His sister had invited us for dinner.
I hadn’t planned on going.
Then Graham put a plate of scrambled eggs beside me.
“Come with me,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m great company.”
“You don’t have to be.”
I looked at him.
“Your sister knows about me?”
“She knows you’re my girlfriend.”
I nearly dropped my fork.
“Your what?”
He smiled.
“Unless you’d prefer ‘the woman who keeps stealing my coffee creamer.’”
I laughed.
And I went.
His family welcomed me without making me explain my suspension.
For three hours, nobody asked what I’d done wrong.
After dinner, Tessa called.
She had agreed to speak with the hospital’s compliance investigators.
A patient had reportedly been told an interpreter was present during an important consultation.
Tessa remembered the appointment.
Nobody had come.
The record nevertheless showed a completed service billed through an outside interpreting contractor.
