Read Saving Forever - Part 4 for Free Online Page B

“I hired a high school photography student to take pictures every day to show the floor’s development. The kid needed the volunteer hours and has been loving it. He made a slideshow for tomorrow and a video. The video’s amazing! It shows a panoramic picture in the same spot every day for the past month.”
    “Wow.” She made a mental note of that. “I might have to steal that idea for future use.”
    “Go for it.” Malcolm held the door open for her and nodded at Amanda as they passed her. He walked beside Charity chatting as they made their way to the elevator.
    “We can take the stairs. It’s only three floors.”
    “I know,” he said. “But you should be taking it easy.” He pressed the elevator button. “We don’t want to put any stress on the wound.” He glanced down her left side. “Do you need someone here to check on it? Dr. Mallone is an excellent plastic surgeon if you don’t want there to be a scar.”
    She smiled, thankful the elevator door opened and eager to change the subject. “Thanks. I’ll let you know if I need him.” A couple stepped onto the elevator with them and pressed the floor above theirs. They rode in silence to the fifth floor.
    Malcolm waited for Charity to step off first. The floor smelled of fresh paint, new tiling, and cleaning supplies. The waiting room in front of the elevator was a bright yellow with comfortable black leather chairs, an iPad docking station that looked like a bar with stools and tablets built into the counter. A large flat screen television hung on the wall along with paintings.
    Malcolm pointed to the pictures. “They are all done by local artists who donated the pictures.”
    “It looks amazing!” It was hard to believe that this same space three floors down held doctor’s offices. “There’s so much space.”
    He smiled proudly. “There are no offices on this floor. Only patient observation rooms, scanning and diagnostics. The floor’s set up for day patients or long term.” He pointed down the right hall that had been repainted as well. “Patient rooms are still down there. Each room has also been redone and someone donated money to purchase new beds for each room.” He grinned and winked at her. “Bet you didn’t count that in our budget.”
    She hadn’t. She had helped raise the money to pay for the equipment and floor construction, but had nothing to do with the remodelling. “You did all this on budget?”
    “Under budget,” he corrected her and laughed. “I don’t know where you found that guy to do the consulting but he had contacts in the area that offered to do some of the work as charity. It saved us a ton. A building inspector came through this morning and couldn’t believe how sound everything looked. He gave the all clear.”
    Three guys in construction hats stepped off the elevator and headed down the left hall.
    Charity couldn’t believe how much had been done in the time she’d been gone. It made her excited… proud to be part of rebuilding this hospital. “It’s fantastic.”
    Malcolm took her through the diagnostic rooms and around the rest of the floor. “It’s all ready for tomorrow. I contacted all the media outlets you suggested and everything else on the list you sent.”
    They stood back by the elevator as a florist arrived and began to set flowers up and distribute them throughout the rooms.
    “When do you plan on bringing patients up here?” Charity asked. The place looked great but the lack of life moving about the space made it feel too empty, too quiet.
    Malcolm checked his watch. “I believe in a couple of hours. I think the staff decided on letting the evening shift take care of the transfers. The day staff set everything up this morning and finished mid-afternoon. You arrived in the eye of the storm you could say. Just before the rush.”
    As if on cue, the elevator door opened again with two nurses and a patient laying in her bed.
    “I planned that,” Malcolm joked after the trio