They Laughed When I Left, So I Came Home the Town's Doctor novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: In Front of Everybody

The hospital gala was held in the Harbor Room, at the same end of the same ballroom where I had signed my contract.

I went because I wanted to be there when it happened.

I wore the green dress my mother had pressed, with my hair up.

I took a seat at Table Four beside the charge nurse and a retired anesthesiologist who talked about cribbage.

Table One held the board and the chief of surgery.

He stood to greet me when I came in, and I walked past him with a polite nod.

Across the room, at a table of men in good suits, sat Tuomas.

He had come as the sponsor of the silent auction.

He wore a dark jacket and a tie that someone had helped him knot, and he did not look at me once.

He kept my terms with such perfect discipline that it took my breath.

Paavo took the chair beside mine at Table Four, in a suit that strained at the shoulders.

"Are you armed?" he murmured.

"I have a speech," I said.

"That's worse."

At nine o'clock the board chair tapped a glass.

"Friends," he said. "Before the dancing, a special announcement from our chief of surgery."

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