by Cara Malone
“You want to start at the stove?” her mom asked.
“Huh?” Mercedes asked, then nodded. “Yeah. We can work in circles around it.”
That seemed like a sensible plan – just widen the radius of cleared space as they worked through the room. But then she saw the stove and her hand clenched around the rim of the plastic bin hard enough to hurt. “Is that a new pile of newspapers?”
“No,” her mother lied, then snatched them up and put them on the island. “It’s no big deal, I just set them there for a minute.”
“That’s got to be two weeks’ worth of papers,” Mercedes said. A surge of anger washed over her like a fever and an image of smoke billowing out of the house flashed into her mind. “I told you to keep this space clear!”
“And I told you it’s not a big deal,” her mother yelled back. “I’m not stupid. I’m not going to set my house on fire – has it happened yet?”
Mercedes pinched the bridge of her nose, taking another couple of calming breaths thanks to the advice of Dr. Silva. Then she lifted her head and said with all of the composure she could manage, “I don’t think you’re stupid, Mother. Sometimes house fires aren’t anyone’s fault and they just happen, but it’s better to think about prevention.”
“Don’t patronize me,” her mother said, arms folded across her chest again.
“I’m sorry,” Mercedes said. “Okay, we’re just going to get our two boxes done for today. If we pack all the stuff on the counter beside the stove and stack it neatly so you can see the contents, will that be agreeable to you?”
“Yes,” her mother said, making her reluctance known in her tone.
“Get your bin,” Mercedes said. She didn’t have the energy for a please, but her mother did as she asked without further objection. They worked in silence, Mercedes angry and her mother reluctant, and about an hour later, there was about four feet of clear, usable counter space. Mercedes put her hand on her mother’s back, guiding her firmly back out of the kitchen, and said, “Don’t put anything back in that space, okay? I’m serious.”
“Okay,” her mom said. “Sheesh.”
“And if you need something in one of the bins, put it right back,” Mercedes said. She hated talking to her mother as if she were a child, but she couldn’t even be trusted to keep the stove clear of newspapers. She needed to hear it. “My next day off is Wednesday, so I’ll be back bright and early then. Get some sleep, Mom.”
“I have a crazy idea,” Mercedes said the next afternoon as she dragged Lily into an empty call room. Her hands were around Lily’s waist and she could feel the swell of Lily’s stomach between them. It was damn sexy and she buried her face in the crook of Lily’s neck, kissing and nibbling gently on her soft skin.
“We can’t,” Lily objected. “I’m a pediatrician – can you imagine what people would think if we got caught?”
“Not that,” Mercedes said, then she slid a hand over Lily’s breast and squeezed as she added, “But I like the way you think.”
They’d spent a lot of time stealing kisses from each other in call rooms, and Mercedes took Lily out to dinner or to see the sights around Chicago whenever she could spare the time away from her mother’s house, but so far she hadn’t managed to get Lily to a sufficiently private place for anything more than kissing.
She let her hand trail down from Lily’s breasts, tickling her as her fingers tripped over Lily’s ribs, and when her hand reached Lily’s hip, she was rewarded with a soft moan in her ear. It was driving Mercedes wild and there was a bed mere steps away, but these call rooms were not exactly models of privacy.
Mercedes growled her desire into Lily’s neck, then said, “You know I have that OB/GYN conference in Phoenix this weekend, right?”
She was presenting the research portion of the preeclampsia study and Dr. Knowlton had reluctantly been giving her status updates on the women in their clinical study for the last few months. It wasn’t going as she’d expected and she blamed herself – if she’d been there, she would have had greater control… but she’d committed to the presentation almost a year ago.
“Yeah,” Lily said, her eyes still closed. Her lips were searching for Mercedes and that sight was almost enough to drive her to distraction.
She gave Lily another quick kiss and said, “Phoenix is nice this time of year. You should come with me.”
Lily pulled back, her brow adorably furrowed. “To an OB/GYN conference?”
