Chapter 2

"You told her what?" said the clearly surprised immunologist.

"You heard me, I said I was here with my Girlfriend" Kim repeated.

"But why would you say that?" asked her friend.

"I don't know Mel, I just panicked I guess." Kim said as she flopped on the double bed of her friend's hotel room.

"I mean, technically you are my girlfriend" she finished, Mel just rolled her eyes.

"Kim, you know as well as I do that when a lesbian says 'girlfriend' it has a completely different meaning than when a straight girl says it!"

Kim huffed loudly, "I don't need a lesson in semantics Mel, thank you very much!"

The immunologist paused for a few minutes watching her friend push through her angst.

"So, I have to ask, how was she? I mean, has she changed much?"

"Much? Try a thousand times over. First off...she actually had a tan, an honest to goodness tan, like she was practically glowing, and her hair was different too, still red but now with blonde highlights and it was longer and layered...and the bangs were gone too, well not gone so much as grown out, you know? Like they framed her face really nicely..." Kim seemed to be picturing it in her mind as she went on describing her.

"And, she dressed different too. She had a cream colored suit, something she never would have worn back in Chicago, and she had cleavage, I'm mean she always had cleavage, but now she was showing it off in this silky blue blouse, that she had buttoned down to here." She pointed her finger to her own chest right at the top of her breast.

"Like right there for all to see."

Here friend chuckled at the shocked look on Kim's face as she recalled every single detail.

"And, holy shit, I just realized something" she continued

"What?" Mel pushed, "what did you just realize Kim?"

"She wasn't using a crutch, she wasn't even limping." Kim tilted her head. "She must have got the surgery." She sighed.

Mel looked over at Kim, "Wow, my friend you still got it bad for this one don't you."

Kim looked insulted "What? No...I'm just shocked is all, for God sakes, it's been, what? Almost 10 years now? I'm just surprised is all?"

"Mm hmm" her friend smirked.

"Seriously Mel, don't make this something it isn't" Kim said, sounding perturbed.

Suddenly her friend felt the thud of a pillow hitting her where she sat.

"Hey, no cause for violence missy! Come one lets grab a drink downstairs and we can give this the proper amount of non-thought!"

Kerry was waiting at a table in the hotel bar for the director of the summit. They had planned to meet to go over her talking points for a panel she has agreed to mediate.

She still liked to stay current with the medical field even if she technically wasn't a practicing physician currently. She was still a little ambivalent with the notion of a magical pill that could abolish the world's biggest killer. In her experience, Cancer was a disease that had proven to be way smarter than those that treated it, constantly finding new ways to defeat all the various known treatments.

Kerry noticed her the second she walked into the bar. She marveled at how she had barely changed since the last time she saw her. Her hair was the same, perhaps a bit longer, but still beautiful all the same.

She still had the most remarkable blue eyes as well, maybe just a hint of a wrinkle around the edges, but nothing dramatic.

She had changed into some light linen shorts and had a black loose fitting t-shirt and flip-flops. She was with another woman dressed a bit more professionally. She was very pretty, dark brown hair and a bit fuller figure, she still carried it well. They sat at the bar and ordered what looked like margaritas. Kerry remembered she had mentioned that this trip was all pleasure for her as she was the guest of her girlfriend who was here on business. It didn't take Kerry long to connect the dots on who Kim was with. She found herself hoping this meeting would be wrapped up quickly so she could escape un-noticed and miss the floor show of happy, carefree Kim and her lady love.

Kerry's thoughts where interrupted by the director, "Hey Kerry, sorry I kept you waiting" she said as she made her way over to her "Oh, it's all good Carol, I wasn't waiting too long, I just wanted to go over the rundown and timing before the panel tonight"

"Yes, of course. So it's pretty straight forward, the group will each make a statement and then a little Q and A time from the audience, your job really it to just make sure everyone gets equal time and make sure we stay on point, not get too far off the subject."

Carol reached in her bag for a hard copy of the itinerary "So, here is the breakdown of the discussion timeline..."

As Carol meticulously went over the schedule, Kerry found her attention drifting back to the guest at the bar. She could hear Kim's laugh wafting over the crowd and she couldn't miss the hair flips and other very distinct mannerism so connected to her former lover. She inwardly berated herself for allowing herself to be so enraptured with her ex.

Carol's spiel was cut short when her phone rang "Oh, I'm sorry Kerry I have to take this call"

Kerry waved her off, "No problem, I think I know what you're looking for. I'm going to head up to my room for a couple hours before the event anyway. I will call if I have any questions." Carol was already on the phone before Kerry finished talking.

"Right, well then..." Kerry took one more look over at the blonde at the bar before leaving her table.

It was a luxury having a hotel room to herself. Even though Kerry lived nearby, she jumped at Carol's offer to put her up for the night.

