Page 8 of The Desperate Warrior

Zoe eyed her, waiting.

“You know how Brock was planning on coming into town last week?”

“Yeah, I meant to ask you how it went, but I was so busy with the wedding prep that I forgot to bring it up. Sorry.”

She waved a hand. “No worries. It didn’t happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because Trevor got a stomach bug, and Brock didn’t want to leave him.” Even as she spoke the words, she felt like a heel. She’d reached a new low—getting jealous of Brock’s seven-year-old son because the poor kid got sick.

“Aw, I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

“Why don’t you just reschedule?”

“That’s the plan.”

Zoe searched her face. “So what’s the issue?”

“I dunno. I just feel like something’s off. Brock has been distant.” She gritted her teeth. “And I don’t trust Adrian any farther than I can throw her.” To hear him tell it, Brock’s ex-wife was a piece of work. Jules wouldn’t put it past the woman to pretend that Trevor was sick just so that Brock would feel the need to cancel his trip.

“Brock’s still coming to the wedding, right?”

“Yeah, he’ll be here.” The prospect of seeing him again caused butterflies to flutter in Jules’s stomach. Having a long-distance relationship wasn’t for the faint of heart. Originally from Utah, Brock now lived in Coronado Island just outside of San Diego. He’d moved there several years ago when he started working for Billionaire Sutton Smith. Adrian, the ex-wife, and Trevor also lived in San Diego.

“Good,” Zoe said with an encouraging smile. “Y’all can have a nice, long talk and sort out all of your differences.”

Jules began picking at an imaginary spot on her dress. “Yeah, maybe.” This turmoil she was experiencing was new for Jules, and she didn’t like it one bit. It was the first time she’d ever had such strong feelings for anyone she’d ever dated, and it was petrifying. Was that why she was freaking out? Because she’d finally found the one?

She just couldn’t shake the worry that something was wrong. Brock was pulling away from her—she knew it as well as she knew she was sitting here. She balled her fist. “You know what, I don’t care about Brock Ellis. Time for me to move on.”

Zoe cut her eyes at Jules. “You could always rekindle your relationship with Dean Powell. Didn’t Mom say that he was coming today with his parents?”

“Seriously?” Jules groaned. “Why can’t that guy get a clue?” She suppressed a shiver. “He cornered me in the soup aisle of the grocery store the other day. It was the gym the week before that.” She held up a finger. “Oh, and let’s not forget how he happened to run into me at the hair salon.”

“He’s stalking you,” Zoe said in dismay. “This is bad. Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because Dean’s harmless, that’s why.” Zoe was understandably sensitive about this topic, considering her ordeal with Nico Ventura. However, just because Nico was psychotic didn’t mean that Dean was. Realizing that Zoe was unconvinced, Jules added, “Dean will eventually get tired of chasing after me, and he’ll give up.”

“I hope you’re right.” Zoe frowned. “But just in case, I’d better mention something about it to Tippin. Ask him to keep an eye on the situation.”

“No, don’t do that,” she said quickly. “The Dean thing is no big deal.” She tossed Zoe a reassuring smile. “I mean it.” There was no sense in making a mountain out of a molehill.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. “If anything changes, let me know.”

“Will do.” With a sly grin, Jules put two fingers to her temple in a hearty salute.

“I’m serious. I worry about you, especially after that thing with the irate husband of the patient who died.”

Jules wrinkled her nose. “That was bad. Thankfully, things have calmed down.” The surgical center’s quality assuranceteam launched a Root Cause Analysis (or RCA) and determined that no red flags were found in the patient’s chart. It was discovered that Lisa had a family history of clotting disorders and had recently taken a long flight back from Europe, a fact that had not been disclosed at the time of the surgery.

It was deemed that Lisa’s death was caused by a rare, unpredictable complication rather than negligence.

Lisa’s husband, Steve, had shown up at the center drunk, ranting and railing. He was escorted off the premises. After that, he called the center several times and left some negative reviews on various social media platforms. The staff was on high alert, everyone fretting over what Steve might do. However, things had been quiet lately, which was a relief. Hopefully, Steve had found a more productive way to deal with his grief. Even when his wife was alive, Jules could tell that the man had some serious anger issues.

Although she’d been cleared of any fault, Jules still carried the heavy weight of guilt, questioning if there was anything she could’ve done differently. Also, she was still distraught over Alyssa’s death. It was hard to believe that her friend was gone. Did Alyssa’s parents even realize that she was pregnant? Jules had gone to the funeral and saw Alyssa’s distraught parents, but she didn’t have the heart to say anything to them about the pregnancy. The whole thing was so sad. If she hadn’t persuaded Alyssa to leave her boyfriend, then Alyssa wouldn’t have been on the road that day, and she would still be here.

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