The Lies We Told Read Online Free PDF Page A

kids, too. Daughter’s got a monkey on her back.”
    “Who’s the ladies’ man?”
    “Her ten-year-old grandson. She’s worried about him. Can’t remember his name, though. I’m crap with names.”
    “How have you been able to learn all that in a week?”
    “I talk to people,” he said with a shrug. “How else?”
     
    After Lani Roland’s uneventful surgery, Adam caught up with me in the hallway outside the O.R.
    “Dinner tonight,” he said. It wasn’t a question. He said it as if I couldn’t possibly have other plans.
    “All right,” I answered, since that was true.
    “Casual or fancy?”
    “Casual. Definitely.”
    “Mama Dip’s okay? I’ve missed that place.”
    I nodded. “I’ll meet you there,” I said. “I should be able to get out by six-thirty.”
    “Cool.” He gave my arm a playful punch as if I were a teenage boy. It made me laugh.
     
    He was sitting at a table near the windows when I walked into Mama Dip’s a few hours later, and he was already joking with a waitress. He stood as I walked toward them.
    “Hey, Maya.” He sounded as though we’d known each other for years. He leaned over and bussed my cheek. “Dr. Ward, this is our server tonight, KiKi. KiKi, this is an amazing surgeon,Maya Ward. She knits together teeny little bones.” He pulled out a chair for me, touching my arm as I sank into it.
    KiKi smiled at us both. “What can I get you to drink, sweetie?” she asked me.
    “Lemonade,” I said, unwrapping the napkin from around my silverware.
    Adam chuckled to himself as KiKi walked away. “I introduce you as a surgeon, she calls you sweetie,” he said. “Gotta love the South. Does that bug you? The sweetie bit?” I loved the way his smile crinkled the corners of his eyes.
    “Not at all,” I said. I knew plenty of professional women who bristled at the familiarity, but I’d lived in North Carolina long enough that I didn’t even notice it.
    “I love it,” he said. “Boston was great, don’t get me wrong, but nobody there ever called me sweetie or darlin’ or dear. And you can’t get enough kind words. Know what I mean?”
    “I do,” I said.
    KiKi was back with our drinks and I popped a straw into my lemonade.
    “You’re obviously not a native,” he said. “Where are you from?”
    “Virginia. Outside D.C.”
    “How’d you end up here?”
    “I followed my sister. She went to medical school at Duke and loved it, so when it was my turn, I followed her lead.”
    He sat back, eyes wide. “Wow!” he said. “There’s two Dr. Wards? Where does she practice?”
    “She works full-time with Doctors International Disaster Aid, so she’s here, there and everywhere.”
    “DIDA!” he said.
    “You know it?”
    “I thought of applying to do a stint with them, but never got around to it. Maybe one of these days. It’d be so cool todo that sort of work.” He sipped his iced tea. “She’s a do-gooder? Your sis?”
    “She’s…” I hadn’t thought of Rebecca that way. Gutsy was the word I usually used when describing my sister. But she was a do-gooder, and not only with DIDA. Rebecca was my hero. “Yes, she is actually,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in a couple of months, though we talk all the time when she’s someplace with cell coverage. Right now she’s working in China at an earthquake site. She’s unreachable.”
    KiKi returned with my bowl of Brunswick stew and Adam’s barbecue platter.
    “Anything else for y’all?” she asked.
    I shook my head.
    “We’re good,” Adam said, though his gaze never left my face. “So, you’re really close to your sister,” he said once KiKi’d walked back to the kitchen.
    I felt like telling him everything. About my life. About Rebecca and the complicated bond we shared. Everything . I never felt that way. I kept things locked tight inside me, never wanting to show any dent in my professional demeanor. I knew how to hide my flaws. Rebecca hated my wimpiness, and I’d learned early to erect a