Wash

“Oh yes. I did. I was going to have my secretary call but I knew you’d say no if she asked.”

Charity set the knife down. She didn’t want to stab her phone. “Nice, Dad. I really appreciate you starting a phone conversation on the negative. Why don’t you just ask me what you need and I’ll let you know what I think?”

“Fine. I’m turning sixty-five next year.” He paused.

“I know.” A strange thought crossed her mind. She never assumed he would, but what if… “Are you retiring?”

“Hell no! I’m more than competent as a doctor, probably still better than most of the doctors I know.”

No lie there. He was one of the best doctors in the country, even had a hospital named after him. “I didn’t think you would, but why the phone call just over six months before your birthday?”

“The hospital wants to make a big deal with it. I guess they need to. I said I would take care of it since I don’t want it to be about me. I want the focus on something else.”

She had no idea where he was going with this.

“I was wondering…” He swallowed and a quick sigh echoed through the phone. “We’d like to hire you to do the party.”

She blinked in surprise. He hated her job and always made sure she knew how disappointed he was that she’d dropped out of med school. “I’m not a party planner.”

“You don’t organize parties and plan big events?”

Good point. “I do but they are for hospitals wings, additions, equipment. The galas are to raise money for non-profit issues hospitals need.” Not some retirement party where the birthday dude wasn’t even retiring.

“Exactly. That’s what I—what we want to hire your for. To make money for some new equipment at the hospital. My milestone age marker is just the excuse to do it.”

Charity tapped her fingers against her lip as she thought. It was actually a very good idea. Everyone knew and liked her father. He never made a fuss about himself publicly so a lot of doctors from all over the country would fly in for the night. Plus the countless patients whose lives he had saved. It was a great idea.

So why her?

“I’ve just signed a two year contract down here in Atlanta. I can’t drop everything for them for six months and help you. That wouldn’t be fair.”

“I’m not expecting anything spectacular. It’s fine. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

Giving up that easy? That wasn’t her father. That competitive side of her kicked in. He didn’t think she could do spectacular? Boy was he in for a surprise. “How much money are you hoping to raise?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“How much?”

“A hundred thousand would cover half the price of the equipment in the emergency room.”

“Your gala could easily raise quadruple that.”

He scoffed. “Really?”

“Easy.” She thought about going back home. Did she want to? Part of her did. The kid in her wanted to prove to her father that she was good at her job. That she deserved to be patted on the head and told she’d done a good job. That her career change hadn’t been a bad choice. “Look. If you can handle working on the weekends for this, I can do it. The flight to NY from Atlanta is direct. It’s only a one night gala. I can work online from here and fly up twice a month or whatever to get it set there.” Six months wasn’t that long.

“You’ll do it?” The surprise in his voice made her smile.

“Sure. I’ll have to come up this weekend to find a location. It’s going to be a time crunch, but it’ll work.”

“Perfect.” Scribbling of a pen made its way through the phone. “I need to go. Duty calls.”

“Life of a doctor. I’ll meet you at the hospital Friday afternoon sometime. I’ll email you my flight details.”

“I can send someone to pick you up.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be easier if I rent a car.”