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A SMALL CLOUD OF DEPRESSION hung over Charity as she flew back to Atlanta and headed home. She enjoyed being in New York, even if her Dad had turned back into the over-controlling doctor he couldn’t let go of. There had been a moment where they had met on an equal playing field. It opened the door to explanations on issues they had ignored for far too long. Then there was Elijah. She sighed. He had the magical ability to brighten any day of hers. She could get used to that.
It sucked they were in two different states. He loved his job and she did hers. At the moment she had the excuse of flying up to New York for her Dad’s gala but after March what would she do? Would they last at the distance thing? From what she knew about his past, she wondered if she should worry about temptation. Deep down she trusted him and couldn’t explain why, she just did. However, would she feel the same way if they were still dating a year from now?
Charity argued the thoughts in her head over the next couple of days. She never voiced them when she talked with Elijah over the phone. She had no idea if he had the same concerns. He seemed very busy with work and she was his welcome distraction.
Friday night she dressed in casual clothes, opting for a pair of jeans and a black dress top. In the car, she set her GPS to the address Malcolm had emailed her. He told her to come around six so they could do dinner and go over the plans for Valentine’s Day and all the other events that would be helping to raise money for the hospital.
She hadn’t mentioned the dinner to Elijah again, as she didn’t want to cause any friction before New Year’s Eve. He still didn’t know if he would be off so they had planned to play it by ear. Hopefully he could come down and visit her.
Following the GPS led her to the outskirts of town where the houses and the space between them grew bigger. Malcolm lived in a beautiful two-story brick home. When she pulled her car up beside his it gave her a partial view of his backyard. A large deck covered a good portion of the length of the house. He also had a pool and hot tub.
“You made it!” Malcolm called out from the deck. He stood by the barbeque and waved.
Charity pulled her briefcase and the bottle of wine she had picked up along the way out of the car. She found the gate to the cast-iron fence surrounding the property and made her way through. “Awesome piece of property you have here.”
Malcolm gestured to the pool and then beyond the fence. “It goes back another four acres. We just had to put the fence up because of the big hole in the ground. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. Glad there isn’t any snow down here. New York had a snowstorm the day before I left. It delayed my flight a few hours but I actually got a bit of work done at the airport. Surprise, surprise.”
“It’s been cool. We had a ton of rain on Christmas Day. Kept the emergency room busy at the hospital. Sit down, I cleaned the patio furniture and figured we can go over stuff out here while dinner’s cooking.”
Charity handed him the bottle of wine and settled into a patio chair. She sniffed the air. “Smells really good. What are you making?” He had refused to let her bring anything more than a bottle of wine. She felt guilty about it now.
“Stuffed mushrooms, steak, and, for your guilty pleasure, Caesar salad.” He opened the grill and set some items on a plate. “Try some of these mushrooms and I’ll go grab the steaks to cook and two glasses of wine.” He put the appetizers near her and went in through the sliding doors carrying the white wine.
Charity leaned toward the mushrooms and inhaled. Barbeque mixed in with the hint of something savory teased her nostrils. She picked one up from the edge of the plate and nearly dropped it from the heat. Like a typical silly person, instead of putting it back down to cool, she popped it in her mouth and burned the top of her palate. “Darn,” she mumbled, but the stuffing inside the mushroom tasted phenomenal.
Malcolm chuckled and handed her a glass. “A bit hot?”
She nodded and took a sip of wine, letting the liquid cool her mouth. “But too good to resist.” She touched a small mushroom and tried it. No burn this time, just delicious flavor.
Malcolm put two massive steaks on the barbeque. “These have been marinating all day.”
Charity watched him check his watch and close the barbeque. “I think there’s one whole cow cooking on there. I won’t be able to eat all that.”
Malcolm checked his watched, opened the cover and expertly flipped the steaks over. “I bet you’ll make a good dent. You’ve never tried my homemade marinating sauce.” He pointed to her briefcase. “So what kind of stuff do we need to cover tonight?”
“I figured we could go over the financials first, then you can go to the board and let them know what kind of money is already available and see if you want to start spending some of it. We’re ahead of schedule. You have a very giving town.”
“That’s exciting stuff!”
As Malcolm cooked the steaks, Charity explained what was in the accounts and gave suggestions on what to focus on first. The steaks finished just as she did. Malcolm put the steaks on a plate and turned the barbeque off. “It’s getting a bit dark. Should we head inside?”
“Sure.” She slung her briefcase over her shoulder and gathered the empty plate of appetizers, the wine bottle, and her glass.
The inside of Malcolm’s house had a woman’s touch to it. Charity guessed he had gotten the house in the divorce and never bothered to redecorate. It looked great, with antique furniture mixed in with modern. She set the wine on top of the high dining table and followed Malcolm into the kitchen.
“There’s a salad in the fridge. Do you mind grabbing it?” He set the large steaks onto two plates and went back into the dining-living room area.
Charity opened the fridge and found the already-mixed salad. As she closed the door, she noticed a picture of Malcolm with his arm around a woman. Ex-wife? The picture had been tossed in a basket beside the fridge on the counter. She turned away, feeling guilty for snooping even if it hadn’t been on purpose.
