“Hello, Eliza, Edgar.” He shook Edgar’s hand.
“Stone, Eliza and I must thank you for the lovely wedding gift,” Edgar said.
“Yes, Stone,” Eliza chimed in, “it’s just beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Stone said.
They all got up to allow the waiters to put a bigger top on the table, and more chairs were found.
Stone realized that this was the first time Eliza had crossed his mind since he had met Tatiana, and he was feeling pretty good about that. Still, he was uncomfortable, and he had a strong suspicion that Genevieve had staged all this.
“So,” Dino said to Eliza and Edgar, “when are you two going to have a honeymoon?”
“Oh,” Eliza said, “Edgar is fully scheduled for surgery for the next month.”
“Yes,” Edgar said. “I’ve stopped taking new elective cases, so that we can have a decent enough gap to be able to go away for a bit.”
Swell, Stone thought. This is really what I want to talk about.
“And I have a lot of thank-you notes to write,” Eliza said, “so it’s just as well we can’t get away immediately.”
Stone wanted to scream.
Menus arrived, and everybody chose something. Then Genevieve and Eliza began dominating the conversation, as if they hadn’t spent the whole day together in the emergency room.
Genevieve turned toward Stone. “Oh, Stone, there’s a new nurse in the ER I’d like to fix you up with. She’s very pretty and she’s bright, too.”
“Thank you, Genevieve, but I’m seeing somebody,” he said with some satisfaction. He saw a flash of disbelief in her eyes.
“Oh, how nice for you. Who is the lady?”
“No one you know,” Stone replied.
“Oh, come on. Tell us her name.”
“Oh, all right. It’s Tatiana Orlovsky.”
“What a charming name!” Genevieve said, as if she didn’t believe a word of it. “What does she do?”
“She’s an illustrator.”
“Oh, good! Does she specialize in anything?”
“She’s more of a generalist.”
“Well, isn’t it convenient that she’s come along just at this moment in your life.”
Stone was embarrassed that this was going on in the presence of Eliza. “Dino,” he said, in a desperate attempt to change the subject, “what’s new in the world of crime?”
“Same old, same old,” Dino said. “You know how it goes.” He gave a little shrug, as if to say you’re on your own, pal.
“Excuse me,” Stone said, getting up. He went into the men’s room, though he didn’t need to, and splashed some water on his face, taking his time. They’d have to talk about something else, since he wasn’t there, and he could rejoin the conversation when the new subject was established. He dried his face and went back to the table.
“Stone,” Genevieve was saying, “while you were gone, Eliza and I were talking about having a little dinner party at Dino’s and my house. Saturday night? We’d all love to meet… what was her name?”
“Tatiana,” Stone said through clenched teeth.
“Can you come Saturday?”