KeyParty by Jayne Kingston Page A

will have to tell him, Ben.”
    “She doesn’t date coworkers. The problem will resolve itself
if she gets the job.”
    “What a passive attitude to take on the situation. And not
at all like you.”
    She was right. He’d gone after everything else he’d wanted
in life with a ruthless ambition. He continued to put in long hours at the
hospital with both Dr. Li and the wellness center so he could not only continue
to learn and excel in his field, but make sure he deserved it when he
eventually took Tracy’s place on the board of directors.
    But career ambition was one thing. Casual dating and sex
were another. He was familiar with dating, but he was out of his league as far
as Rachel Marsh was concerned. She’d dominated his every waking thought when he
tutored her years earlier. And when she’d left without a word, he’d chastised
himself for letting her disrupt his concentration for a long time afterward.
    Now he was letting her do it again. The only problem was, he
had no idea what to do about it. Putting an end to it, whether she got the job
or not, no longer felt as if it were a viable option. After a week of her being
back in his life.
    “So,” he started, needing to change the subject. “I hear
you’re going to Greece for your anniversary trip this year.”
    * * * * *
    Rachel turned over onto her back. She and Petra were lying
in the sun, both of them protected by a thick layer of sunscreen as they soaked
up the end of summer heat on the lounge chairs on the rooftop deck.
    “Why do you do it?” she asked. “Set people up through your
parties, I mean.”
    Petra didn’t move so much as a hair for a long time.
    “What makes you think I’m doing that?”
    “Don’t be coy with me, of all people. Ben knows about it.
Ben, but not me, your best friend. When I asked Bree, she sang like a canary.”
    After the threat of bodily harm, which had led to a sharp
pang of jealousy that left Rachel wondering if she’d been gone so long she’d
managed to wedge herself outside what had once been their tight little circle
of three.
    “It was obvious you’d done it to Ben and me. I still have
the little yellow sticker stuck to my dresser mirror as proof, but you never
told me about the couples before me.”
    “When you set people up on a date, there’s a lot of expectation
that goes with it,” Petra said, pushing herself up and turning to sit
cross-legged facing Rachel. “Think about it. Your friend says, ‘Ooh, I think
you’d love this guy.’ What instantly goes through your mind?”
    “I think she likes the guy and wants to live vicariously
through me because she can’t date him herself for whatever reason.”
    “Exactly. But,” she held up one finger, “that same friend
says, ‘Hey, I throw these parties that are no pressure and all fun, you want to
play?’ What do you think?”
    “I think, golly gee that sounds like swell.”
    “Right again.” She shrugged. “I don’t always know know whether or not two people will hit it off. I get feelings. Sometimes they
work out.”
    “When have they not worked out?”
    “Since I started purposely setting people up?” She looked
away, thinking, then shook her head. “Never so far.”
    “You know, considering my history with Ben, this could have
backfired in a big, nasty way.” Not that it still wasn’t going to. She’d gotten
the call for a second interview at the HCHWC earlier that morning.
    “Yes it could have, but since you’re a bad friend, I didn’t
know the whole story, now did I?” Even though Petra’s face showed no sign of
it, Rachel knew she was joking.
    After Rachel had gotten some sleep the morning after the key
party, Petra had forced her to tell the whole story about the night she’d fled
Ben’s apartment.
    “I can see how that conversation would have gone, clear as
day. ‘Hey, Pete. I was making out with the hottest guy I’ll probably ever meet
and he wanted to screw me, thusly making me a twenty-year-old virgin no more,
but