Page 38 of Together at Ruby's

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Trying to keep her composure as Aurora sat close beside her running her toes back and forth against Tate’s shin, it was all she could do not to get up and walk away. Clearly the action was meant to be sensual, but Tate found the woman’s actions repulsive. Unfortunately, without making a big, embarrassing scene there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Even when she tried to move her leg away, Aurora shifted enough to keep at it. It was evident the woman took Tate’s comments in the hall as a challenge and not a warning.Because she knows there’s nothing I can do about it, Tate thought as she clenched her jaw.The woman is untouchable right now. My boss thinks she’s amazing and apparently, so do other executives if they gave her my promotion. All of which only frustrated Tate more. Not only had Aurora received a high position at the firm, but she was abusing it to harass Tate. She had to try hard to focus on not losing track of what was happening in the meeting. Her part of the presentation was coming up soon and she looked forward to it. If nothing else but because it meant she could get away from Aurora’s unwanted touching. When she was done talking, Tate planned to find another chair away from the woman. It might look odd, but at this point, she didn’t care.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Reaching for it, she quickly silenced the buzz. Whoever was calling would have to wait. She was less than three minutes from her part. Unfortunately, the phone vibrated again. Clearly the person was insistent.Maybe it’s some sort of telemarketer call, she thought.Liza would never call me back-to-back. She knows how busy I am. Again, she silenced the call and got ready to stand to make her way to the front of the room as her boss Chad was wrapping up the introduction. The phone vibrated a third time, making her pause. The insistent feeling of the calls made her wonder if something might be wrong.But what?Is Liza okay? My family?

After she silenced the thing again, a minute passed and Tate started to back up her chair, when an executive assistant knocked on the conference room door.

Chad frowned, but waved the assistant in. “What is it?” he asked when she poked her head in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I have an urgent phone call for Tate.”

“Urgent enough to interrupt this board meeting?” Chad asked with raised eyebrows.

The assistant paled. “Yes, the caller says so.”

“I’ll be right back,” Tate said standing. Between the multiple calls to her cell phone and then the interruption by the assistant let her know…something was very wrong.

Chad frowned. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Your section is up next. You can’t leave.”

Scanning the room, Tate pointed at her coworker near the front. “Maybe Walt can go next instead of me?” she asked. “It shouldn’t impact anything.”

Looking frustrated, Chad hesitated but then gave a sharp nod. “Fine but his part is short so get back here. Don’t make us wait on you.”

Without another word, Tate rushed from the conference room taking her phone out of her pocket as she walked. As she suspected, the calls were all from Liza, but no voicemails. Clearly, her girlfriend wanted to talk to her directly, so she dialed Liza’s number.

“Tate,” Liza answered. “Thank God.”

“Liza, what’s wrong?”

“Everything,” Liza said, and Tate could hear the woman was very upset.

Tate’s mind raced as she thought of all the possibilities. If Liza wasn’t the one who was hurt or in trouble, then maybe it was her parents. Or one of their close friends. Forcing herself to remain calm, Tate took a deep breath. “Tell me what’s wrong,” she said, and Liza paused as if trying to calm herself enough to speak.

“It’s Nikki,” she said in a quavering voice. “She’s been in an accident. Apparently, somebody hit her while she was on her bicycle.”

Feeling like she’d been punched in the chest, Tate stopped walking and for a minute had nothing to say. “Nikki?” she finally repeated back. “Is she… all right?

“No,” Liza said. “I am on my way to the hospital to meet the others. How soon can you get there?”

Tate closed her eyes. She was in a horrible position. All she wanted to do was get to Nikki’s side, but if she simply disappeared, Chad would be livid. She had to go back into the boardroom and give her part. It should only take fifteen minutes at the most. Then she would rush to the hospital.

After findingher way through the downtown streets of Portland to get to the hospital, Liza pulled into a parking spot and called Rey. “I’m here,” she said. “Where are you?”

“We are all in the waiting area outside of post-op,” Rey answered. “Nikki’s out of surgery, but we still don’t know anything.”

“Okay,” Liza said. “I’ll be right there.” In minutes, she found the waiting area and saw a concerned looking Marty standing near the entrance. Noticing Liza, her friend waved her over. Everyone was there except Tate.But she’s on her way,she thought.There’s no way she wouldn’t get here as quickly as she can. She and Nikki are so close.

After hugging her friends, Liza sat beside Allie who had tears running down her cheeks. “What’s happened?” Liza asked, with a sick feeling in her stomach while hoping things weren’t worse.

“Nothing new,” Rey said. “The only update is that she’s out of surgery. The nurses won’t tell me anything.”

“That must count for something,” Allie said in a shaky voice, and Liza’s heart went out to her friend. Nikki was special to all of them, each in their own unique way, but Nikki was always Allie’s protector.

Liza put her arm around Allie’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Hey, this is Nikki we’re talking about,” Liza said. “She’s invincible, right?”

“Right,” Vivian said from where she sat on the other side of Allie holding her hand. “She’ll pull through this. We need to be patient.”

“Exactly,” Marty added. “We will wait for the doctor and not jump to conclusions.”

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