Finding Hope by Brenda Coulter Page B

me.”
    â€œOh, that’s nothing,” she quipped. “Attila the Hun would be a good influence on you, Dr. Hartman.”
    â€œProbably,” Charles agreed. “Tom likes Japanese food. Is tomorrow night good for you?”
    â€œYeah.” She patted her knee and Bob jumped into her lap. “Just promise me I won’t have to eat fish bait.”
    â€œI promise. We’ll get you a steak.”
    She forced a chuckle. “ Cooked, I hope?”
    â€œAs ‘cooked’ as you want it. Now stop playing games and tell me what’s wrong.”
    It was both comforting and unnerving that he could read her so effortlessly. Hope sighed. “I’m having a really bad day.”
    â€œI’m not busy,” he said gently. “Talk to me.”
    She fingered one of Bob’s silky ears as she vented her frustration. Her brain just wasn’t working. She’d been making stupid mistakes all afternoon and her computer was acting up. Nothing was right and she was tired and she had a headache.
    Charles zeroed in on the real problem. “You’re missing Gramps,” he stated. “Hope, I’m so sorry. I wish I could make it easier for you.”
    Hope wished that, too. How was she supposed to go on without Gramps? The pain of five years ago came back in a rush and she felt abandoned all over again.
    She had always been remarkably mature for her age. Although she’d been barely eighteen when her parents left the country, they had no qualms about leaving her alone in Chicago. She was a responsible young woman with a safe place to live, money in the bank and a church home.
    But Hope was lonely. She stopped eating dinner because it was just too hard to sit at the table all by herself. Bedtime was difficult, too, because there was no one to say good-night to. She put on a brave front, but Gramps had seen through her. He encouraged her to talk about her doubts and fears. Then they began to focus on her goals and dreams.
    Hope told Charles all of it: how God had used Gramps to comfort her. He’d been her counselor and her encourager, but now all that had been taken away and she was alone again.
    â€œBut you had him,” Charles pointed out. “You had him for five years and he helped you through a difficult transition. According to your theology, God put you and Gramps together—partly, at least—because you needed him at that particular time in your life. But if God has separated you now, doesn’t that suggest the purpose for bringing you together has been accomplished?”
    Hope was astounded. Where was he getting this? Of course he was right, but she was too shocked to say so.
    Charles correctly interpreted her silence and gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “If I dropped a pearl of wisdom just now, let me assure you it was entirely accidental.”
    A sweet warmth stole over Hope. “What kind of doctor are you, again?”
    â€œThey say I’m a very good one.”
    He truly was. And he was a better friend than he would ever know. “Thank you, Charlie.”
    â€œAnytime, kid.”
    She squeezed Bob, but he wasn’t in the mood to be loved on. He jumped down from her lap and trotted out of the room. “You’re not busy tonight?”
    â€œNo. We’re tossing a football and playing darts. And a first-year surgery resident is entertaining us by making balloon animals out of examination gloves. He’s really quite talented, I had no idea. I’m sure he hasn’t demonstrated that level of manual dexterity in the OR.”
    Hope smiled. Lifting a shoulder to trap the phone against her ear, she drew her legs up into her chair and hugged her knees. She heard an “Oof!” from Charles, then a banging and clattering that told her he’d dropped the phone.
    She heard his voice as he picked it up. “One more time, Hastings, and I’ll cut your heart out!” he growled. Then he spoke into the phone.