Saving Forever - Part 1 (4 page)

Charity smiled. “Agreed. What about you, Dad? I also have some other ideas.”

The waitress arrived with their dinners and set their orders in front of them.

“In lieu of your snap turning into a roar, I settle for the Diamond thing as well.” Her father set his napkin on his lap.

Inhaling the delicious aroma of roast chicken, Charity felt giddy. Possibly from the wine, the hunger, or getting her
dad to agree to the location, she elbowed him lightly. “Wonder where I get that from?”

Chapter 6

They ate their meal with light conversation, Elijah and her dad doing most of the talking. They discussed hospital issue
s and a number of upcoming surgeries. A sense of wistful dreaming filled Charity. She had chosen to drop out of medical school and had absolutely no regrets, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss it. For one millisecond she wondered if she had stayed, graduated and become a doctor, would she be sitting at this table talking with them about upcoming surgeries and post op procedures?

She poured her second glass of wine of the evening and glanced around as she savoured her first sip. The lights had dimmed and the crowd had changed to a slightly younger generation. The bar was getting busy and the noise level had risen a few notches.

“… You two stay, finish the wine. I’ll go and pay the bill.”

Charity blinked and focused back
on the conversation at the table. Her father stood and rested his fingers a slight moment on her shoulders as he stepped past her.

“Can you come by the hospital tomorrow or do you have an early return?”

She nodded. Her flight didn’t leave until one p.m. “I can stop by. No problem. Thanks for dinner tonight.”

“My pleasure. It was good to see you.” He turned to Elijah. “You’ll walk her to her car?” When Elijah nodded he added, “I’ll see you at the hospital shortly.”

She shifted in her seat so she could watch her father leave. He walked straight, smiled pleasantly at the hostess as he paid the bill and disappeared out the door, never turning back to wave or glance at them. Her lips pressed tightly down. The next six months were going to be a challenge. How her mother stayed happily married to the man was beyond her understanding.

“What is it with the two of you?” Elijah’s husky voice broke through her thoughts.

Darn that accent is sexy. He’s gotta know it.
Charity picked up her wine glass and took a sip. He’d probably prefer to talk about himself than the un-comings and lack of goings between her father and her. “You’re from Australia, right?”

“
New Zealand,” he corrected.

“What made you decide to come to
America?”

Elijah settled back in his chair. “Scholarship.
Opportunity. And maybe just a little bit of running away from home.”

“Running away?”
Interesting.

“My mother’s very much into the society club, the yacht club and about any other club which exhibits social status. It seemed a good time to try something new.”

Charity smiled teasingly. “Sounds pretty prestigious. I hardly doubt you needed a scholarship then.”

Elijah grinned. “It fit the part back home and it looks good when you show up in med-school as a foreigner on scholarship. You earn a bit of respect before you start.”

“Really?” She let her cheek rest against her hand and enjoyed the guilty pleasure of letting her elbow rest on the table. Her father would be cringing if he where still here. “I’d have thought it would’ve made you work harder to get the respect.” She enjoyed another sip of wine and realized she’d almost finished this glass. She had better slow down or she wouldn’t be driving home. She moved her head slightly so she could lean her chin against her palm. His back story sounded interesting. “What made you want to be a doctor?”

It didn’t seem possible but Elijah’s eyes lit up even more. “I had no idea what I wanted to do in high school.” He shrugged. “I mean, if I asked my fifteen
-year-old self what my plans where, I’d have said sports. I played varsity cricket in university so I started in kinesiology. My anatomy professor in first year talked me into being on the cadaver team. The team consisted of about ten students who cut open the Jane and John Doe’s to teach the other students during class time. I was the only first year and after the ten minutes I knew it was where I wanted to be.”

“Cutting up dead people?” She hoped her forced straight face wouldn’t give her teasing away. “That’s a bit serial psychopath sounding.”

“Touché.” He laughed. “It’s weird though, it just came naturally. All of it – the dissecting, the anatomy and physiology, like my brain knew it even though my subconscious did not.”

