16. Setting The Rumors Straight

Sage

S age took a long swig of water. Stassi hadn’t left her mind since they parted ways in the parking lot. There was something interesting about her, but more importantly, there was something real about her. If she slept her way to get into that position, then that was a whole other Stassi altogether and Sage just couldn’t see it. What stared her straight in the face, though, was that based on everything she saw, Stassi was someone she wanted to get to know better. Last night was a great start at that. She released a yawn and got up from the table.

She was glad Stassi was able to get some rest, as she had to have been exhausted. It was a double shift for her and when you’re starting out in a position, you don’t know what to expect.

Sage poured herself a coffee, when she heard the door to the breakroom swing open. She grabbed her sugar and turned to see Lena. Lena’s face was held with a wide-eyed stare and a bit mischievous. She came running over, her face full of insight.

“You are not going to believe what I just heard.” She grabbed Sage’s hand and pulled her into the nearest seat.

“Hey, now. Coffee here.” Sage laughed. “I hope this gossip is more truthful than the one about Stassi.” Sage rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee.

Lena arched an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s not true? Did you ask her?”

Sage snickered. “First of all, no, I didn’t technically ask her. But Stassi and I were working late together last night.” She shrugged. “You can just tell the type of person when you’re working so closely with them, and I know in my heart that Stassi just isn’t that type of person.”

Lena arched an eyebrow. “Describe closely.” She then moved in. “Give me all the juicy details.”

Sage rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.” She took another drink. Lena could believe what she wanted. She knew nothing happened, other than two people that were finally getting to know one another. “It was a patient that Stassi was just helping me out with. She stayed late because she knew that I was without a nurse and needed someone that could handle the administrative parts of the job. I was grateful for the help. She’s a sweet person.”

“That’s behind all that makeup.” Lena snickered, standing up from the table and going to the refrigerator to grab water.

“She’s toned her makeup way down,” Stassi argued. “Besides, as Stassi says, it is what it is. People are going to believe what they want to believe. She doesn’t seem too upset that small-minded people want to believe that she had an affair, all to get a job.”

As she drank her coffee, Lena turned to her, and her jaw dropped. “So, you really said something to her?”

Sage shrugged. “I wanted to set the story straight and I wanted her to know that if she heard the rumors, I didn’t once believe that she was involved in anything so, so, scandalous.”

“How noble of you.” Lena made a face and wandered back over to the table, plopping down in the spot across from Sage. She still held that mischievous grin. Sage was done trying to convince Lena of anything. If she wanted to trust that the rumors, she heard were true, then there wasn’t anything Sage could do to convince her otherwise.

“You came here with news to share…” The words trailed off as she took another sip of coffee.

“Oh. Right. Well, it’s not gossip.” She scrunched up her nose. Well, I guess it’s sort of gossip. But based on the truth, because it’s already happening.”

“Just spit it out.” Before Lena got out the gossip, Sage would have to dismiss herself and get back to work. So if she didn’t start with it, she would never have heard this big news.

“I heard that they’re cutting shifts and dropping employees, like none of them even mattered.” Lena’s brows furrowed. “They said they’re starting from the bottom and going straight to the top. Even people that are retiring in a year or two might find themselves jobless because they won’t have to pay them their full pensions.” Lena downed half her water as Sage considered that piece of info.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Sage shook her head. “There’s no way that they’re letting people go. We’re running on a barebones staff as it is. How much lower can we possibly go?” That was one point to add out there, but it also would mean that Stassi would be one of the first cuts. They could easily say that the therapists could check their patients in and take them back to the room. There were ways to cut staffing, but none of it left a warm fuzzy feeling for Sage. “In two weeks, I have the meeting.”

“Hopefully,” Lena mumbled. “I mean, what would stop him from canceling, again.” She rolled her eyes. “They obviously don’t care what we think, and half the staff could be on their last leg in two weeks.”

Lena was always the drama queen, but she wasn’t really wrong this time. It could happen, but Sage wanted to believe that nothing could transpire that quickly. She took a sip of her coffee.

“Without staff, they’ll lose patients. Without patients, there’s no money.” Sage tried for optimism, but it had been proven frequently that the hospital didn’t much care for how the employees saw things. “Have you heard anyone losing their job yet?”

“Well, no. Although, Lila in the lab has been warned and practically threatened that she could be one of them to be let go.”

Sage snickered. “Well, Lila has come to work drunk, you know. It could be all connected. She is harming the patients in her intoxicated nature.”

“It’s only happened once.”

“And that’s okay?” Sage arched an eyebrow. “I’m just saying, let’s not get all worried about our jobs. If anything happens, we’ll both easily find something else.” Maybe even better. It was possible that it could be the one thing that was able to move them to look for something else. Sage wasn’t opposed to it. She finished off her coffee and stood up. “Have to get back to work, but I’m just saying that everything will all work out. Trust me.” She tossed her cup into the trash, grabbed her water bottle, and left the breakroom. She had to get that meeting and finally make a difference. They couldn’t keep them quiet forever, and she would be the voice of change.