“I know the material isn’t exactly pertinent to your work,” Mercedes said, her hand lingering on Lily’s hip. She was gaining a little weight in her second trimester and Mercedes found her new curves extremely sensual. She gave Lily another wanton squeeze, then said, “Ordinarily, I’d be making the rounds, networking and all that, but I’m really not in the mood this time. We could show up and I could give my talk on Saturday, and then we’d have the rest of the weekend to explore the city. I’ve got a really nice hotel room booked and I’d hate to sleep in a lavish king-sized bed all alone.”
Lily smiled, but her eyes were uncertain. “Are we ready for that? It’s only been a month.”
“Why not?” Mercedes asked, leaning in to suck on her earlobe. While Lily melted against her, already giving way to the idea, Mercedes said, “We’re enjoying each other, right?”
“Yes,” Lily said, her hand going to Mercedes’ chest.
She felt her nipples perk up against Lily’s palms and by the way Lily was breathing against her, Mercedes already knew that she’d won.
“So come enjoy Phoenix with me,” she said, her hand sliding around Lily’s thigh and going between her legs. Her body was hot and swollen with desire, and Mercedes couldn’t wait to get Lily alone in a hotel room – she couldn’t wait to get her alone sooner, if possible.
“Okay,” Lily breathed.
“Good,” Mercedes said, nibbling Lily’s lower lip. Then she pulled away and took a deep breath, trying to clear the desire from her head. “We worked hard on that grant proposal last month, and you need lots of rest and relaxation for the baby. This will be a good trip.”
They flew out to Phoenix early on a Saturday morning in November.
Mercedes was more than ready for the trip – to finally get Lily alone in a hotel room, and also to escape her duties at her mother’s house for a weekend. They were sixteen bins closer to being done with the job and the kitchen was close to finished, but Mercedes still hadn’t had the courage to see her mother’s bedroom and she didn’t want to think about the rest of the house.
All she wanted to think about at the moment was Lily.
She took her hand as the plane lifted off, ready for an entire weekend of… enjoying each other. It was just too bad that there was a conference getting in their way.
“You must be excited to talk about your research,” Lily said as the plane leveled out in the air. She was rubbing Mercedes’ hand with the side of her thumb and it felt nice. Mercedes put her free hand on Lily’s arm, admiring the softness of her skin.
“Not necessarily,” she said with a laugh. “I probably would have cancelled if my research assistant wasn’t so eager to add the presenting credit to his C.V.”
Lily gave her a curious look. “Why would you cancel it?”
Mercedes brooded on the question for a minute. They were less than thirty minutes into their trip and she didn’t want to kick it off with an admission of how much of a failure she was turning out to be lately. Her mother was mentally ill and she hadn’t been there for her – she still felt resentful for having to clean up the mess.
And Knowlton had not been optimistic when he reported on the women in their clinical trial. So far, two thirds of the hundred women in their study had reached the third trimester of their pregnancy and four of them had developed preeclampsia – that was the exact same percentage as in the general population, meaning that unless something drastic happened, the last five years’ worth of research had been essentially useless.
Mercedes had been so sure she was onto som
ething with the calcium supplements.
“I’m just not looking forward to seeing a bunch of colleagues who have no idea why I put my whole career on pause,” she explained.
“Don’t worry,” Lily said, squeezing Mercedes’ hand. “I’ll be your armor.”
“Good,” Mercedes answered, winking at her. “That was my secret plan all along.”
The plane touched down a little over four hours later. The time change worked in their favor and it was only ten a.m. by the time Mercedes and Lily arrived at the conference center that doubled as their hotel.
“My talk is at noon,” she explained as they went into their room to drop off their overnight bags. “Are you hungry?”
“You don’t need to check into the conference?” Lily asked.
Mercedes took Lily’s arm to look at her watch, then pulled her into a sultry, slow kiss. “I’d rather not.”