“And you still enjoy it?”

“Every minute,” he said without hesitation.

“That’s very cool. Natural talent in medicine and surgery isn’t easy to find. No wonder my father picked you as chief.”

“Dr. Thompson is a great doctor. I’m honoured he hired me. When he said he was stepping down and wanted me to take over as chief I’d be stupid to say no. This hospital is easily one of the top ten in the country. I get to do surgeries most hospitals would never risk and surgeons can only dream of. The other thing about Scott Thompson Hospital is the atmosphere. It’s great. Everyone loves being here and that, in turn, helps the patients.” He picked up his glass. “Sorry to ramble.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s something you love.”

He clinked his glass with hers. “Cheers to that.” His elegant fingers rhythmically tapped against the rim of his glass. “I’ve been here five years now and don’t recall seeing you around.”

For three months six years ago I never left the place.
That was before all the new construction and the renaming of the hospital to honour her father. “I’ve been by. You just probably never noticed me.”

“I’d have definitely noticed.”

She raised her eyebrows but didn’t respond.
Was he flirting with her?

“How long have you been raising money for hospitals?” He shot her an innocent look. “Not to sound clueless but… I have no clue what you do or how you can make a living out of it.”

“There’s money in this. Some for me, but the best part is that I get to spend other people’s money to make more. I’ve been doing this about five or six years now. In America, Canada and England. It’s all about the money.” She couldn’t resist bantering him.  “That’s my job: raising money to pay for all these new wings you doctors want. So you guys can make loads and loads more money off those one of a kind freaky surgeries.”

He pointed a mocking finger at her. “This from the girl riding a Mustang.”

“It’s a rental! They gave it to me because they rented out all the cars from the size I reserved.”

“Sure, that’s what your cover story is.” He chuckled, a husky throaty one which sent little wrinkles by the sides of his eyes. It was very pleasant to watch and listen to.

“You’re trouble.”

“That depends…” His eyes locked with hers.

She enjoyed the last bit of her wine. “On what?”

He also took a sip of wine before answering. “On what kind of trouble you are looking for.”

Charity watched him. Handsome, smooth and so definitely a womanizer. He had probably already broken strings of hearts. Should she answer his question and open the doors to a chance of mischief? Did she need that right now? Did she want it? She did but not tonight. Flirting was a safe kind of fun. She had never done the one night stand thing and setting this gala up for her father meant she’d be back and forth here and constantly running into him at the hospital. Things between her father and her were awkward enough; she didn’t need to add more to it.  She pretended to check her watch.

“I should actually get back to the hospital.” Elijah seemed to have read her thoughts and knew what to say. “I want to check my patient’s charts from the past two hours. Plus I eventually need to get some sleep. I’ve had two nights on call and another big surgery going on first thing in the morning.” “Ouch.” She straightened and covered a yawn with her mouth. “Sorry. Been a busy week on my end also.”

He helped her slip into her coat, his fingers accidentally brushing her neck. Her skin tingled on the spot where he had touched. Charity rubbed her scarf to try to erase or at least dampen the effect. She collected her briefcase and purse.

Elijah pointed to the half full bottle of white. “Almost a sin to leave unfinished.”

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

“Our little secret then?” He winked at her.

They walked to the exit, Elijah leading the way and then holding the door for her. Outside they walked side by side. The brisk evening sent little puffs of air out of their mouths and noses. Charity was glad she’d brought her scarf. She stuffed her fingers deep inside her pockets.

“Where are you working now?” Elijah asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Atlanta. I just started a new contract this week.”

“They don’t mind you are working with another hospital at the same time?”

“I haven’t mentioned anything because it’s not a conflict of interest and I wasn’t exactly sure what my father had in mind. It’ll be a bit busy but I can do most of the work here on weekends.”

“So you’ll be up here quite regularly then?”

She nodded. “I’ll be up next weekend and then probably two weeks after that I’ll come up again. Whatever it takes to set it up.”

“The
Atlanta job, is it similar to this one?”

