“Is it everything you thought it would be?” I thought about the times he’d taken me to that overlook to watch planes fly in and out of the base.
“Almost everything.” His gaze dropped to meet mine.
A crackle in the air vibrated around us.
I was the first to break eye contact. “It’s lovely in here. Whoever decorated did a great job with the theme.”
“Why, thank you,” a female voice commented.
I turned, and my smile dropped before I could help myself. “Rachel,” I commented. Of course, she was the one in charge of setting up the decor.
Ace and Rachel’s husband, Mike, greeted one another.
“It’s stunning in here. You should be proud,” I told Rachel.
It was Ace’s and his fellow Airmen and women’s night. There was no need for me to be catty.
“Well.” She waved her hand like she was a contestant on Miss America. “I can’t take all of the credit. Most of the other wives helped out also.” She looked me up and down as if to ask where I had been when they needed help.
A few more Airmen approached our group with their dates for the evening. Eventually, Ace, Mike, and the rest excused themselves to talk amongst the rest of their squadron, leaving Rachel and me and a few other women.
More of Rachel’s friends trickled in. They talked about how difficult it had been to find particular decor to match one another and all types of stuff I didn’t care too much about.
“Look at Sheila,” Rachel said to a blond-haired woman standing beside her. “She’s draped all over Conner like he still wants her. Everybody knows he’s got one foot out of the door.”
“So pathetic,” the other woman said.
Two of the other women nodded.
“And what is it that you do, Savannah?” Rachel asked, staring in my direction.
All of a sudden, I became the focal point of the group.
“I mean, we tried to get Cannon to give us your number so that we could invite you on as part of the decorating committee.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “But Mike told me you work during the day.”
“That’s right.” I took a sip from the champagne flute in my hand that Ace grabbed for me from a passing waiter before he left. “I’m a PA.”
“A personal assistant?” one of the women asked.
“Well, you got the assistant part right,” another voice answered for me.
I gritted my teeth when Tricia appeared next to her cousin. She gave me a smug smile. “The P stands for physician. Savannah is a physician assistant, isn’t that right?” she asked like she already knew the answer.
“Yes, it is.” I took another sip of champagne and glanced around the room.
“So, you’re not actually a doctor?” Rachel asked.
The urge to smack her and her cousin overcame me. I had a lot of regrets in life. It took a while to get over the fact that I never went to medical school as planned. But being a physician assistant was the right job for me. I knew it.
Yet the snobbish way Rachel hurled her question in my direction with Tricia watching with a glint in her hazel eyes pissed me off. Old feelings of not being good enough resurfaced.
“I bet you two were the mean girls in your high school, huh?” I blurted out. “The ones who got whatever or whoever they wanted?” I paused and looked at Tricia up and down with the same disgust she threw at me. “Too bad neither one of you ever grew up.”
I rolled my eyes and held up my empty glass. “I need a refill. Excuse me.”
“Simple bitches,” I grumbled underneath my breath as I walked away.
By the time I made it halfway across the room, Ace had approached me with a wrinkle in his forehead.
