Read Online Saving Forever - Part 3 by Lexy Timms, B+r Publishing, Book Cover By Design - Free Book Online

buzzing again and she pulled it out to see who was calling.
    No calls but about twenty emails from Elijah. From the subject line, it looked like the hacker had gotten in. Hopefully it would be fixed soon. If Elijah had patients’ email addresses or anything on his phone, that could turn out to be quite embarrassing. She deleted the messages and turned the volume off and set it to vibrate.
    Malcolm yawned and sat down on the couch. “Is there anything else you want to go over?”
    She shook her head. “No, it can wait til next month’s meeting.” They had prescheduled a meeting every two-three months or after an event in her contract so she could let him or the board know how things were going. So far the board had no problems with her reporting to Malcolm. “I do have a large check you need to start asking the board, or whoever you need to make the decisions with, on how you want to spend it. Do you want to plan a media release with a photo op? We can have a poster-size check and do something quick at the hospital. It will give the Have a Heart Dinner some extra media coverage at no cost.”
    “Probably a good idea.” He yawned again and tried to hide it behind his hand.
    “I’ll set something up then and check with your secretary when you’re available. If you know where the funds will be allocated, we’ll do it by that wing or by the equipment you want.” She closed her briefcase and set the strap over her shoulder. “Thanks again for dinner.”
    Malcolm stood. “No problem. Thanks for coming here. I enjoyed it.”
    “Me too.” They shook hands. “I’ll see you on Monday at work.”
     
     
     
    New Year’s ended up being a quiet one. Elijah switched his night shift with another doctor for the New Year’s Eve day shift. He booked a flight for six o’clock and called Charity from his freshly repaired and stacked fire-wall hacking phone. Nearly six now, he said he wouldn’t make it because he was stuck in surgery. He planned to catch a later flight and had to call again to say he was still in surgery. He called her via speaker phone. She heard all the sounds of the operating room: the heart monitor; some kind of ventilating machine; people scurrying about in the room. Even her father mumbled some kind of Happy New Year to her. Elijah’s last words before he got cut off were: I’ll call you as soon as I can.
    So Charity stayed in and watched the ball drop from the TV in her bedroom. She had bought tickets for a fancy club for the two of them and considered going by herself, but the idea seemed too daunting. Who would go to a club on New Year’s Eve, on their own, without the intention of hooking up? She had no intentions and tossed the tickets in the trash instead.
    She didn’t mind being on her own. It wouldn’t be something she would do every year. Having Elijah with her would have been perfect, but she understood his job. She couldn’t complain. In fact, she was kind of proud he had sacrificed his personal time to save a patient.
    He called at ten to one in the morning. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it.”
    “It’s fine. Happy New Year.”
    “Oh shit! Is it New Year’s already? Crap! I thought it was ten minutes to midnight. I’m sorry. Happy New Year.”
    “It’s fine. You didn’t miss anything exciting down here.”
    He chuckled. “I beg to differ.”
    She smiled at the phone. “So what happened?”
    “The patient flies into emerg sometime after four this afternoon. He fell from the second floor of his house and impaled himself with a pole. You won’t believe me so call your dad tomorrow and ask him what happened. It was crazy!”
    Charity tried not to imagine what the poor guy looked like but an image implanted in her head. “Did he die?”
    “A couple of times, actually. The ambulance brought him in with the pole still in his chest! They didn’t know how to cut it out or if it would cause more damage. We couldn’t do an MRI so we had to old school it and then wing it. It