The Broken Lake by Shelena Shorts Page B

professionals on the rest of your questions. I give you first Dr. Dwight Lyon. Thank you.”
    He nodded respectfully and took his place among the five men standing behind him. Dr. Lyon, the oldest doctor, stepped forward with an intimidating demeanor that caused the reporters to step down their tone and eagerness a notch.
    He immediately filled them in on several cancer studies they were working on, as well as HIV, and then addressed the important alligator blood question. He told the world that they had begun to extract antibodies from alligator blood for a topical cream study and had seen some benefits in using it on burn victims. He assured, very convincingly, that it was merely a topical application and injecting it in any way would be out of the question.
    “Wow,” Tom said, shaking his head in what appeared to be both admiration and disbelief. “They’re working on some very advanced treatments. Wes is an impressive young man. His father would be very proud.”
    “See, Sophie. Now you can stop gnawing on your lip. He did great, and he might get an offer to do a billboard ad for pain reliever or something.”
    “Not funny, Mom.”
    “I’m just saying.”
    “I’m going upstairs. I have to work today.”
    “Okay, honey. Love you.”
    “Love you too.”
    By the time I reached the top step, I had gone through the press conference twice over. There was nothing that stuck out as far as I could tell. It had been perfectly done and there weren’t any red flags I could see that would make people think something secretive was going on there. I still shuddered at the thought of the whole thing. Then I started to wonder how much those doctors really knew.
    Surely, in order for the lab to find the cures Dr. Thomas had hoped for, they had to know the blood could be injected. Maybe not. I decided I’d ask Wes another time. I really didn’t care right then. I just wanted to talk to him. I debated how long to wait before I called, but he called me first, only minutes after I got upstairs.
    “How was it?” he asked, sounding nervous.
    That took me by surprise because his tone was opposite from what I’d heard just moments before.
    “You did great.” I answered, still trying to decipher the worry in his voice.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m sure. It was perfect. Or at least as perfect as it could be, considering.”
    He sighed. “Good.”
    “What’s wrong? I thought you would be much more upbeat than me about it. What happened?”
    I could almost picture him shaking his head. “I don’t know. I thought it went well, but then everyone watched me the whole time. Even when the doctors were at the podium, they were all looking at me.”
    Now I was the one to calm the worry. “Wes, the reporters were probably watching you because you have such a camera friendly face. I’d look at you too.”
    He laughed. “Well, remind me not to do that again.”
    I snorted. “You’ll have no problem from me on that.”

Chapter 6
     
TEARS
     
    I was in a much better mood after the press conference, and my hand was feeling fine, but I still solicited a ride to work from Wes. After he went home to change out of his Clark Kent look, he was coming by to scoop me up. I was on the lookout, knowing if he came inside that my mom and Tom would want to talk about the press conference, and I just wanted the drama to be done and over with.
    And it seemed like it was. He was much more relaxed, and so was I the moment I got into his car. Leaning over to give him a kiss was a must, and although it was brief, it was enough to make me wish he wasn’t dropping me off at work.
Focus, Sophie, focus.
Oh, what the heck? I was elated. I leaned over to kiss him again.
    “To what do I owe all this?” he asked, laughing between kisses.
    “You don’t know?”
    “Apparently, I don’t.”
    “Mom says you’re famous now. Might get calls from agents for commercials. I’ve always wanted a famous guy.”
    He laughed. “Yeah, right.”
    “Okay,