. We care about our patients you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jules said, slightly relieved to find that patients were still being cared for.

“Jules, you can’t let this get out to the media, or no one will take the strike seriously.”

“I know, Max. We’re not allowing the media into the building, so it should be okay for now. But I need you to do me one last favor,” Jules said thoughtfully. “I think I have a plan.”

An hour later Jules got the inevitable call up to the boardroom. She sighed and picked up the file she had been working on.

Here goes nothing.

“Ms. Jackson, please have a seat,” Dr. Henry Conrad, president and CEO of the hospital, said, as Jules entered the room. Under the watchful eyes of the twelve other board members and executives, Jules took at seat at the large mahogany table,
as Michelle, whom she had dragged along, found a seat by the wall behind her.

“Now, I’m not going to beat around the bush with this, Ms. Jackson. As you know, Ms. Freeman has been released from her duties at the hospital. I have no qualms about telling you that it was because we found that her level of commitment to the hospital, as well as her performance, had fallen below the level we thought to be acceptable.”

Jules nodded slightly and tried to keep her eyes focused on the president even though her heart was hammering in her chest, and the heat of everyone’s eyes on her was making her sweat.

“We also have reason to believe that Ms. Freeman was using hospital funds in a somewhat questionable manner.”

Jules froze. Penny had been messing with the hospital’s money? This was a lot more serious than she had imagined. She blinked rapidly and tried to force herself to listen to the president’s voice, despite the fact that a million questions were already running through her mind.

“Sir, you have to know that I would never misappropriate the funds of the hospital in any way,” Jules said hurriedly. “I am and have always been completely committed to the success of this hospital. And I’ll say the same for Ms. Chang. We did know that certain duties were not being handled well, but neither of us knew that there were issues in regards to department finances.”

Dr. Conrad nodded patiently as he listened to Jules. She watched him tap his pen thoughtfully against his palm for a moment before responding.

“We do suspect that Ms. Freeman was working in isolation, but I am going to be frank. Usually under such circumstances, we would see fit to replace the entire department.

“However, you have been with the hospital for a while, and I was pleased with the way you handled the community consultations a few weeks ago. In addition, as you know, we are in the midst of a small crisis, and now would not be the best time to be entirely without a public relations team.

“That being said, what do you propose that we do about the current situation?”

“I am glad you asked, sir,” Jules said. “Before I came here this morning I had a chance to speak with the chief nursing executive about the matter. She informed me that steps have been taken to care for the hospital’s most critical patients despite the strike, and I was able to gain assurance from her that patient safety will not be heavily compromised.”

Dr. Conrad nodded but continued looking at Jules, expecting more.

“I know we want to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible, so I arranged a private meeting between the chief nursing executive, the head of the nurses’ union, the head of Emergency, and the hospital chief of staff. We’re hoping you can be a part of this meeting as well, Dr. Conrad, so that this can be settled outside of the papers.”

Before anyone could cut in or Jules could lose her composure, she continued outlining the plan in place for dealing with the strike. Even when she had to field questions and concerns from the board members, she still managed to hold her own.

Inwardly she gave a sigh of relief. Maybe things would work out after all.

“I must say, Ms. Jackson, I am very impressed with the level of effort you put into this recovery strategy,” Dr. Conrad said.

Jules nodded, and tried not to smile despite the pride welling up inside her.

“However, you are a bit … inexperienced in dealing with this type of thing, and the board feels that maybe we need an outside party to navigate this issue.”

Jules blinked several times, not sure she understood exactly what he was saying.

“We have decided to hire an external public relations agency to deal with this matter.”

Jules cleared her throat nervously. “With all due respect, Dr. Conrad, the plan I laid out was very thorough. You yourself said
it sounds like the right direction to go. We can do this without—”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Jackson, I think I was unclear. We have already brought in an external team to handle the issue. They will be here momentarily to begin work.”

Jules looked at Dr. Conrad dumbly, unable to find the words to speak. It seemed like not even her best efforts had been enough.

“It’s not that we don’t agree with your strategy, but we would feel more confident having a team of experts handling the issue. You can hand over your plan to them when they get here. I am sure that the execution will be just as you anticipated.”

Jules sighed. The way things had been going, she shouldn’t have expected anything less.

“How long will Ms. Chang and I be working with this team?” Jules asked, trying to keep the defeated feeling she felt from spilling over into her voice.

There was an odd silence, and Jules couldn’t help but notice the look exchanged between the Dr. Conrad and Thomas Donnelly, the VP of operations. A feeling of panic began to spread through her stomach as Donnelly cleared his throat nervously.

“Ms. Jackson, in light of the fact that your department is currently under investigation, we will be asking that you take a leave of absence.”

“What?” Jules croaked. She heard Michelle gasp behind her.

“Just for three weeks until this issue has been sorted out. We are asking that you turn everything over to the agency and have your desk cleared out by the end of business today.”

Jules’s mouth fell open.

Clean out her desk? That didn’t sound like a leave of absence. That sounded like she was being fired! This was ridiculous! Penny’s indiscretions weren’t her fault. Why did she have to take the blame? Besides, there was no way she could just turn everything over to an agency. How would they run the department without her? Without Michelle?

But as she looked around at the faces at the table, she knew
that the president’s proposal was not up for discussion. It had been decided long before she had even entered the room.

The one thing she had feared the most was happening at the worst time ever. She was losing her job. The career she had worked so hard for had come crashing down on her in just one day. And it wasn’t even her fault.

I
t was the ringing of the phone that woke Jules up on Tuesday.

Even though it was already midday, she couldn’t seem to motivate herself to get out of bed.

She pulled her pillow over her head and willed the answering machine to pick it up. Eventually it did, but a minute later the phone started ringing again.

The third time it happened Jules realized that whoever it was knew she was at home.

She groaned and rolled across the bed until she was near enough to reach the phone.

“Hello?”

“Jules, what’s going on?”

It was Davis.

“I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday, and I’ve been getting nothing but voice mail. I called your office this morning, but they said you’re no longer there. What’s that about?”

Jules sighed and sat up in bed, wincing at the bright sunlight that was streaming through the window. She tried to think of a way to explain what had happened at work to her brother without it seeming as bad as it was. But for some reason she couldn’t muster up the energy to do it.

“I got fired yesterday.”

“What?”

“Well, not really,” Jules corrected groggily. “I was forced to take a leave of absence.”

“For how long?” Davis asked, alarmed.

“Three weeks, maybe more.”

“What?” Davis asked, clearly confused. “Why?”

Jules calmly explained everything that had happened at work, from Penny’s passing off her duties to Jules, to the article on the front page, to the accusations of fraud against her department, to Penny’s being fired. When she was done Davis was speechless.

“So they’re investigating you for fraud?”

“I don’t know,” Jules grumbled. “They won’t say anything specific. They haven’t asked for access to any of my private accounting information, so I think I might be in the clear on that part of things.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about all of this before,” Davis murmured. “It’s really bad, isn’t it.”

“Yup. I’m pretty much toast,” Jules said nonchalantly. “Stick a fork in me, baby brother; I’m done.”

“Is that why you and Mom got in an argument—wait, but if all that happened yesterday, you didn’t lose your job till after your argument with Mom,” Davis said, more to himself than to Jules.

Jules cringed. “I didn’t lose my job—it’s just …”

Who was she kidding? She knew there would probably be no job at the hospital for her to go back to at the end of the three weeks.

Jules sighed. “No, my argument with Momma wasn’t about that. How did you even know about that anyway?”

“I called her yesterday,” he said. “I was asking her something about Sunday dinner with you, and she said something about not having a daughter, so I figured you two had gone at it again.”

Jules rolled her eyes. So her mother had disowned her. Why was she not surprised? With the way Jules had spoken to her, Jules knew she probably deserved it.

“Yeah, we did. Did she tell you why?”

“No. She wouldn’t talk about it. That’s why I’m calling you,” Davis said. “This one sounded really serious. What happened?”

Jules replayed the argument to Davis, including all the gory details. Davis let out a low whistle.

“That was pretty cold, Jules,” he said. “How could you say that to her? You know how sensitive she is about Dad.”

“I know,” Jules whined, falling back into the pillows and pulling her sheet over her head. “I was just so angry about everything, and she just kept getting on my nerves.”

“She’s still our mother, Jules,” Davis said. “You know you were way over the line.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jules said. “She’ll probably never speak to me again.”

“Not unless you apologize, anyway.”

“Maybe not even then,” Jules said.

She had had a lot of arguments with her mother. But maybe this was the one that had truly ruined their relationship forever. It was funny how you try to get far away from someone, but the moment you realize that you may never have them around again, they are all you can think about.

Davis sighed. “So what happened with you and Germaine anyway?”

“What are you, the Jackson family police?”

“You know I can just call him if you won’t tell me,” Davis said.

“You wouldn’t,” Jules said, with a hint of uncertainty.

“Yeah, you know I wouldn’t,” Davis conceded sheepishly. “So just tell me what it is.”

Jules bit her lip as she thought about just how much she should tell Davis.

They almost always told each other everything. The one time Davis had almost cheated on Keisha, he had told Jules, even before he had talked to Keisha about it. And when Jules had been planning to move out, Davis had been the one to look at apartments with her, even before she had summoned the courage to tell their mother. She knew whatever she said would be safe
with him. But at the same time, this was big, and she had promised Germaine that she wouldn’t say anything.

“We just both had some stuff we couldn’t see past, that’s all,” Jules said vaguely.

She hated lying to her brother, and she hated Germaine for making her do it.

Davis was silent on the other end of the phone for a long time, and Jules began to wonder if he was still there.

“What are you not telling me, Jules?”

She had forgotten how well Davis knew her.

Jules sighed as she remembered her promise.

But Davis wouldn’t tell anyone.

Before she could stop herself, the whole story came flooding out. Everything from her first encounter with Germaine’s business partners at his office, to the day of Truuth’s photo shoot, to the incident two weeks before. It was such a relief to be able to talk to someone about everything that had been going on. It was like a weight being lifted off her shoulders.

“Jules, are you crazy?” Davis asked. Jules held the receiver a slight distance from her ear as his voice barrelled through to her across the line. “Why the hell are you covering for this guy? Do you want to get caught up in this mess too?”

“I’m not covering for anyone, Davis,” Jules said. “This is really none of my business. I’m not with him anymore, so I’m not linked to this in any way. In any case, he said it would soon be over.”

“And you believe him?” Davis asked.

Jules knew there was no explanation for it, but for some reason she did.

“Yes, I believe him.”

“What if something happens to you? What if one of those guys comes after you?”

“They won’t,” Jules said. “They think I’m nobody.”

“Maybe. But you’re a nobody who knows what they do.”

Jules had thought about that. But she had assured herself it would be okay. Besides, what was she supposed to do? Go to the police? No way. She didn’t trust them. Chances were they
would run up on the store, and Germaine or someone else would get shot in the process. She didn’t want to risk that.

“He said it will be over soon,” Jules said.

“I can’t believe you, Jules,” Davis said. She could see him shaking his head in disappointment. “You’re smarter than this. But even if you’re not, I am,” he said. “I have a friend in the force. I’m gonna give him a call, and see if he can give me some advice on this.”