“Not really. The contract we just signed is for two years. That hospital needs a new wing and a lot of expensive updates. It’s not in bad enough shape to tear it down and start over but their other optio
n—hiring me—figured out a way to get the place thriving again.”

“It’s interesting.”

“Not really. My job is to basically find innovative ways to fundraise. To get people to want to give away a lot of money.”

“Do you only work with hospitals?”

They turned a corner and a gust had Charity catching her breath. “Wow, it’s windy. And to answer your question, right now I’m booked with just working with hospitals.”

“So there’s a queue to see you.” He elbowed her lightly. “Why am I not surprised? How far are you booked ahead? Three months? Three years?”

She blushed despite the cold. He was flirting with her again. “Actually at the moment I don’t have anything confirmed after Atlanta. Two years is a big commitment. Most places have their goal set for six months, maybe a year tops. I keep saying I’m going to take a break after I finish one project and before I jump into the next. It still hasn’t happened. Maybe I’ll finally go on a trip somewhere or a cruise or something.” She stared ahead and didn’t look at him. She couldn’t believe she had just told him that she wanted a holiday. Could she sound any nerdier?

“I haven’t been out of
America for about five years now. I’m due for a holiday as well.”

“You haven’t gone home?”

“New Zealand? I planned on going last year but then got hired as chief so I didn’t feel it was the right time to go.”

They reached her car. “So you’re a procrastinator as well?”

“I have my moments.”

They both smiled and she fished around her purse for her keys. An awkward moment ensued when she didn’t know what to say or do. Should she get in the car? Shake his hand? Hug him? “Do you want a lift to the hospital?” She unlocked the doors using the key chain clicker.

He watched her, his gaze moving left to right like a slow pendulum intently staring into her eyes. “Tempting, but I should probably walk. Then I’ll just catch the subway.” He held out his hand. “I had a lovely time Charity Thompson.”

Tempting? Weird. It’s just a ride.
She reached out and shook his hand, part of her relieved, part of her extremely disappointed. “Me too. Have a nice evening, Dr. Bennett.”

He waited for her to get into the car and start it before he began walking away.

Chapter
7

The hospital ran on constant busy and seven o’clock in the morning wasn’t any different. Charity carried a tray with two coffees. She had debated about grabbing a third for Elijah but chickened out.

The elevator opened on the sixth floor. Charity walked by the nurse’s station and noticed they were going over shift change and the patients’ charts. Her father would be in his office and she wasn’t entirely surprised to see Elijah’s lights off and office door closed, though she was a little disappointed.

She straightened her shoulders and tapped on her father’s door before walking in. “Good morning.”

Her father looked up from his desk. “I didn’t know you were an early riser.”

Did he always have to find a way to make her feel just a little bit less? “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dad.” She pulled her coffee from the tray and dropped the tray and his cup on his desk, purposely on a stack of papers but knowing it wouldn’t spill. “I brought you a coffee. Decaf.”

His brows shot up in surprise. He quickly moved the tray from the papers but did open the coffee and take a few sips. “Thank you. Your mother used to come every morning and bring me one.”

“I know,” Charity said as she sat down across from him. “It was on the way to school. I always waited in the car.” She didn’t want to share a special memory of her mom with him. He’d ruined that years ago.

He took another sip and stared down at the papers in front of him. They both avoided looking at each as they drank from their cups. He finally broke the silence when he cleared his throat. “I like the venue and idea you came up with last night.”

“Good.” She needed to take the sullen child act down a notch. “I’m glad. I think it’s going to be a big success.”

“Yes, that would be nice. I have no interest in throwing a party for myself but if it can make the hospital some money, I guess I’ll just have to keep my head down and get on with it.”

Interesting. She
would have thought he’d love the attention. “I’ll confirm the date for…” She pulled out her phone and skipped to the calendar six months from now. “March twenty-sixth? That’s a Saturday. It’s after Saint Patrick ’s Day and spring break which will help. No conflicting parties.”

“That’s fine.” He wrote the date on a piece of paper.

