Under Suspicion

Old Friend

“Old Friend”

Pete opened the door for Lauren to precede him into the hotel ballroom.

“Kind of a crowd,” she said.

“And I don’t know a single one of them,” he replied, “except for one fantastic emergency doctor.”

She smiled, her long, brown hair falling in soft waves around her face.  “Nice try, copper.  Flattery won’t work this time; we still have to stay, at least for a while.  Besides,” she added, looking at him approvingly, “you clean up so nicely.  And you look very sharp.  I like you in a suit.”

“I guarantee you’d like me better out of it.”

“Pete, stop.  We’re here for a reason.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh.  “Yes, ma’am.  I’ll behave.”

They stopped at a refreshment table under a banner reading “Welcome Emergency Medicine Professionals” and Pete picked up drinks for each of them.  Thus fortified, he followed Lauren as she made the rounds of the room, greeting people she knew and introducing them to Pete.  Privately, he hoped he wasn’t expected to remember any names; they were all just a blur: Doctor This and Doctor That, most of whom also had additional titles, such as Chief of Whatever or Director of Such-and-Such.

Finally, after half an hour of mingling and small talk, Lauren and Pete found a vacant bar table on which they could set their drinks and take a breather.

“You have to come to this sort of thing often?” he asked, wishing he could loosen his tie.  He was wearing a blue suit with a charcoal-grey shirt and his best silk tie...  which at the moment felt more like a noose than an accessory.

“A couple times a year,” Lauren replied.  “Conferences like this are attended by emergency department professionals from across the state and beyond, and it’s good politics to make an appearance.  That, and my boss told me I had to.”

Pete nodded.  “That’ll do it.”

“Lauren?” a man’s voice said.  “Lauren Strickland, as I live and breathe heavily!”

She turned toward the voice, as did Pete.  He saw a man approach, a handsome dark-haired man who was smiling at his date.

“Kel!” she cried, turning to hug the newcomer.  “So good to see you!  What are you doing here?”

‘Kel’ glanced at Pete curiously, but returned his attention to Lauren.  “I’m in town for a while, staying with Karen and Bill.  And since I’m here, I thought I’d stop in at the conference.”

“I’m so glad you did.  Oh, pardon my lack of manners!  Kel, this is Pete Wry.  Pete, I’d like to introduce an old friend, Kelsey Braddock.”

“You forgot my exalted title:  Doctor Kelsey Braddock, of the Pediatric Orthopedic department at State University Hospital.”  He smiled and shook Pete’s hand.  “You can call me Kel.  Or, as Lauren used to call me, Kel from Hell.”

“Thanks,” Pete replied.  “I think I’ll just stick with Doc.”

The two old friends reminisced for a few minutes and finally, after promising to chat with Lauren again soon, Dr. Braddock excused himself and left.

Pete looked at Lauren, brow arched and an inquiring look on his face.  “Well?”

“Well, what?” she repeated.

“Let me guess.  You two dated in college, or med school, or somewhere along the way.”

She shook her head.  “Actually, you’re way off.  Kel’s parents and my parents were good friends, so our families hung out a lot when we were growing up.  Then after he went off to college, his parents moved away, so I’ve only seen him a handful of times in the past ten, twelve years.”

“Uh-huh.  And the two of you never dated or... anything.”

“No, we did not!” she replied with mock indignation.

“Uh-huh,” he said again, with a grin.  “Is that why you’re blushing?”

She blushed harder.  “I am not blushing!”

“You want a mirror?”

“Pete, stop it!  You’re awful.”

He laughed.  “Some guy walks up and gets my date turning red, and I’m the one who’s awful?  That’s just wrong.  Besides,” he added, “you’re cute when you blush.”   

Lauren blushed again and looked down, busying herself with fishing through her purse.  Pete reached up to brush back a lock of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder, but at that moment a loud burst of laughter erupted across the room and she turned her head toward it.  Pete let his hand drop.

Lauren retrieved a tissue from her bag and blotted her lipstick.  Clearing her throat, she balled up the tissue and dropped it on the table.  “By the way,” she said, “you never told me what you did the other night, when I had to cancel our plans.”

Pete shrugged.  “Not much.  I went to the gym and then I got a bite to eat.”

“I hope you didn’t just pick up a greasy pizza.  You really shouldn’t eat too much of that stuff.”

“No, actually, I stopped and had a sandwich.”

“Oh, yeah? Where?”

“Curley’s.  Down on State, in the north end of town.”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know that place. Is it a bar?”

Pete nodded.  “Yeah, but they have pretty good sandwiches and other stuff.”

“So how was it?  Did anything happen?”

“Like what?  Was something supposed to happen?”

She shrugged, her long chestnut hair falling over shoulders bared by her sleeveless dress.  “You went and hung out at a bar, so I just wondered if anything happened while you were there.”

He refused to think of the ‘gaggle’ of girls who’d been at Curley’s, or the two phone numbers he’d ended up with after they left... phone numbers which he’d tossed in a drawer in his nightstand.  “Lauren, I didn’t go to Curley’s to ‘hang out.’  I just went there for a sandwich.  The bartender and I watched the ballgame on TV.  It was a weeknight, for god’s sake.  What did you imagine was going to happen?”

Lauren looked at him, and touched his cheek briefly.  “Nothing, I guess.  Just curious.  Plus, I do worry about you.”

Brows raised, he asked “Why?”

“I just do, that’s all.”  She kissed her fingertip and touched it to his lips.  “Come on, we’ll make one more circuit around the room and then we can leave.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

                                                    To be continued....