Page 24 of Hearts on the Table
He cleared his throat, chancing a smile at Cooper, hoping for backup. My colleague gave me an odd look, but didn’t otherwise chime in on our exchange.
“Of course. She—Dr. Carmichael is brilliant. Anyway, please do get in touch if you have…any questions…” He trailed off, offering another pained smile before guiding his wife away.
“That was weird.” Cooper frowned as I watched them cross the room. They didn’t head towards the door Lainey had just used to disappear and I relaxed a bit.
“Yeah,” I agreed. Cooper gave me one last look before shrugging and turning to Blake to ask something about Mercy’s new surgical initiative. I kept my eyes on the door, but Lainey didn’t come back through it.
???
“Why do these places only give you one tomato?”
Lainey plopped into the seat next to me just after the servers brought out sad looking salads with, in fact, a single cherry tomato perched on top. Cooper sat on her other side, bracketedby Jessica, who hadn’t stopped moving or tapping on her phone since we’d sat down. Next to me, Blake laughed too loudly at a joke from the man across the table. Apparently, he was some bigwig investor. Blake was probably angling for a donation.Good luck.
“You good?”
Lainey reached for the ranch dressing without meeting my eyes. “Of course. Line to the bathroom was out the door. Oh, it’s starting!” She finished settling in her seat just as her mother strolled onto the stage. Almost as if she’d planned it that way.
Sitting as we were—on the side of the table, all angled to watch Dr. Carmichael’s keynote—it was easy for me to keep a close eye on Lainey. She nodded when appropriate. Applauded salient points. Murmured appreciatively at the right moments, yet didn’t seem to listen to the speech at all. I wondered how many times she’d heard it, or some iteration of it.
Throughout the talk, her back remained ramrod straight. She chased her tomato around the plate, never touching a bite. I refilled her water twice from the pitcher at the table. She didn’t seem aware of the fresh glass of wine by her left hand. She deigned to pick at a roll, popping minute crumbs into her mouth and chewing on them longer than necessary.
By the time her mother had finished and descended to sit, I’d managed to sneak my roll onto her plate and snag Blake’s just in case.
“Dr. Cooper! The man of the hour. Word on the street is that the Clinical Innovation award is coming home with you after the ceremony tomorrow.” Dr. Rebecca Carmichael was very good at her job. She knew every player in the space who was worth knowing, and used them to her advantage—sometimes ruthlessly. It didn’t surprise me that Cooper was on her radar. Not when someone had recently called him “cardio’s bad boy” in an association forum and the nickname had stuck.
“And Dr. Reese! So glad you could join us, as well. Jessica reminded me a little while ago how active you are with the foundation. What was it, fifteen pro bono surgeries last year for people in need? An inspiration! I’m hearing good things about your bid for resident director.”
“Fifteen?!” Lainey hissed, quiet enough that no one around us could hear her. She stared down at her napkin, like she hadn’t meant for me to hear her, either. Jessica nodded and smiled, likely having pulled a dossier on every single person at this table so Dr. Carmichael could mingle most effectively.
“Of course, Elaina is also active in our work." She smiled fondly at her daughter. "I can’t wait for her to engage more once her fellowship is complete. Dr. Dresden, how is it going over at Mercy? I hear you’re working on righting that ship. Awful stuff.”
Blake leapt at the chance to capitalize on her attention. Around the table, heads swiveled to listen. Mercy was everyone’s favorite drama these days.
“Fifteen pro bono cases in one year. That’s more than one a month!” Lainey whispered.
“Yes. You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Y-yes,” she stuttered, making eye contact for the first time since she had sat down. “Sorry about that. Old enemies. I wasn’t thrilled to see them.”
“Not too late to put a laxative in their cheesecake.” My response set Lainey laughing—a real one, not a fake, cocktail party laugh I heard so often at these things. I was dying to know what had set her off. Who were those enemies of hers? What had they done and did we ride at dawn?
But her petrified face was still too fresh in my mind. The same one she’d worn back at Molido when I’d asked her about Texas.
“I don’t want to talk about them. I want to talk about you. And those fifteen surgeries. And that session tomorrow.”She accepted her wine glass when I pushed it closer, looking surprised to find it there. And simultaneously, seemed to find something surprising aboutmebeing there, too. “I mean, who the heck are you?”
“Name’s Sam. Nice to meet you.” I offered her my hand. She took it with a smile, shoulders relaxing a bit when she laughed.
For the rest of the night, we chatted about my session, the association, and her mother’s next speaking tour. Eventually, Cooper left the table to find a bar and didn’t come back. Blake took his spot and Lainey didn’t make any move to follow when her mother left.
By the end of the night, it was just the two of us, lost in conversation as the staff started cleaning up around us. And I loved it. Or at least would have loved it if not for the niggling feeling that she was still on edge, keeping a wary eye out for that blonde and her husband.
Chapter 10
Lainey
“Any guesses what I’m looking at right now?” Dr. Reese asked, clicking the slides to a close-up image of a heart. Since he’d taken the stage, the room had been silent. Now, hands shot into the air. “It’s interactive, people. No hands. Shout it out.”
And so we began. Over the course of the hour, he came alive as he led the room through a rare case, making us collaborate on the disease, possible comorbidities, and treatment options. His smile was nearly blinding. When he didn’t get a correct answer, he skillfully redirected the crowd, coaxing us to the right conclusion. People started teaming up, competing to see who could answer his questions fastest. Me, Blake, and a few of the Mercy folks I’d sat with ended up giving the people around us a run for their money.
