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“Like you, I think I’ll wait on that one a bit.” Oh, it felt nice to throw that back in Alanna’s face a little bit. But Nicola did it with a smile to soften the blow. She needed to figure out on her ownwhat was going on before she added other opinions in to what was happening.

Alanna’s cell phone rang and her entire face lit up. Nicola knew that ringtone from a mile away, and she smiled as Alanna reached for her phone to answer.

“Aunt Simone!”

She put the phone on speaker, and just as Nicola was about to speak, one of the office managers, Paula, popped her head in the door. “Got a minute?”

Nicola winced. She was so tired of these confrontations. She just wanted to come visit Alanna without being talked to about some problem that had come up. But she had no idea what this issue could be about since Abagail had paid for everything. It wasn’t like she owed them money this time.

“Sure.” Nicola turned to Alanna and nodded at her. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Alanna waved her off as she continued to talk with Simone. Nicola followed the woman out of Alanna’s room and into the main office where billing was done. Nicola had sat in this chair many times throughout the last few years, and all of it had given her an overwhelming sense of pressure and weight that she couldn’t ever fight her way out of.

“Is there something wrong with the account?”

“No,” Paula said, settling behind her desk.

“Is there something wrong with Alanna being here?”

“No.” Paula shook her head and raised an eyebrow in Nicola’s direction. “But I did want to connect with you about next month so we can prepare for it.”

Fuck. Nicola was the notorious customer that never paid her bills now. She should have seen that one coming but for some reason she hadn’t. Her stomach tightened to the point that sharp pains moved into her sides, and her shoulders ached from being so tense.

“I thought everything was up to date with payments.”

“It is.” Paula nodded. “But not for next month.”

“But I have a month.”

“You do. But I want you to be prepared for it this time.”

That was a dig if Nicola had ever heard one. She shuffled her foot against the floor, thoroughly scolded. Of course she’d gotten herself in over her head. That was her middle name. Nicola squared her shoulders.

“I have a new job, so it won’t be a problem.”

“Good.” Paula nodded firmly. “I would hate to run into the same situation that we ran into last month.”

“And what situation is that, exactly?”

“Where someone donates their hard-earned money for your cause.”

“Excuse me?” Nicola furrowed her brow and shook her head sharply. Paula had no way of knowing that Nicola knew exactly how everything had been paid, and the fact that she was extorting this into some kind of ploy to shame Nicola? Yeah, that was a hard pass for Nicola. If only Alanna didn’t need to stay there longer to get stronger before she could be moved to a different facility. And Nicola would definitely be reporting this.

Maybe.

If she had the time to figure out what she was going to say and the gumption to say it.

“Don’t be late this time. You’ve used all of your free passes.” Paula gave her a hard stare.

“Yeah. Not a problem.” Nicola stood up sharply and walked out of the room.

What the hell was she going to do now? She still had Abagail, but she wasn’t even sure she was being paid for that anymore, and even if she was, the only reason she would take the money would be so she could pay for Alanna’s care.

When she got back to Alanna’s room, she was glad to see that Alanna was still on the phone with Simone.

“Hey, give me the phone. I need to talk to her.”

“Sure.” Alanna looked slightly concerned. “Is something wrong?”