She set the salad on the table and sat across from him. He looked good in casual clothes, not the typical suit he wore at the hospital. When he smiled at her, Charity realized she had been staring. She quickly looked down at the large cow lying on her plate.
“I did yours medium-rare. I apologize. I should have asked.”
“No, that’s fine.” She suddenly felt awkward. She hadn’t meant to stare and she didn’t want to give him mixed signals. Maybe she needed to let him know she was seeing someone. She just didn’t know how to say it without sounding cocky or like she was assuming he wanted something to go on between them. She would die of embarrassment if she brought it up and then he said something along the lines of never dating anyone he worked with. He did seem the kind of guy who didn’t mix business with... with pleasure. That one word sent thoughts of Elijah rushing through her head. She could feel her cheeks grow warm. She grabbed her knife and fork and followed Malcolm’s lead.
“Try it. Let me know what you think.” Malcolm sat waiting, a hopeful look on his face.
She cut into the tender meat and put it in her mouth. It felt like it just melted as she chewed. She had never tasted anything so good – except for the mushroom, they stacked up right beside the steak. “It’s really good.” She cut into it for another bite, happy to see Malcolm starting on his now as well. “Maybe we need to plan a barbeque this summer and make you the chief chef. Or do some kind of cook off.”
Malcolm laughed. “Do you ever just enjoy something? That brain of yours is constantly in overdrive.”
“It comes with the territory, I guess.” The idea of a cook off was already forming in her head. Set up a bit of a fair with rides for the kids, clowns, street vendors, samples. Maybe even a rib fest.
“Oh no!”
Charity blinked. “What? What happened?” She glanced around and didn’t see anything amiss.
“I thought I’d lost you to the train of thought.” He grinned and held up his wine glass.
She clinked her glass against his. “Sorry. I can’t help it sometimes... and this is a business dinner,” she added for the benefit of trying to set the record straight.
Malcolm nodded. “Tell me more about the Valentine’s Dinner you’ve signed me up for.”
“Nice try.” Charity took a bit of salad and when she finished it continued. “You put me up on the list. I’ve never participated in a blind auction before. I’ve run different ones throughout the past few years but never been in one til now, thanks to you.”
Malcolm pretended to look shocked. “Neither have I! This is my first one too!”
“Ha ha. Funny man.” She pointed her fork at him. “Mark my words, you’ll be the big money maker on this one.”
“I think I’ll have to see it to believe it.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I wonder who will bid, or what happens if no one bids?”
“The company that’s contracted out for this says hospitals, fire stations and police stations always have bids. No one ever gets left out.”
“Really?”
“I did a ton of research on this, trying to find the right event to make the most money. Plus, I didn’t want it to come off as cheap or cheesy. It needed to be a success. The company is actually doing it pro-bono. One of the owners apparently had a family member in the hospital and they had nothing but good things to say about Forever Hope. I figured I would ask and see if they were willing to donate something. I wasn’t expecting a freebie, more like a discount.”
“So the entire thing is free?”
“I wish. The fee the company charges is free. We still have to cover the hall rental, dinner, et cetera, cetera.”
“That’s still a great deal. Do you think your Dr. Bennet will bid?”
Charity would have been nervous if she hadn’t seen the corner of Malcolm’s mouth twitch and knew he was teasing her. She could fight fire with fire. “Maybe. What are the chances your wife bids on you?”
“My ex-wife?” He shook his head. “I’m not even going to tell her about it. I’m too embarrassed.”
“If she’s on the hospital’s registry list, she’ll be getting a letter in the post about it.” Charity sat back and relaxed. He knew about Elijah and had probably figured she had seen him over Christmas.
“I’ll have to make sure and delete her first thing Monday morning when I’m back in the office. I might just pop by tomorrow and double check. Would you like me to post one up to Dr. Bennet while I’m at the hospital? I can just have it sent directly to his office.”
Charity laughed. “We’re good. I believe Elijah already knows about it.”
“You believe? Hmmm, that sounds more like he has no idea.”
“He was here at the event we held in the beginning of December. He was there when I got you in on the auction and then you blatantly got me suckered into going on the stage.”
“Now the truth comes out. I suckered you, only after you suckered me.” He glanced at her plate. “Couldn’t eat it all? Why’s your plate nearly empty?”
She patted her full tummy. “It was too good. I can’t believe your wife left knowing you can cook like this. You may have missed your calling. Doctor-smocktor, you should be a chef.”
“The wife comes by quite regularly on a Friday. I had to tell her I had other plans tonight. She was pretty bummed.”
That’s ‘cause she knew there’d be a woman taking her place. Charity kept the thought to herself. She had never met the woman but it was obvious they were still together. They were just in denial. “You’ll have to make it up to her with dinner at the Valentine’s Gala.”
“And have her pay to eat with me? That’ll really make up for it!” He laughed.
A jingle sound filled the air. It took Charity a second to recognize it was her phone running. “Oh! That’s mine.” She pushed her chair back and went through her briefcase, quickly finding her cell phone.
She checked the caller ID, but didn’t recognize the number. She clicked it on, assuming it would be someone from the upcoming charity events. “Hello?”
“Hi, gorgeous.”
Her eyes grew big and she frantically looked around, as if trying to find a place to hide.
Elijah.
