Halfway to the hospital entrance, a male voice called from a parked car in the doctor’s reserved area. “Need some help?”
Simon! Charity smiled at her best friend’s husband. He waved and walked around to the passenger side to let Julie out. Charity waited for them.
“Here, let me carry that.” Tall Simon easily took the box from her arms and carried it. “You look gorgeous, Charity.” He kissed her on the cheek before planting a kiss on his wife’s lips. “You’re looking particularly hot tonight as well, wifey.”
“You’re so cheesy.” Julie shook her head. “He’s only coming because I promised him you’d have beer and wine.”
Charity smiled. “There’s whiskey, too. And rum.”
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“Ahhh, a girl after my own heart. Why didn’t I meet you before Juls?”
Julie playfully punched him in the arm. “You did! You asked her out and she turned you down.”
“I did? I don’t remember that.” Simon quickened his step at the same time opening the hospital’s sliding automatic door.
“That’s ‘cause you try to pretend it never happened.” Julie shook her head, winking at Charity.
“For the record,” Charity said grinning, “I didn’t turn you down because I wasn’t interested, I had some major test I needed to study for.”
Simon dramatically dropped his head. “And to think I had a chance.”
Julie snorted. “You never had a chance.”
Charity hit the elevator button. “I think you guys did pretty good finding each other. At least you’re not thirty and still waiting to get married.”
Simon let the girls onto the elevator first. “In some countries a man is allowed to have more than one wife.”
“It’s not going to happen, Simon. Not going to happen.” Julie waved her index finger at him.
Charity laughed. She loved their banter and how easy they got along. “I’ve missed you guys.”
“Well don’t avoid coming to New York.” Julie pretended to scold her. “Move back here so you can hang with us all the time.”
“Except don’t plan too many of these mandatory hospital functions.” Simon stepped forward to make sure the elevator door would close on them. “People’ll start to realize I’m not so cool out of hospital gear.”
“You could have worn your scrubs.” Charity unlocked the boardroom door and flipped the lights on.
“See, Juls! Charity wouldn’t have minded.” He gave her a smug look. “I told you so.”
“Go ahead and change, but don’t blame me when your pillow is on the couch tonight instead of the bed.” Julie glanced around the room. “It looks fab, Charity.”
“Thanks. I really didn’t do much.” She walked behind the wet bar. “Do you want a beer, Simon?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Charity handed him a bottle and poured a glass of red wine for Julie. She wanted to wait until later.
Staff started to arrive and Charity stood between the door and the bar. She introduced herself and let them know the bar was self-serve. The room filled with doctors, nurses, and everything in between. Charity tried to make mental notes for everyone she spoke to. At ten to seven, the pizza driver arrived with pizzas stacked on a gurney. She asked the delivery guy to set the pizzas on the wall across from the large windows. As she grabbed her purse to tip the guy, she heard her father’s voice:
“…the bicuspid valve isn’t where I want it to be. We will need to monitor for the next few days.”
“I’ve already put that in his charts and spoke to the nurses. They’ll let me know if there are any changes.”
Elijah’s accent couldn’t be missed. Charity tipped the pizza boy and turned to greet the doctors. “Hi.” She smiled at her dad and let her eyes linger a moment longer than necessary on Elijah. He’d spiked the front part of his hair with some gel and the five o’clock shadow made him beyond sexy. He wore a light blue button up shirt and dark dress pants that fit just tight enough to show off his physique but still completely professional. Classy and sexy. Her mind raced back to the kiss from last night. She stared at his mouth and then nearly died when she realized she’d just traced her lower lip with her finger.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Her father stepped between them. “Dr. Skyrt is here. I haven’t seen him in ages!” Charity’s father walked over to the man and shook his hand, leaving her alone with Elijah.