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Normally, Elizabeth didn’t mind conferences. They were easy excuses to get out of work and dress up for a little bit. After all, she spent the majority of her week in scrubs or in pajamas or leggings while she took care of Ella on her days off and after work. The only time she wore nice clothes these days was when she and Mark were having a rare date night.
This week, though, the trauma surgeons’ conference in Cincinnati was the last place she wanted to be. It was her first trip away from Mark and Ella, and she missed them already even though she had just gotten to the conference hotel. Not to mention, it was hard to think of these next three days as a parenting break or a relaxing getaway when she still had to sit in presentations and make small talk with her fellow surgeons.
Oh, and Robert was coming along too.
She knew it was part of the job, especially because he was chief of staff now and schmoozing was as important as ever. But he still knew how to get under her skin from time to time, and it didn’t help that she could tell he was pining for her even though she was happily married. Yes, he was always respectful, never doing anything to compromise her marriage. He also never gave Mark a hard time and always told him how lucky he was to have Elizabeth. She always remembered the moment he looked at her on her wedding day and said she was beautiful.
Still, no work conference needed an awkward crush thrown in. Which is why she was happy to go to her room and get a nap before the conference kickoff dinner and keynote speech.
“Lizzie.” Robert nodded hello when he entered the elevator behind her, as if they hadn’t just seen each other earlier at the check-in desk.
“Hello, Robert.” She hit the 12 button and prayed she would get to her room as quickly as possible. “What floor do you need?”
“Actually, I’m going to 12 too.”
Oh joy, she thought.
“Already having a hard day?” he asked, noticing the frown on her face as they ascended.
“You know, I haven’t been away from Mark and Ella since she’s been born,” she replied with a sigh. “I’m just not that excited about being here. I miss them already, thinking about whether I left Mark with enough milk and hoping he’ll be OK by himself and won’t miss Ella crying at night. He’s such a heavy sleeper.”
“He’s a big boy; I’m sure he can handle it.”
She didn’t say anything in return, wondering why Robert always had to make a sarcastic remark when he could just say something like “I’m sure everything will be fine” or “Mark can keep things under control.” That was more something Peter would say, though.
“You’re right. I’m sure it’s hard,” Robert said. “But it’s only a few days. You said Ella’s been sleeping better, right?”
“Yes, thankfully. I don’t know. Sometimes I worry that only having six weeks to really bond with her wasn’t enough. If I hadn’t had to be on bed rest and could have taken the full three months of actual maternity leave, I’m sure I’d feel a lot differently about motherhood. It’s not always as rosy as they make it out to be, and at first I was excited to be here, but now three days feels so far away.”
Just before she had to force herself through more small talk that may or may not cross the line as being too personal, the elevator dinged and she saw she had reached the 12th floor.
“Anyway,” she said to him. “I have to go freshen up. If you’ll excuse me.”
She checked the sign to head towards her room, number 1205, and was surprised to see Robert pulling his suitcase behind him as he followed her down the hall.
“Could you please not follow me?” she asked. “No offense, but I’m sure I’ll see you plenty in the sessions and at dinner and such.”
“Sorry, don’t mean to bother you anymore than I have to, but I’m actually going this way too,” he replied. “1205, that’s my stop. It’s a pretty short walk.”
“Are you sure?” She stopped and raised an eyebrow. “That’s actually my room. Perhaps you misread your reservation.”
“I don’t make those kinds of mistakes; I know how to read. I think you should re-check your reservation.”
“There’s one way to solve this.” She pulled out her room key and slid it in the door. “Mine works. You might be out of luck. Besides, they said this hotel was sold out partially because of the conference.”
“Let me see what happens when I use my key, just for fun.” Robert said. He put his key in the door, and to both of their surprise, the light turned green, and they each reached into their carry-on bags and pulled out their room reservations. She looked over at his print-out, still in disbelief.
“1205…” she read slowly. “OK, well I’m sure it’s just a typo. All we have to do is figure out who booked the room first. I’m sure the front desk will sort it out. Maybe you can run down. I need to sleep.”
“I’m happy to sit in the room for a little bit,” he told her. “If you want to sleep, it won’t bother me. Besides, there should be two beds, and you know I wouldn’t come between you and Mark.”
“Fair enough.” They walked into the room, and she put her suitcase in the corner, only to see one bed when she walked past the bathroom.
“Oh, no, absolutely not.” She started heading back towards the door. “Sorry. We have to fix this now. I cannot, will not, sleep in here with you when this is the only bed. There has to be a big mistake. And not to mention, we can’t spend the night together.”
Robert tried to hide a smile. “At least we know each other,” he said with a laugh. “Look, if the hotel is sold out, we may not have a choice here.”
“You can get a cot.”
“You expect me to sleep on a cot? I thought you liked me a little more than that.”
Elizabeth put her hands to her head, trying to think of what to do next. “The fact is, I’m married. And I know you have a crush on me. An unrequited one, I might add. We exist as a couple only in your dreams. We are coworkers, and we need to conduct ourselves that way. That includes not sleeping with someone who has feelings for me. Now, if you’d excuse me, I guess I’m not getting that nap.”
“There’s nothing they can do,” Elizabeth complained to Mark when she called him from a phone in the hotel’s business center. “The hotel is sold out, and I guess I could try to find another one, but Robert doesn’t think that’s in the hospital budget. But I can’t sleep with him.”
“It’s only a few nights,” Mark said, and she could tell he was trying not to laugh. “I’m sure they could find a cot or maybe even wheel in a pull-out sofa or something? Hotels can work a lot of miracles. And even if they don’t…”
“He can sleep in the chair.”
“There are worse things than this, you know. Look, if worst comes to worst, you know I trust you. I know you’re not going to cheat on me or do anything with Romano that crosses the line. Even though..” Mark briefly stopped talking. “He’s loving this, isn’t he?”
“A little too much. He knows not to try anything with me, but I’d rather sleep with Shirley or Gretel.”
“Well, just do your best. If I ended up having to share a bed with Carol or Susan, it would be the same thing. I know you’re the type of person who would be almost amused, if not a little caught off-guard at first. Besides, if I didn’t trust you, we wouldn’t be married. Think about it.”
“Fair enough. Well, I’ll try to call you later after the dinner, or see if I can sneak out during the keynote if it gets boring. Give Ella a kiss for me, and pray that I survive this ordeal. Because that’s what this is starting to feel like.”
“You can do it. Just maybe put a pillow or two between you guys just to be on the safe side.”
Elizabeth was honestly baffled that Mark didn’t care about what would be happening in her room, but he was never that uptight to begin with. And he had a point. Neither of them had any reason to be unfaithful.
When she got back upstairs, Robert was lounging on the bed watching TV.
“No luck,” she said to him. “Hotel is full. And I assume you checked the budget to see if one of us could book elsewhere?”
“Afraid not, Lizzie. Staying at the hotel gets us the more affordable rate, and remember, we are a county hospital. I’m sure you want a spot here, though. To be honest, I was starting to get tired myself, so we may as well use this as practice for tonight. Better to do it for an hour now so we know what it’s like when we have to do it for eight hours.”
She sighed. “Fine. Let’s just do this.” She grabbed two extra pillows before lying down and put them between her and Robert, just as Mark suggested. OK, I can live with this.
“Don’t put your hands over the pillows,” she told Robert. “I am a married woman.”
“You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. I’m not exactly comfortable with this arrangement either, but we don’t have a choice.”
The fact that he at least acknowledged it made her fall asleep a little easier.