Chapter 2

Dr. Oz did not disappoint. As expected, he was an amazing speaker that held the audience’s attention captive for almost two hours. His lecture on self care and wellness promotion fit well with Sophie’s area of interest. Subsequent presentations of the morning portion of the conference unfortunately did not even come close in quality of the content or presentation. Needless to say, by noon everyone in the room were more then ready for a break and lunch.

Sophie was enjoying the small talk with her friends. Lulu was catching her up with the latest hospital gossip. Pattie and Essie updated her on the unit’s day to day life. Everyone touched base on their plans for the holidays. As her turn came about, Sophie put on a well practiced smile and told her friends how happy she was to spend another holiday season with her folks. They bought it as usual. Over all the lunch was progressing very nicely, and the food was out of this world. By the end of the meal the girls convinced Sophie to join them for a drink after the conference.

Upstairs, David wasn’t even aware of what he was eating. His meeting with the “Broadway People” could only be described as slow and excruciating torture. Something on the level of having a root canal done with only one Tylenol for anesthesia. Every paragraph, every proposition and stipulation that he and Joe came up with were fought tooth and nail by the execs. “There has got to be an easier way to bring a play to Broadway” he thought. Maybe he should have brought Jon with him, at least he could’ve stared the assholes down with his famous Bongiovi glare. Rubbing his throbbing temples, David returned his attention to the inquisition disguised as business negotiations.

The afternoon portion of the conference was more or less interesting. As soon as the evaluation forms were collected and the certificates of attendance distributed, the girls were ready to go. They made their way to the Nickelby’s Lounge and found a nice booth. Drinks were ordered, and small talk resumed.

It was four in the afternoon and they have accomplished absolutely nothing as far as David was concerned. Since his partner Joe DiPietro had family plans for the evening, they decided to resume the talks on Monday. Its not like he had anything else to do this holiday week. Hanukah was starting on Sunday night, and for the fist time in his life, he was all alone. Since Both Christmas and Hanukah were overlapping this year, April claimed their kids and took them to some tropical island vacation with her boyfriend of the moment. His mom has finally accepted his sister’s invitation to join her family on a holiday cruise. Of course he had a standing invitation to spend holidays with any of his brothers, but due to the negotiations in progress, California and Florida were out of question. That only left Jon and Dorothea, and for some reason he did not feel like invading their house on Christmas.

Deciding that it was not too early for a drink, David made his way to the lounge on the first floor of the hotel. He was pleasantly surprised to find it nearly empty compared to the rest of the floor that seemed to be over run by women. Getting a beer he surveyed the place. There were two more men sitting at the bar and a small group of young women talking and laughing over their drinks in the corner booth. There was a small upright piano in the corner of the lounge and it was calling his name. He sighed and turned away. “Is there some kind of a convention here today?” he asked the bartender. “No pal, just some hospital conference” he laughed, “But they were supposed to be done by three.” David thanked the guy, signed his tab and left a generous tip under his empty beer bottle.


On his way to the door, he glanced over the corner booth again, three of the four women were still involved in an animated discussion. The fourth one, a pretty brunette, was quietly listening to her friends while sipping her white wine. Their eyes met briefly. David smiled automatically and kept on walking.


He still felt far too restless to return to his room, so he slowly wondered around the now nearly empty floor. A whisper of running water caught his attention and he went to investigate. A small waterfall surrounded by lush green plants greeted him in the empty atrium; but most important, there was a beautiful black Steinway in the corner. “Yes! There is a G-d!” he thought, and for the first time today, a real smile graced his face.