He Locked Me Out and Let Her In novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Turn In Your Badges

Lydia's father walked into Eastside slowly, looking at the ceiling and the floors.

He was in his late sixties, with silver hair, a camel coat, and the same soft voice his daughter had.

"Good morning," he said to the lobby at large.

Nobody answered him.

He turned to the owner and gave a small bow.

"Madam. We've met at the donor dinners. I'm sorry to come without calling."

"You posted a notice on my door."

"A routine matter."

"There is nothing routine about sixty days."

"Then let's make it routine." He smiled and clasped his hands. "I'll renew the lease for twenty years at the current rent. I'll fund a second surgical suite. All I ask is a small correction."

"What correction?" said the owner.

He turned to me.

I had been wondering what color his eyes would be.

They were Lydia's, grey and kind, and they did not once leave my face.

"Miss Donahue. My daughter has been through a difficult year. She has trusted people who used her kindness." He spoke gently. "She tells me you have made some harsh claims. I would like you to leave this hospital voluntarily, and I would like you to put a short apology in writing."

"For what?"

"For the distress."

Reuben stepped forward.

"Sir, your daughter fed her cat a hair tie."

"Dr. Garrick." Lydia's father did not raise his voice. "I have given your hospital eleven million dollars. Please choose the next thing you say with great care."

Reuben's jaw worked.

He did not step back.

The owner looked from one man to the other, and then at the paper taped to her door, and I saw the thirty years in her face.

I saw the wavering, too.

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