Page 8 of A Diagnosis Dark & Deadly
Before Olivia could reply, the waitress quickly set down the food before inquiring if there was anything else she could do. When the two girls responded politely that they didn’t need anything else, she left them to theirfood.
“Actually, I broke up with Owen last night,” Olivia stated before taking a bite of her sandwich.
Shelby nearly choked on her soda. “Are you okay?” she asked her friend with concern.
“Oh yeah,” Olivia said with a smile. “After I did it, I realized I should have done it a lot sooner.”
“I never liked that guy,” Shelby pointed out before taking a bite of her pasta. She watched her friend closely as she chewed. “There’s something else, though, isn’t there? You have this… glow surrounding you. Not the pregnancy glow or anything, but the I-jus-got-laid-and-it-was-good look.” She looked at her friend inquiringly.
Olivia blushed, and grinned, but said nothing, opting to stare hardly at her sandwich.
“Oh my gosh, you did get laid!” Shelby exclaimed, causing the surrounding restaurant clients to glance over at them again. “And not byOwen.”
“Oh, God no,” Olivia said, scrunching her nose in disgust. “Definitely not by Owen. You know how I am with guys. If we break up, I just shut off. It’s like a switch; I don’t care anymore.”
“If not Owen, then who?” Shelby asked with raw curiosity.
“You cannot say anything to anybody,” Olivia said, thrusting her finger at her friend. Shelby put both her hands up in a manner of defense and nodded, her mouth full of pasta. “Okay. I kind of, you know, with…” She sighed. “With Hadley.”
Luckily, Shelby had just swallowed her mouthful of food when Olivia announced the name of her most recent lover because Shelby appeared to have difficulty comprehending thefact.
“Oh. My. God.” Shelby stated, completely dumbfounded. “I mean, I knew you guys had this whole sexual tension thing going on, but wow. Was itgood?”
“The best,” Olivia said smugly.
“So, are you guys… you know, going to do it again?” Shelby inquired, tilting her head to theside.
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t think that it’s going to happen,” Olivia said after a long pause.
“Do you like him?” her friend asked.
“I… don’t know,” Olivia replied honestly.
“Well does he like you?” Shelby tried, her brow raised expectantly.
“I… don’t know,” Olivia repeated.
“I know how to solve this,” Shelby said after a quick pause, her pointer finger extended towards the sky in a manner of explanation. “Okay, you know how Andy is a general physician for the clinic, right?” she began, grinning wickedly. “Do you think Hadley has ever seenAndy?”
“Hadley doesn’t pay attention to anyone,” Olivia said, “beside himself, of course.”
“And obviously you,” Shelby teased and then her face became serious. “I only ask because I want to, you know, experiment.”
Olivia groaned. “Not another one of your experiments,” Olivia mumbled.
“Hey, give me some credit,” Shelby said with a smile. “All I want to do is figure out if Hadley likes you. Sometime next week, I’ll send Andy up to ask for your assistance in a consult. Hadley’s reaction will tell us everything.”
“How?” Olivia asked skeptically. “He’s just going to think I’m consulting.”
“Will you just trust me?” Shelby asked with exasperation.
“What good is this going to do?” Olivia questioned. “I mean, what am I- what are we supposed to get out ofthis?”
“If nothing else, it might get you laid more often,” Shelby stated and grinned at her friend mischievously. “However, if this plan is cake, we need the icing, and I know exactly where to find it.” Olivia said nothing, but looked at her friend expectantly. “Themall.”