Page 143 of In Sheets of Rain
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Happy?
“Have lunch with me,” Michael said from beside my cubicle.
“I can’t. I’m having lunch with Heather.”
“Damn. You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said with a small smile.
“Must be losing my touch,” he muttered, then winked as he waved goodbye.
* * *
“Come on,” Heather said, her hair flying. “Let’s go into Max; there are some jeans I want to try on.”
“We should be heading back to the office. Lunch is almost over.”
“Don’t be silly; we’re sales reps. They expect us to be out of the office.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Selling.”
“So, we’ve got it mixed up a little,” she said with a sly smile.
“Mixed up?”
“Buying rather than selling,” she said. She clapped her hands together as if the discussion was over. “Treat time!” she called over her shoulder.
I smiled and followed her inside the store.
* * *
The Cardiac Conference was crowded. I watched the attendees and tried to think up stories for them. Michael wasn’t with me this time.
“What do you think he does?” I asked Gail, nodding towards a guy dressed all in black.
“Looks like a serial killer to me,” she said.
“He’s a surgeon,” I offered.
“Yeah? Well, maybe he likes blood a little too much and slices people up on his days off.”
“You have a very vivid imagination.”
She smiled. It showed teeth.
“Gonna go to the dinner tonight?” she asked.
“We should do,” I hedged.
“Will it be fun?”
“It’s a conference dinner out in the middle of nowhere, miles away from our hotel. I think there will be trees.”
“Trees?”
“Redwoods.”
