The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 17

In the St. Agnes Hospital.

It was nearing noon, and the wards were bustling with family members dropping off lunch.

Lavinia walked into the room carrying a thermal lunchbox and a soup thermos. "Uncle Latham, Saul, I'm here. I simmered this homemade fish broth all morning. Drink it while it's warm."

She set the containers on the nightstand and pulled out some disposable bowls from the cabinet to serve the soup.

"Lavinia, we have a guest. Let me introduce you," Saul said.

Lavinia turned around and finally noticed a man sitting nearby. She hadn't been paying attention earlier and just assumed he was another patient's relative.

Sitting against the backlit window, his features were cast in shadow. He was incredibly still. With a tall, broad-shouldered frame like his, he should have commanded the room, but instead, he seemed to effortlessly blend into the sunlight.

The sheer curtains billowed behind him like a sail, then slowly settled back down.

Once her eyes adjusted to the glare, she finally saw his face clearly. She gasped in recognition. "You're the driver from the other day!"

He smiled. "I had no idea you were Saul's cousin."

Saul's eyes widened. "You two have met?"

"A couple of days ago, I was covering a rideshare shift for Jimmie, and your cousin happened to be my passenger," Charley explained with a smile. "Small world."

Saul laughed. "Back in high school, I was always begging you to come over and hang out, but you never wanted to. Otherwise, you would've met her years ago."

Lavinia looked completely lost.

Saul walked over and slung an arm around Charley's shoulders. "Lavinia, this is my best friend from high school, Charley Sheffield."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sheffield," Lavinia greeted politely.

"Just Charley is fine," Charley corrected gently. He paused, turning back to Saul. "I should let your dad eat. I won't get in the way."

But in his current state, his body simply couldn't endure another round of chemo and radiation. They desperately needed the new medication.

When on earth was she going to get her hands on that drug?

Nearby, Saul was saying to Charley, "Back then, you spent every night helping me run my street stall, and during the day you were always reading random books. I never once saw you study, so I figured you were at the bottom of the class. Then you ranked first in the whole grade and scared the life out of me."

Charley just chuckled.

"Only later did I find out," Saul continued, "that you'd finished the high school curriculum by middle school. By the time we were in high school, you were already studying the university courses."

Glad for the distraction, Lavinia glanced over at them. She knew all of Saul's friends, yet she had absolutely no memory of this man.

Saul noticed her look. "Lavinia, you were just starting middle school back then. You probably don't remember. One time when you were helping me at the night stall, some thugs came looking for trouble. After that, I never let you come back. When Charley found out, he started coming every day to help me. He moved abroad in our junior year, but he even made his buddy Jimmie and the rest of his crew come help me out."

Lavinia tilted her head. "I used to drop off soup and herbal drink for you all the time. How come I never saw Charley?"