And without a word from Alec, or to him, they walked out of the house.

* * *

That night, lit only by the glow of her aquarium, Frazer researched.

She brought up every government page she could think of related to health. She checked the paperwork for the programme budget the hospital had provided her to see if the grant that funded them was hospital based, privately based, or from the government.

Over the course of hours, she sent out countless e-mails and applications. It was easy to put into motion something she’d always considered doing but had wanted to start with the safety net of her full-time job underneath her. Her last breakup had left her a mess on the floor, and the stability of her job had been a big part of what had dragged her off it.

And her aquarium.

At that thought, Frazer lifted her glass of Coke towards her fish and drank to them. They really were gorgeous. And Frazer really needed to clean the tank. Not her favourite job.

This time, she wasn’t going to lose herself in it. Not that it had been a breakup. They hadn’t even been together, after all. But Frazer was going to do something good with this weird energy she had swirling around in her.

Her phone vibrated on the couch next to her knee, and Frazer grabbed for it, holding it up to her ear. “Hey, Jem.”

“Frazer! What’s the emergency?”

Taking a deep breath, Frazer said the words she’d barely let herself think. “I’m quitting my job.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cora kept a careful eye out for Frazer the next day at work, but to no avail. Cora didn’t see her anywhere at all.

Part of the reason Cora wanted to find her was that she felt almost brave enough now to ask the why, the how, to find out why they couldn’t even be friends. The questions itched in her throat and she had nowhere to point them. She wanted to make sure what she had really seen on Frazer’s face.

A ping from her e-mail late in the morning perked her up, but her shoulders sagged as she read it. Frazer simply said not to worry, as she was going to cover the programme details for a while. Apparently, Cora only needed to focus on any mentoring duties.

Despite this, she still looked out for Frazer anyway. She also really wanted to talk to her about the vague threats Alec had made and make sure he hadn’t done anything to Frazer. She wanted to reassure her that Cora was fairly certain he thought the entire thing a one-sided crush.

Yet Frazer wasn’t anywhere.

So Cora sent a reply to the e-mail, brimming with questions, but it went unanswered.