“I see that for the past year and half you didn’t work. Is there something I should know?”

            “No, I took that time for personal reasons.” Charlotte chuckles, “It wasn’t bad, I promise. I just needed time to figure out were my life was going.”

            Tina smiles, “I must admit that you have a very impressive background. I have heard many good things about your work. Which is what concerns me, I am afraid the Center can not give you the amount you are use to making.” She grabs a sticky note and jots down a number. She slides the note across the table a regretful look on her face, she is sure that she will lose this one too. It was always this part of the interviews that she always got turned down. “I will understand if you need more but that is all we have in the budget to offer, I wish it was more.”

            Charlotte picks up the purple piece of paper. She looks at the measly sum, her face devoid of emotion. “May I?” She picks up a pen crosses out the number, writes down a new one, then hands the paper back across the desk. “If you give me that, we will have a deal. I understand right now you only have volunteer doctors. That number will get you a doctor guaranteed in house 5 days a week, maybe an occasional weekend.”

            Charlotte smiled to herself as she watched the blonde read and reread the number.

            “This is substantial amount less than what I just offered you,” Ms. Kennard eyed her doubtfully. “Why would you want less?”

            “To be perfectly honest I would do it for nothing. However, I can’t. If my ex takes me to court I have to have an income of some sort. She has to consider this a real job not charity work.”

            “Alice had mentioned something like that but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Many doctors have laughed in my face when they saw that number.” She smiled, truly warmly at Charlotte for the first time.                           

“So are we in agreement?”

            “Definitely, I am not letting you go now. You will be stuck with me for a long time now.”