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I said hello to a few fah the crowd The old, and sparkly, and so were the table settings and the elegant holiday decor About four hundred people had been expected at this party, but it seeh Lark was usually outgoing, both he and Kel clung tightly toto them
The smile on my face instantly morphed into a frohen I spotted the last person I’d expected to see at this party—Theodore Koenig He earing a perfect, dark gray suit that ray shirt and tie It figured that he’d dressed like a rain cloud for a holiday party
He’d noticed round his teeth While it wasn’t news that he hatedit But whatever I turned
After a minute, we spotted Yolanda and JoJo They’d claiht and waved us over Once we took a seat, we intercepted a waiter circulating ine After we all drank a toast to “the pink Victorian crew,” Yolanda stood up and said, “I want to introduce JoJo to a few people If any waiters with appetizers pass by, your job is to intercept theh for all of us” Lark promised to do that with the ut an oath
After the couple wandered off, Lark and Kel, ere seated side by side, began chatting excitedly about the decorations and how fabulous it all was Meanwhile, I leaned back in my chair and scanned the crowd
Even though the whole point of this event was for everyone to interle, the various departments had all separated into their own cliques Adular room, doctors at the other In betere the worker bees—us nurses, and all the people orked with on a daily basis, including the various technicians, assistants, and so on
A large group of doctors was directly inand appeared to be having a good tihtly apart frolass in hand There was an aristocratic air to hiid posture, the faint look of contempt on his face, and the upward tilt of his chin It was as if all of this was beneath hiuess, I’d say he’d been a trust fund kid, raised with obscene wealth and taught he was better than everyone else It ritten all over him
My thoughts were interrupted when a gorgeous Black couple stepped into ht It turned out to be Darice and her handsome husband, dressed to the nines I waved to theaveas I exclaimed, “You look sensational!” She alore her hair in a lot of thin braids, and now they were swept into an elegant up-do Her bronze silk cocktail dress looked classy and sophisticated, and she’d put on makeup and flashy jewelry, which she never wore to work
“I know,” she said with a grin, as we let go of each other “Casey, meet my husband, Donald”
After we shook hands, I gestured at my companions and said, “These are two of my houseirlfriend, and since we’d been talking about the party all afternoon, we didn’t want to leave them out”
Greetings were exchanged all around, and then Darice said, “So, that explains it Everybody’s talking about you, saying you rolled up in here with a hottie on each artime playboy I told them that didn’t sound like the Casey I know”
“Yeah, not at all If you don’t already have a table, you should join us” As she and Donald sat down, I said, “Yolanda and JoJo are , have you seen them yet?”
“No, not yet” Darice waved at so the crowd Then her expression soured, and sheover here What the hell does he want?”
“I was trying to figure out why he even came to this party in the first place”
Darice smirked and told me, “He didn’t have a choice His department head told him he had to at least put in an appearance Apparently some of the other doctors are annoyed with him because he’s quote-unquote ‘not a tea aloof for an hour or two is going to change anyone’s opinion” I nodded in agreement