Now that they were finally alone in a room with a bed and a lock on the door, a month’s worth of teasing make-out sessions in call rooms and goodnight kisses after dinner seemed like more than enough foreplay. She knew exactly what Lily’s lips felt like pressed against her own, the warmth of her body and the curve of her hips. But she’d never known the softness of her bare skin or the swell of her breasts beneath her clothes.
It seemed like a terrible shame to waste this moment on conference activities.
For a moment, Lily melted into her. She looped her arms around Mercedes’ neck and allowed their bodies to press together. She opened her mouth and Mercedes licked her lower lip, then just as her tongue was circling around the tip of Lily’s, she pulled back.
“Not yet, okay?” she said, vulnerability in her voice. She smiled, trying to play it off as coyness as she added, “I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of your professional development.”
Mercedes could practically see the walls coming up around Lily. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Lily said. Her hand went reflexively to her growing stomach. Was that it, the reason she didn’t want Mercedes to touch her?
She pulled Lily close again, not kissing her this time – just holding her and looking into her eyes as she said, “You’re beautiful, you know that?”
“Thank you,” Lily said, that charming blush coming over her cheeks. Then she looked down and said, “It’s just been a while since I’ve… been with someone… and I want to take it slow. I’ve got some burn scarring on my thigh and I’m self-conscious about it.”
“There is nothing that could reduce your beauty in my eyes,” Mercedes assured her. “But I’ll go at whatever speed you want – no pressure.”
“Thanks,” Lily said, a genuine smile coming back to her lips. Mercedes kissed her, then Lily said, “Go to your conference – I’ll just stay here and run up the room service bill.”
Mercedes laughed, then shook her head. “Come with me. I know the OB/GYN stuff will be boring for you, but we’ll blow that pop stand as soon as my talk is over.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “Let’s go crash a medical conference.”
So they left the room – reluctantly – and down to the enormous conference center attached to the hotel by a skywalk. The event was in full-swing and there were hundreds of doctors making their way from session to session through the wide hallways. Mercedes went to the sign-in table and picked up her badge, then she looped her arm around Lily’s shoulders and they walked in.
“Come on, I need a little coffee,” she said, leading Lily over to a large alcove off the main hallway where there was a generous display of beverages and snacks for people to grab in between sessions. This particular conference always went all-out with the food and there was everything from muffins and pastries to turkey club sandwiches in perfectly cut triangles. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” Lily said, helping herself to a single-serving bottle of apple juice. “I haven’t had morning sickness in a while – I think the worst of the symptoms are over.”
“And yet you’re still making me get olives on my pizza,” Mercedes said as she waited in line behind a half-dozen doctors for her turn at the coffee carafes.
“You said you liked them,” Lily objected.
“I do,” Mercedes admitted. She grabbed Lily’s hand and kissed the back of it, saying, “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“Me, too,” Lily said.
Then Mercedes heard a familiar, slightly tinny voice behind her. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”
Here it comes.
She turned and put on the fakest, biggest smile she could muster. “Good morning, Dr. Knowlton. Are you ready for our talk?”
“I’d be feeling more prepared if we had a chance to go over it together,” he said testily.
“Come on, Charlie, you know the data as well as I do,” Mercedes said. “It’ll be fine.”
He nodded. He was still a resident, not as used to the conference circuit as she was, but this was not his first rodeo so she was surprised at his nerves. Was the clinical trial going even worse than he was letting on?
“How are you enjoying your time at, what was the name, Lakefront Hospital?”
“Lakeside,” Mercedes corrected. She gave up her place in the coffee line as it moved forward and put her hand on Lily’s back, saying, “This is Lily Thomas – she’s an attending pediatrician there and she’s doing some groundbreaking things with pediatric burn patients.”
Dr. Knowlton shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Thomas.”
“Lily, this is my research assistant, Charlie Knowlton,” Mercedes said.
