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Authors: Lexy Timms

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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 issues 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 were 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 backstory 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 Does to teach the other students during class time. I was the only first year, and after 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 straight, 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 driving 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’re 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 patients’ 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 option—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 vacation. 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.

This is the end of the Excerpt from

Saving Forever – Part 1

Saving Forever Series: