Wash

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 nurses’ 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?”