Hayden

“Are you sure you don’t mind going with me?” Derek asked.

He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, but I pushed him off and laughed. “Not at all. Now let me finish getting dressed so we can leave. I don’t want you to be late.”

I’d worked most of the day but asked Wilford if I could take the rest of the afternoon off to go to Evan and Summer’s wedding rehearsal with Derek. We had only twenty minutes left before we had to be at Stowe Manor for the rehearsal. The last thing I wanted was for Derek to be late because of me, and I sure as hell didn’t want to go dressed in my scrubs. Instead, I picked out a light blue summer dress and heels.

Derek lay on my bed and watched me heatedly. “I just realized we haven’t really hung out at your house. Your bed needs to be played in more. Maybe we should do that tonight.”

“Hey, I can’t help it we always end up at your house. Patch likes it better there. He has more room to run around. Plus, you have a pool. I love our nightly swims.”

He chuckled. “So do I.”

For the past week, I’d enjoyed spending every night at his house. My house was small and perfect for just me, but there was nothing fancy about it. Luckily, Derek didn’t seem to mind that I wasn’t rich. Slipping on my dress, I turned around so he could zip me up.

Before lifting the zipper, he traced a finger down my back, making me shiver. “With as much time as you spend at my house, you should probably just move in with me,” he murmured. He said it so seriously that I froze.

I turned around and faced him. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head. “Actually, I’m not. I know in my heart that you’re the one for me. Why wait? I don’t see anything changing between us.”

As much as I wanted to scream from the rooftops and say yes, I knew I couldn’t—at least not yet. Derek was the impulsive type, but I was more of the safe one; I had to think things through. “Don’t you think it’s too soon?” I asked. “Don’t get me wrong, the thought has me wanting to jump up and down screaming, but I want to be smart about this.”

He pressed a finger to my lips. “Take your time, love. It’s not like the decision has to be made today. Just as long as I see you every day, I’ll be fine.”

I kissed his finger and then his lips. “I can live with that, but right now we have to go.” I grabbed my purse, and we headed down the stairs and out the front door. Before we could get into his truck, my phone rang. I was tempted not to answer it, but when I looked at it, I saw it was Wilford. “I should probably take this. Can you give me a second?” I asked, lifting my gaze to Derek’s. He nodded and I walked away from his truck so I could answer it. “Hey, Wilford.”

“I need you to come by the office,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Now?”

“I know you requested the time off, but this needs to be said in person and not over the phone.”

I didn’t like the way he sounded; in fact, it scared the hell out of me. “All right, I’m on my way.” I hung up the phone.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Derek asked.

Sighing, I pocketed my phone and pulled my car keys out of my purse. “Wilford needs me at the office. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to go to the rehearsal with you.”

“Is everything okay?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know, but I didn’t like the way he sounded. Something’s wrong.”

He walked over to me, his gaze concerned. “Do you want me to go with you? I’m sure Evan will understand if I don’t make it to the rehearsal.”

“No,” I scolded, pushing him gently toward his truck. “Whatever it is, I’ll be fine. We can see each other after the rehearsal.”

He leaned down and kissed me. “I’ll see you soon, then. If you need me, just call.”

As soon as he left, I got in my car and hurried to the clinic. When I walked in, Wilford was waiting for me at the front desk, his expression glum. “Good, you’re here,” he announced. “Let’s go back to my office.”

Heart pounding, I followed him to his office, and he shut the door behind us. “What’s going on?” I asked.

Sighing, he sat down at his desk and rubbed his tired eyes. “Have a seat, Hayden.”

The tension in the air was so thick it could be cut with a knife. I felt sick to my stomach, imagining what kind of disaster would’ve put that forlorn expression on his face. I did as he said and sat down, palms sweating profusely as I waited for him to speak.

“After you left a few hours ago, I walked through the kennel to check on the animals. It was then that I noticed something odd.”

“Okay,” I said. “What was it?”

“A couple of the dogs had started showing no interest in eating and were also lethargic. I started getting concerned, considering you just had a dog sick with parvo in isolation.”

I nodded. “Goldilocks. She’s back home and doing better. I called Mrs. Bradshaw and checked on her this morning.” Then I realized what he was getting at. “Wait a second, are you saying there was cross-contamination?”

His jaw clenched. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. The virus only spread to your patients. I had them switched to the isolation kennel today after you left. Jeremiah has been treating them, but I don’t know if they’re going to make it.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth. “How can this be? I never would’ve put my other patients at risk. There has to be another explanation. I always made sure my hands and everything else were cleaned before I left Goldilocks.”

Wilford shrugged and blew out a breath. “I don’t know how your patients were contaminated or if it was even your fault. One of the girls could’ve mistakenly transferred the virus. Either way, they’re your patients and it doesn’t look good on you. I’ve had several people request to be taken off your schedule.” My eyes burned and my heart felt like it was going to rip apart. I thought the knife couldn’t get wedged any deeper, but Wilford wasn’t done. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but over the past few weeks you’ve been preoccupied. Maybe all this time in the spotlight with your new boyfriend is clouding your judgment. I’m starting to wonder if you even take this job seriously anymore.”

My head snapped up and I could feel the anger welling inside me. “I take my job very seriously, as a matter of fact. And my relationship with Derek has nothing to do with my responsibilities here. Just because I don’t work till all hours of the night anymore doesn’t mean that I’m slacking. No one else puts in half the amount of work I do. It hurts that you would even suggest that I’ve been careless. I love animals, and I want to take care of my patients. Their getting sick was not my doing.”

“Either way, this has to be done. Those animals were your responsibility, and now I have to go to their owners and tell them what happened. As of now, I think it’s best if you take some time off until everything cools down.”

“What if it doesn’t?” I asked. All I wanted to do was scream out my anger. This job was my life, and he was taking it away from me over something I hadn’t done.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “Then the leave of absence will be permanent. I can’t let the reputation I’ve established here be tarnished, Hayden. For now, I won’t be handing the practice over to anyone. I’m sorry.”

Getting to my feet, I wiped away the tears. “Fine, I’ll go, but I didn’t do anything wrong, Wilford. This job means everything to me.”

He nodded. “I know. That’s what makes this so difficult.”

Knowing there was nothing I could do, I walked out of his office and went straight to mine. I didn’t want everyone to see what a mess I was. I had a feeling it was going to be the last time I ever set foot in my office. Luckily, the only personal things were framed pictures of me and my parents and me and Michael. How was I going to call them and tell them what happened?

A soft knock sounded on the door and it opened. I didn’t even want to look at who it was. “Hayden?” Jeremiah walked up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders to turn me around. When he looked at me, his jaw clenched and he frowned. “He actually went through with it, didn’t he?”

“You mean fired me?” I snapped. He nodded, but I shook my head. “Not exactly, but he might as well have.”

“It’s so stupid. I told him there was no way in hell you’d ever put any of the animals at risk. It had to be Jessica or Amanda.”

“It doesn’t matter. I was responsible for those animals, and now they’re sick.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

He squeezed my shoulders. “Well, it matters to me. I’ll find a way to bring you back. You belong here. One way or another, we’ll figure out what happened. You can’t take the blame for this.”

“Thanks, Jeremiah, but I don’t think there’s anything you can do. Thank you for taking care of my patients. I’m sorry the extra work was added to your plate.”

“I’m not worried about it, Hayden. Just take this time off, and I’m sure you’ll be back here before you know it.”

I grabbed my pictures and started for the door. I wasn’t going to go out without a fight. If Wilford wanted to fire me, it was going to be over something for which I took full blame. One way or another, I was going to prove my innocence, I just didn’t know how.