The Doctor's Undoing (Doctors in Training 3)

Haley glanced at the polished pink stones encircling her right wrist. “Um, yes, it is.”

“I like it. I haven’t seen you wear the hematite bracelet lately.”

“I broke it a few weeks ago. Haven’t had time to restring it yet.” After a momentary hesitation, she added, “Ron gave me this one.”

Anne looked noticeably unsurprised. “Did he?”

“Yeah. He was with me when I broke my other one, and he said he saw this in the hospital gift shop and bought it on impulse.”

“That was nice of him.” Both Anne’s voice and expression were bland as she dipped a chip into salsa, giving no clue to her thoughts.

“He just bought it on a whim. He wanted to do something nice for the auxiliary and to thank me for helping him study.”

“Hmm.” Anne crunched the chip.

“Okay, what’s that supposed to mean?”

After washing the chip down with a sip of punch, Anne replied, “I don’t know what you mean. I just said, hmm.”

Haley grimaced. “Sorry. Guess I’m a little oversensitive.”

“Any particular reason?”

“No, it’s just—” She stopped herself with a sigh. This was Anne, she reminded herself. Her best friend. “Okay, it’s silly, but things have been a little…strained between Ron and me for the past few weeks.”

Anne groaned. “You’re fighting again?”

“No, it’s not like that.” Taking a deep breath, she told her friend about the awkward encounters with Ms. McMillan, leaving out the patient’s name, of course. “It’s so ridiculous,” she concluded. “Usually Ron and I would have laughed about something like that. I don’t know why we let it freak us out this time. He said it was my fault.”

“Of course he did.”

Haley nodded vigorously. “He always blames me.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Setting down her fork, Haley frowned across the table. “You’re being very cryptic tonight.”

“Am I?” Anne chuckled at her own cleverness.

“Cute.” Haley toyed with the pink stone bracelet for a moment before asking, “You don’t think there was any truth in what my patient said, do you? I mean, about Ron…well, having feelings for me.”

Her eyes soft, Anne replied, “I can’t really answer that. But I think the more immediate question is—do you have feelings for Ron?”

Haley pushed her half-empty plate away, her appetite suddenly gone. “I consider Ron one of my closest friends, of course.”

Even she heard the hollowness of that assertion.

“So do I,” Anne said, searching Haley’s face. “But I’m not getting all flustered at the thought of him, either. Liam’s the only man who’s ever made me feel that way.”

Because Anne was head over heels in love with Liam, and claimed to have felt that way from the first time she’d met him, Haley squirmed a little in her seat in response to the comparison. “I’m not all flustered.”

“Hmm.” Anne scooped up a forkful of guacamole, smiling enigmatically as she ate it, and using the bite as an excuse not to say more.

Feeling her cheeks warm, Haley insisted, “I’m not flustered.”

She reached jerkily for her punch glass, then swore beneath her breath when she almost dumped the red beverage in her lap. Steadying the glass quickly, she left it on the table and knotted her napkin in her nap, wondering exactly what her friend had seen in her face when she’d studied her so closely.

Did Anne know her well enough to see things Haley had been trying to hide even from herself?