“Still, you didn’t come all this way to spend time with Bill and Aunt Judith.”
I stared into his beautiful hazel eyes. Why had I come? Right. He was graduating. Finishing his residency. Moving to Atlanta.
I waved away his apology. “We have all weekend.”Not about me.“Tomorrow’s the big day, anyway.”
“Ah. Yes. Tomorrow.”
“The graduation ceremony.”
“Anne.” He hesitated. “Graduation…It’s not like undergrad.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I reminded him. My ceremony had been live streamed.
“It’s basically a bunch of boring speeches over lunch. Just for the residents.”
“And their guests.”
“Immediate family only.” He gave me a wry, intimate smile. “You know how hospitals are. They don’t want to foot the bill for any more people than they have to.”
I did not, in fact, know how hospitals were. But I knew Chris. “You don’t want me there.”
“Anne.” He sighed. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Doyou want me there?”
The tiniest of hesitations. “Let me talk to the department assistant.”
“Sure.” I waited.
“I’ll be right back.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice to speak. I stood alone, the alcohol buzz fading, as he threaded his way through the crowd. I shouldn’t have come.
“Anne, isn’t it? Hi.”
It was the girl from the center table, Chris’s dinner companion, dressed in white lace like a bride, her blond hair in perfect waves.
“Hi…”
“Lauren,” she supplied with a bright smile. Taking pity on me. “We met before the pandemic. I’m at the hospital with Chris.”
“Right.” I pulled myself together. “Nice to see you again.”
“Isn’t tonight lovely? Pam and Bradley really pulled out all the stops.”
Dr.and Dr.Harris. She called them by their first names. “Lovely,” I echoed.
“Of course, they’re so proud of him. You must be, too.”
I was still holding my drink. I took another sip. “So proud.” Honesty made me add, “Not that I had anything to do with it.”
She twinkled at me like an angel on top of a Christmas tree. “Chris told me how supportive you were. I mean, as much as you could be. Because of Covid. That was such a hard time.”
“Hard,” I repeated.
“Chris was amazing. We were thrown into the trenches together totally unprepared. Well, who could have expected a worldwide pandemic our first year out of med school? I guess you could say I was his work wife. Extreme circumstancesbring people together.” Another twinkle. “Totally professionally. Not that I don’t sometimes wish…But we are both totally focused on our careers. In case you were worried.”
Threetotallys, counted the part of my brain that was working. Did that make it more or less true?