As a single mom of an 8 year old, she didn't get a lot of alone time to just chill out and relax uninterrupted. So when the work related gig came up she managed to push away the guilt and decided to allow herself a little 'me time'. Besides, she had a wonderful nanny whom Henry adored so he would be fine for a night with his mother away.

She indulged herself with a bubble bath and room service and even fit in a nap before getting dressed for the panel discussion. She changed into a form fitting skirt and a short sleeve emerald green cashmere sweater with a plunging V-neck. Just the right amount of business casual she thought.

She made her way down to the conference room about 30 minutes early to go over the names and bios of the panel members. There was an oncologist, immunologist, hospital administrator and a rep from the drug company.

Carol ushered in the panel to introduce them to Kerry, who immediately recognized the immunologist as the woman who was with Kim earlier in the bar. 'Great' she inwardly thought.

"And finally we have Dr. Melanie Carrisi from Stanford Medical Center in California"

Kerry reached out her hand and shook it firmly. Mel noticed her name instantly and thought what a wild coincidence it was that they were face to face now.

She had heard Kerry's name many, many, times over the years. She and Kim had been friends since she first moved to California and took the teaching job at the University.

It took a while for Kim to come clean about the woman who drove her out of her beloved Chicago. She shared how she always had regretted not fighting for the relationship, confessing that, although the betrayal was devastating she had always believed Kerry's reaction was fear based and that they probably could have moved past it if she could have just gotten past her hurt pride and accepted Kerry's numerous apologies. But eventually, Kim settled into her new life and ended up loving teaching. Mel was glad she had managed to move on and let go of the disappointment the relationship brought her.

The Panel went off without a hitch, the drug company guy got the most heat from the audience when discussing the affordability of this new miracle drug and the other doctors were thoroughly grilled on the validly of declaring cancer cured but it provided for stimulating debate.

Kerry found she was pretty exhilarated after the discussion, that's the only reason she could come up with when she accepted Mel's invitation to get drinks afterwards. Perhaps there was a little curiosity too about the woman who Kerry believed currently occupied Kim's bed.

The two ladies made their way back to the Hotel bar and ordered dirty martinis. Kerry felt it was best to stay on the subject of medicine and steer clear of any personal stuff unless the other woman brought it up.

They were each two drinks in when a handsome man in what looked like his late 40's came up behind Mel and put his hands over her eyes and whispered something in her ear, startling her she abruptly jumped and swung around to mount her attract when she stopped suddenly and looked as though as she recognized him.

"Oh my God!" she screamed, "You're here!" The man smiled "I am! Are you surprised?" he asked, "Very surprised, but thrilled" responded Mel, "Give me a kiss!" The two fell into a tight embrace.

Kerry felt a bit awkward watching the scene unfold in front of her, when Mel caught her expression, "Oh, I'm sorry Kerry, this is my Husband, Rob." Looking back at the man, "When did you get in?" Rob took the stool next to the ladies, "'bout 20 minutes ago, came straight over, I haven't even dropped my bags off in the room yet" Mel jumped up, well come on, I'll let you in.

Looking over her shoulder she excused herself from Kerry. "Well, I'm off goodnight Kerry, very nice to spend some time with you." The two shook hands and the couple rushed off leaving a thoroughly confused Kerry sitting at the bar. She looked up to see that the bartender had dropped off another martini and gave Kerry an undecipherable wink before moving on to the other customers. 'What the hell is going on' thought Kerry. Less than 10 minutes later Kim entered the bar and made her way over to a table.

Kerry could not resist, she picked up her drink and approached the blonde. "Mind if I join you?" she asked.

Kim looked up but didn't really seemed as surprised as Kerry would have expected.

"Sure, it's turning out to be a very odd night, so a drink with my ex seems fitting" she half heartily chuckled, "have a seat" Kim pointed to the empty chair across from her, Kerry sat down and placed her drink on the table.

"I hear you met Mel" Kim said

"Umm hmm, I see you still date straight women" Kerry answered

Kim let out a loud guffaw, "Very funny Ker"

Kim gestured to the cocktail waitress, "Can I get one of these please" gesturing to Kerry's drink.

Kerry reached for her drink and took a sip. "Is it?" She asked somewhat confused.

"Is it what?" Asked an equally confused Kim

"Is it really funny Kim?"

Kim regarded Kerry, understanding her meaning "Earlier, I may have implied that I was here in Miami with my 'girlfriend' when what I meant was that I am actually here with one of my dearest 'girl friends' Melanie. She invited me on this trip when her husband had to back out. But, miraculously his plans changed and now the two are up in the room having a rather spirited reunion if you know what I mean."

Kerry could imagine. "So what does that mean for you now?" Asked Kerry

"It means that I need to find another room." Kim huffed

"You can stay in mine if you want." Kerry offered.