“It’s the union. The hospital doesn’t want the union there.” The union had only been voted in a couple of years before Monica began working there. So far, the contracts they’d negotiated hadn’t made life for the nurses that much easier. There was some chatter about a vote to eliminate their presence.
“Why? Seems the nurses are the ones who have to pay the union dues and we aren’t getting a lot for it.” Her annual raises weren’t much to write home about.
“When was the last time you sat in on a union meeting?”
She hadn’t sat in on any. “Never.”
“You might be happy to know that the next contract, which will begin negotiation this winter, is going to favor the staff much more than the previous one. Even with the depressed economy the union feels that with all the health care reform dollars going into the budgets, they can find a way to get that into your hands. They want to see that your health care benefits remain the same. A lot of companies are having to downsize, but big hospitals can’t. Instead they’re eliminating raises, cutting benefits. The union wants to be proactive.”
“So if the hospital can make it look like the union isn’t able to keep an innocent nurse employed now, then the members might think, what good are they?”
“Yeah, that’s what we think. It’s not written anywhere, but that’s our theory. You were convenient. Add a boss that doesn’t like you, and you’re the target. The hospital made one fatal error. They underestimated you and your ability to seek counsel.”
Could it have been as simple as the hospital looking at her resumé’s previous addresses to assume she didn’t have a family with money? “That sucks.”
“When you didn’t show up with a union lawyer, they were undoubtedly confused and had to find out how you could afford us.”
“I can’t afford you,” Monica said with a laugh.
Goldstein chuckled at that. “What you can do is see if you can have your union push up the protest. I already spoke with Jack, and he said he’d chat with his sister about making sure the media was there snapping pictures and making the hospital squirm.”
“You think it will make a difference?”
“I can’t believe they haven’t dropped the case yet. Let’s give them a reason to drop it before the fall.”
Before fall classes. She might not have picked a school to apply to, but she had made the decision to go back once the case was behind her.
“I’ll make a couple of calls.”
“I’ll look forward to hearing from you.” With that, he hung up.
The next hour she started her calls with Walt. She asked if he could rally some of the staff in the next twenty-four hours for a protest, to which he told her he’d do everything on his end. The union was just as eager to move on a protest so Monica put all the wheels in motion making calls to Katie, to Monica’s friends at the fire station, even some friends from nursing school.
When it was all set she called Trent, who had left that morning to join his brothers for a business meeting in Connecticut. It was the second time he’d left her side in the few weeks they’d been a kissing and dating couple. He’d returned the jet he’d flown down from Seattle and needed to stay in the Pacific Northwest long enough to confirm that Frank was the employee who was flying their planes for his own pleasure. After Frank was dismissed, Trent decided it was time to put into place a benefit program in which longtime employees could request certain flight privileges to avoid any issues in the future.
As Trent told her, ever since his parents’ deaths, his brothers had taken up the slack in the company and it was time for him to get back in and ease some of the burden. That meant flying back home for a while.
Monica would have worried about him leaving if he hadn’t told her he was coming back. His life wasn’t in Southern California, however, and she knew that eventually if they wanted to keep seeing each other one of them would have to make a residential change. The thought would have scared the shit out of her a month ago.
Now she found herself searching for masters in nursing programs close to Trent’s company. She wondered if she could trust them as a couple enough to make such a leap.
The couple of nights he planned on being away would help give her the space she needed to think. She already knew that sleeping without him would be difficult and figured she could think then.
Their cuddling, kissing, and not making love hadn’t made her want to be around him less. She knew when she saw him their conversations and time together were going to be about something beyond the physical. The overwhelming desire to talk to him about the protest was a testament to the changes happening within her. It wasn’t often she bothered talking about her problems with the guys she dated. Nothing on a deep level in any account. With Trent, Monica talked about everything. Her dreams, nightmares, future goals, and bucket list achievements.
Share time wasn’t limited to her. Trent told her some of the things he wanted to see happen within the company. Now that he was finished with island living, he wanted to be a larger part of the company. His brothers had carried him for some time. Taking part in the daily decisions was a task he wanted to become a part of again. He was once again putting his life on hold, but this time it was to give their relationship a chance.
At some point, Monica knew she had to take a leap of faith and follow her heart. The leap was from a huge height, however, and the fear of falling made her hesitate.
Her call to Trent went to voice mail, which he returned later that night.
“Hey, California,” he said on the phone, his voice sleepy.
“Did you just get home?”
“I forgot how annoying commercial flights are.”
“Slumming with the rest of us?” Monica joked.
“It’s a pain when I know there’s a better way. Besides, I don’t like someone else driving.”
“Control freak.”
“Look who’s talking.”
She brought him up to date on the protest, told him it would take place in two days right before rush hour. “Katie suggested we blow up a picture I took in Jamaica of me at the clinic, and another one from the ER. Make sure the people in the area know which nurse they’re rallying for. I’ll be at the printer tomorrow and then Katie and I are going to get together with a few of my friends to make the signs.”
“I can change my plans and come back early.” He’d planned on staying home for a few days.