She moved toward the kitchen, resolutely passing by the hallway to her bedroom with barely a longing glance. She hadn’t planned to do anything more than wash her hands for dinner and refused to give in to her sudden urge to clean up a little and change her clothes. Maybe it would even be a good thing, she thought as she shook her head at herself, if Alec noticed she didn’t exactly smell perfume fresh.
“Why didn’t you tell me you’d invited Alec for dinner?” she asked Nick in a whisper, even though she hadn’t heard the man come back into the house.
“Because he’s my best friend, and I didn’t realize until tonight that you still felt such animosity toward him.” Her brother glanced at her before he turned his attention back to the dinner. “Which I frankly hope you’ll get over.”
“No animosity. As I told you, I just don’t want to be friends with him anymore.” And her darned shortness of breath and flippity heart and awareness of his hunkiness quotient was far different from feelings of friendship anyway, dang it. Which made it even more important that they not be together anywhere but at work until her smart brain prevailed over her not-so-smart one. “But obviously, since he’s my instructor for the month, I’m perfectly fine with spending work time with him. I just would’ve appreciated a heads-up.”
“Okay. Hey, Katy-Did.” Nick turned to her, the evil big-brother smile on his face she was more than used to. “Alec’s coming over for dinner.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks for telling me. If I’d known it wasn’t just the two of us, I wouldn’t have dressed up in my nicest clothes.”
As Nick chuckled in response, Alec’s voice filled the kitchen, followed by his tall, broad form. “You look good in whatever you’re wearing, Katy.”
She looked up at his eyes that were all golden and warm again, accompanied by a beautiful smile that seemed absurdly sincere, since she knew she couldn’t look much more of a wreck if she tried. Why did the darned man have to have the kind of charm that made it all too easy to overlook his not-charming characteristics?
“Thank you.” She busied herself with getting the food together, despite both men’s protests that she was supposed to be off duty. In short order, they were sitting at the small table, holding crystal glasses and lit, to her touched surprise, with candles.
“To Dr. Katherine Pappas,” Nick said, holding up his glass of red wine. “Congratulations on finishing med school with honors and for living through your first day as an intern.”
“Cheers to that,” Alec said, his focus so entirely on her it was unnerving. “We always knew you were special, and you’ve proved it over and over again.”
Special? And here she’d thought it had been her domain to think of Alec that way when they’d been young. “Thank you. And here’s hoping I don’t do anything stupid to embarrass you in rounds over the next month.”
“You could never do anything to embarrass me, Katy, and that’s a fact. I’m more than sure you’re going to make me look good.”
As if he needed her to make him look good.
They all sipped their drinks, and Katy wasn’t sure if it was the wine slipping down her throat that made her chest feel so warm or something else. Something like Alec talking about the faith he had in her, as he had so many times in the past.
Despite it being just the three of them, their meal together brought a welcome feeling of normalcy. Almost like the years hadn’t passed and Alec was just hanging out with the Pappas clan for dinner. Except those times would never come again. Her and Nick’s father was gone, and Alec was not the knight in shining armor she’d painted him to be.
“I was called in to help with a rough surgery today,” Nick said. “Bob Rollins had a teen girl with a torsion in her ovary, and when he opened her up she was a total mess. Had to bring in another gynecologist and me to dive in there with him to identify and try to save her entire reproductive system. So remember, Katy, don’t be surprised if some surgeries turn out to be completely different than you expect.” He gave her a pointed look. “Just like people.”
It didn’t take a genius to know what he was saying. “I’ll remember.”
Nick turned to Alec. “What time is your flight next weekend?”
“For the wedding? Nine a.m., I think.”
“You were able to take time off even though you’re doing teaching rounds?” Katy hoped she didn’t sound as dismayed as she felt, but she wasn’t excited about trying to keep her distance from him at another family event.
“You bet.” A grin slowly creased his cheeks. “Maybe you can help me with my marginal Greek dancing skills.”
She stared into his amused eyes then shook her head. Holding his hand in more ways than one? There had been a time when she’d have loved to. “You fake it well, Alec. You don’t need anyone’s help with that.”
ALEC WONDERED WHY Katy’s expression had become strained, just as he still wondered why she seemed so cool toward him. Surely she wasn’t still upset about their little kiss from five years ago?
Then there’d be a brief moment when she was more like the old Katy he used to know. He couldn’t deny that he wanted to see more of that Katy, who used to think he was great. Why did he miss her former adulation when he was no longer the troubled kid he used to be?
“Are your parents coming to the wedding?” Nick asked.
“I doubt it. They’re both still in Russia while Dad teaches how to do his valve-replacement technique there.” And he’d be just as glad to not have his father there, grilling him on his life and telling him his surgical work wasn’t as important as a cardiologist’s.
“I figured you’d have to work,” Katy said, “so I hadn’t even thought about you coming.”
And didn’t that make his ego feel great? Though the way she’d been toward him the past times he’d seen her at family get-togethers had shown she no longer thought of him much, period. “Are you really going to make me fake again that I can Greek-dance?” Alec asked, which earned him a small smile from her.
“Nick’s the master dancer. He can teach you.”
“Never did me much good in the past.” It was pretty obvious Katy didn’t want to teach him, which gave him a twinge of disappointment. He remembered well the times he’d watched her lead the dancing, mesmerized by her movements and her joyful smile. “What time are you two flying out?”
“Nick has us leaving at some crazy time, like six a.m.,” Katy said with a scowl. “As though I’m not already getting zero sleep.”
“Think of your lack of sleep as a rite of passage. Kind of like hazing in a fraternity,” Nick said with a grin.
“Mr. Empathy, as usual,” she said, punching her brother none too gently on the arm. Nick raised both fists, jabbing them in the air back at her.
“Okay, you two.” Alec shook his head but at the same time he had to chuckle. Some things never changed. And when it came to the Pappas family, not changing was the best thing in the world, as far as Alec was concerned. “Truthfully, though, the more hours you’re in the hospital, Katy, the more you’re exposed to all different kinds of cases that are invaluable for learning. The time schedules aren’t just for torture.”
“I know, I know. I’ll try to remember that in the midst of my zombie state tomorrow. I doubt we interns will even be able to stay awake for the after-work welcome dinner with the teaching staff,”