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on a hello. She didn’t want to interrupt you… But she mentioned you were old friends so I insisted she hang around until you had a break. That’s the way it is in Raceda. Everyone’s always running into old friends.”
    “Friends.” Joy repeated the word aloud without pausing to think how it would sound.
    Kelsey cocked her head and said, “Maybe I should have said we were acquaintances.”
    “Not at all. Friends is fine.” Joy swallowed. Not so smooth, Joy , she chided. “After the incident with the orange juice, I figured you’d run the other way if we ever met up again.” The orange juice was only part of the story. But that day had led to everything else.
    Kelsey laughed. Suddenly she looked nothing like a sales rep and everything like the girl Joy remembered. The crush she’d had on Kelsey had been gut-wrenching. For years. And she could hardly blame her teenage self. Reality was, Kelsey wouldn’t go for her today anymore than she had eighteen years ago.
    “Kelsey mentioned you two were on swim team together,” Denise said. “There’s thirty thousand people in this town, but you’d think it was half that number the way everyone’s connected. There’s always some history.”
    Joy felt Kelsey’s gaze on her. Maybe there was a connection even if it was short. She had always hoped that she’d see Kelsey again, but Joy doubted they’d have anything in common now. It was all history.
    “I promise there’s no hard feelings about the juice. That spill was a long time ago.” Kelsey laughed again. It was an easy laugh as if she didn’t think that anything that had happened after the spill was important enough to worry about. Or she was playing the role of a slick sales rep and could pretend their past didn’t matter. “And I didn’t bring orange juice today so we’ll all be fine.”
    Slick sales rep hoping to get my account, Joy thought. Times do change. Kelsey met Joy’s gaze and instead of looking away, Joy smiled. Go ahead, try and win me over, she thought. Maybe it would be fun having the tables turned. “So what exactly do you do with Alpine Connected?”
    “I’m head of sales for this region.”
    Denise interrupted, “I mentioned to Kelsey that you were considering upgrading to computerized records. Kelsey was showing me the details on the software system Alpine offers. Their program can integrate appointments, patient files and ordering—everything you were talking about wanting.”
    “We target small medical practices—dermatology, dentistry and optometry obviously. But some larger hospitals use a version of our software as well.”
    “For full-disclosure, I’m friends with Kelsey’s mom,” Denise paused. “And since you were talking about computerized records…”
    “As much as I want computerized records and to have everything integrated, I don’t think we can swing it yet,” Joy said. “Eventually, yeah, but money’s a little tight at the moment.”
    Kelsey smiled. “Of course. But we can help set you up with the financing as well, if you’re interested. Anyway, I wanted to drop off my card and some brochures.” Kelsey glanced at Denise. “I’m sure you’ll do your homework and look into the other options on the market, but Denise was nice enough to let me be the first one in the door.”
    “Yeah, maybe we could set up a time to talk a little more about Alpine. My schedule’s slammed this morning…”
    “I’d love to set up a lunch meeting.” Kelsey continued, “My sales talk is captivating.” She smiled. “All the nuts and bolts about our software system. And financing options. I’ll do my best to keep you from falling asleep.”
    Lunch with Kelsey West sounded more daunting than coffee and doughnuts but also more interesting than lunch meetings she’d had in the past with other sales reps. Joy glanced at Denise and then back to Kelsey. “Okay, sure.”
    “I can have Helen block off a long lunch next week,” Denise suggested.
    “Or if that’s too