It was probably not right to use Lily to deflect attention away from herself, but the more they could focus on Lily, the less chance Knowlton would have to demand answers that Mercedes still hadn’t given him about why she’d taken her sabbatical so abruptly. In a perfect world, she’d never have to tell anyone in Seattle about her mother’s hoarding.
“Dr. Knowlton is completing his residency at Seattle Reserve,” she went on. “What have you been focusing on since I left?”
“In addition to tracking the women in our clinical trial,” he said bitterly, emphasis on our, “I’ve been doing research for Dr. Albertson. Please tell me you’re still coming back in December – his work on endothelial growth factor is beyond boring, but please don’t tell him I said that.”
He looked around as if Dr. Albertson might be, at that very moment, scowling behind him. Mercedes smiled and tried to reassure him. “That’s the plan.”
True enough, although she was starting to doubt it herself. She ran her hand up and down Lily’s back in a subtle massage. Knowlton caught the gesture, though, and narrowed his eyes at her. His lips became thin little slits as he said, “You have a professional obligation to finish the work you started.”
“You don’t think I know that?” Mercedes asked, dumbstruck. If this conversation had taken place in their Seattle lab, she would have called it insubordination. “I’m coming back as fast as I can.”
“You don’t look like you’re in much of a hurry,” Knowlton said, glancing at Lily. “Don’t be selfish, Dr. Stone – we could save lives with our research.”
He turned on his heel and marched down the hall, and when Mercedes looked at Lily, her jaw had dropped. “That was rude.”
“He’s not entirely wrong,” Mercedes said. “It wasn’t fair when I left him to handle the whole clinical trial, and he doesn’t even know why he’s doing it.”
She sighed, then led Lily out of the alcove.
“You didn’t get your coffee,” Lily pointed out.
“That’s okay,” Mercedes said. She looked at the time on Lily’s watch again and said, “One hour until my talk. Mind if we find someplace quiet so I can review my notes?”
“Not at all,” Lily said, following Mercedes through the chaotic hallway.
10
Lily
Mercedes’ talk went well. Lily sat in the front row, admiring her in her element while Dr. Knowlton stood beside Mercedes and di
d a good job of pretending they hadn’t just gotten in a fight an hour before. When they got to the end of their discussion on their research methodology, a few hands went up for questions, but Mercedes smiled politely and said, “This is an ongoing study and the results aren’t in. We will be publishing our findings, but until then, no questions.”
Then she left the podium, making a beeline to Lily and holding out her hand for her.
“Are you ready to get out of here?”
“I am,” Lily said, and they were heading for the door before the applause even died down. Lily squeezed her hand once they got to the hallway and said, “You did a great job.”
“Thank you,” Mercedes said. “I’m just glad it’s over. We haven’t eaten since we left O’Hare – can I take you out for an early dinner?”
Lily laughed. “It’s one o’clock.”
“Okay, a late lunch, then,” Mercedes said. “I looked for some fun attractions before we came and there’s supposed to be a nice little café with great paninis not far from here.”
“Sounds good,” Lily said. As they approached the exit of the conference center, Mercedes slowed her walk and her grip on Lily’s hand loosened. She relaxed, and Lily forgot about the tension that had characterized Mercedes’ demeanor since they’d arrived. She asked one more time, “Are you sure you’re okay? Dr. Knowlton seemed to really rattle you.”
“I’m great now,” Mercedes said, looping her arm around Lily’s waist and giving her a kiss. “I just want to take my girl out on the town.”
“Your girl?” Lily asked, her cheeks coloring.
“Aren’t you?” Mercedes asked. “At least for another two months?”
“I guess I am,” Lily said. “Wow, only two more months.”
“We have a duty to make the most of them,” Mercedes said, giving Lily another kiss.
They headed outside and took a taxi to the Café Michel, about ten minutes away from the hotel. The paninis were just as incredible as Mercedes promised they would be, and afterward, Lily and Mercedes walked around the city for an hour or two until Lily’s feet began to hurt too much and Mercedes led her to a bench while they waited for another taxi to take them back to the hotel.