“I will probably need to be here again next weekend to check caterers and a few other things.”

He nodded and began rummaging through a desk drawer. “Here it is.” He held an envelope in his hand. “We haven’t discussed your rates or fees.”

Charity blinked. She hadn’t come this morning to talk about money, except maybe the amount she hoped they would raise. “I was only planning on charging the hospital for my expenses.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. I –”

“Yes!” She spoke louder. “Look, you can get your accountants to make up some tax write off for my time but as long as some of my expenses are covered, that’s all I want.”

“Charity.” Her father sighed and shook his head. He handed her the envelope. “Here’s a credit card in your name. It’s to cover
all
your expenses and for hall booking, catering and whatever else needs to be purchased.”

“Fine.”
She took the envelope and stuffed it in her purse. “It’s handy to put it in my name. I appreciate that.”

“When will you be coming
up again?”

She leaned back in the chair. “I need to come again next weekend to confirm everything with the hall and I should also start looking at caterers and a few other things. I know it’s a bit last minute but would you be able to get an email or letter out to people at the hospital who would be interested in volunteering? I can draft the letter for you and then you send it out?”

“Sure.”

“
It’ll be informal but if we throw in an open dinner, like pizza or something, people will come. We’ll do it here at the hospital on Saturday night. I’ll draft the letter shortly and email it to you.”

“For next Saturday?”

“It’s last minute, I know, but we’re working on a bit of a tight schedule. We’ll plan another proper one later in a month or two. From past experience, those who come out next weekend are the ones that will be the worker bees. It sounds bad the way I said but it’s the easiest way to explain it. They’ll spread the word because they are excited about a night out and will want to be part of the event. These volunteers are the true heart of making a fundraiser a success.”

“Really?” Her father looked s
keptical.

“
People need to know me. I’m going to be here regularly for the next six months, asking people for favors and getting organized like I own the place.” She didn’t miss the spark in her father’s eye when she said that. “I need to introduce myself and make sure people will recognize me the next time we meet. If I can find a few people, a couple of connections, it’ll make a big difference.” She’d need to remember their faces as well.

Her father shrugged. “Consider it done.”

“I’ll take care of the food, drinks, everything. You just get a conference room reserved here and have the email sent out.”

“Sounds go—” He was interrupted by an announcement on the PA system paging him. “Shoot! I need to go.”

“No problem. I’m going to head down to the cafeteria and get the letter written up. It’ll be done before I have to head out to the airport.”

Her father was already at the door, slipping his white coat on. He disappeared down the hall.

“Bye, Dad,” she said to the empty room. She jumped up and threw her purse over her shoulder and roughly grabbed her things. Her phone vibrated, catching her attention. She sighed and forced herself to relax before checking the message.

I
hear you’re here. Come see me! It’s me, your BFF in case you forgot about me, Juls

“Julie!” Charity slapped her forehead. Julie had been her first and only roommate in university. They had been great buds ever since and she worked here at her dad’s hospital.  She was a doctor and had married a doctor. Shoot
, Charity had been in their wedding party. Julie would never forgive her if she didn’t stop by. 

She checked her watch. It’d be tight be could be done. She jogged down the hall and dialed Julie’s number. She slowed to a walk and paused by the nurse’s station when she got Julie’s voice mail.

“Juls! I’m at the hospital now, about to head down to the cafeteria. Come meet me.” She hung up and started to pin Julie the same message. That would be quicker.

“Have you met Dr. Bennet?” One of the nurses spoke to another behind where Charity stood.
Charity didn’t mean to eavesdrop but she couldn’t resist.

A young nurse giggled. “Mr. Hotness? Did you know he has a tattoo?”

The other nurse let out a silly, excited laugh. “The medical symbol? I’ve seen it.”

Another nurse walked by Charity, ignoring her and heading straight over to the other nurses. “Most of us have seen it, newbie.”

Charity rolled her eyes and walked to the elevator. She pressed the button.
Dr. Elijah Bennett.
Couldn’t say she was completely surprised.