Page 27 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

Sara’s voice was staticky through the cell phone — it seemed as if her reception was beginning to fail her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “My mom and my sister came into town and surprised me, and I have to spend the day with them. I know I told you I would go to the conference with you, but…”

“It’s all right.” Emily sighed. She couldn’t exactly ask her friend to blow off her family for a work conference. That wouldn’t have been fair, as much as she did wish it was possible. She couldn’t help wondering, though, whether Sara might have summoned her family to town on purpose to get out of going to the conference. She hadn’t made any particular secret of the fact that she didn’t really want to go, and that she was only doing so as a favor to Emily.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now. Emily was either going to have to opt out of the conference herself or else she would have to go on her own, something she’d wanted to avoid. Unfortunately, she didn’t really think she could opt out now. It wouldn’t look good to have put her name on the list onlyto no-show at the last minute. It would lose her all the goodwill she’d managed to accrue with Dominic — no, with Dr. Berger. That first-name business had only been an option while they were out of the hospital. Almost a week had gone by since the night at the diner, and she was still struggling to revert to calling him by his title in her head. When she thought of him now, he wasDominicto her.

And that was a problem. Because when she thought of him now, he was also those warm eyes that had explored hers so carefully, that reassuring voice that hat told her she would be a good doctor, those sure and steady hands that had been in the operating room with her and had left her wondering what those hands might be capable of in other rooms. That wasn’t something she should be thinking about her boss, and she knew it. She needed to get those thoughts out of her head.

She had been looking forward to spending the day with Sara, thinking that it might be a good distraction. But now Sara wasn’t coming to the conference.

Emily dressed in the outfit she’d picked out for the day — a suit she had purchased when she’d moved to Chicago. She examined her reflection in the mirror. She looked professional enough, there was no doubt, but she found herself considering her appearance from another angle now. Dr. Berger would be at the conference today. This would be the first time he would be seeing her out of scrubs. Was this what she wanted to show him?

She closed her eyes. She had to stop thinking like this. It didn’t matter what Dr. Berger thought of her appearance. He probably wouldn’t notice her anyway. It was possible that he wouldn’t even register the fact that she had shown up. This whole business might turn out to be a waste of time.

She went down to her car, thinking that if she didn’t have the chance to spend time with Sara, at least she might get an opportunity to spend time with the other interns in her group. Maybe she would make a new friend today, and that would make it all worth it.

That hope lasted until Emily arrived at the hotel where the conference was taking place and picked up her name tag.

She went into the room where breakfast was being served, scanning hopefully for a familiar face. She saw Dominic — no,Dr. Berger— almost at once, but he was surrounded by a group of doctors she had never met, and she knew there was no way she could go up to him, as much as she wanted to.

There had to be someone else here that she would recognize — some other familiar face. She would even have been happy to see Chad at this point.

She recalled that another one of the interns, Cassidy Cook, had put her name on the signup sheet, but Cassidy was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had also decided to pull out at the last minute.

Maybe Emily really was the only one here — the only intern among a group of professionals.

She felt heat rush to her face. This was so humiliating! She felt presumptuous for having come here in the first place. She should have realized when there were so few names on the signup sheet that this wasn’t really intended for her. The internsmust have been invited as a formality, nothing more. Nobody really wanted to see her here.

Well, it wasn’t too late. She could slip out and go back home. No one had seen her yet, so all she had to do was turn around…

As the thought occurred to her, Dr. Berger’s gaze shifted, and his eyes locked on her.

Emily cursed inwardly. Now she couldn’t leave. He would lose all respect for her if she did. And besides, if she was able to make it through hours of surgery, surely she could handle a professional conference? She didn’t have to bail out just because she didn’t know anyone here.

She squared her shoulders, went up to the buffet table, and took a plate.

She moved down the line slowly, loading herself up with food — more than she knew she would eat. The moment she stopped putting food on her plate was the moment she would have to go find a place to sit down, and that thought made her nervous. How was she going to approach any of these tables full of strangers?

Eventually, though, she came to the end of the buffet. She stood looking around, trying to spot an empty table that she could go to without feeling like she was encroaching on anyone else.

“Are you looking for a place to sit?”

Emily turned. A woman about five years older than herself was standing at her shoulder, a smile on her face.

“Oh,” Emily said, slightly embarrassed that her predicament had been that obvious. “Yes, I was.”

“Do you want to come and join our table? Me and the ladies from my office, I mean? We’d be more than happy to have you sit with us if you’re on your own.”

“I… that would be great,” Emily admitted. “Thank you.”

The woman smiled warmly. “I’m Kayla Schumacher,” she said. “I work at a private practice in the city. We’re staffed by all women, and we serve patients of all genders, but we focus on women’s health.”

“That sounds amazing,” Emily said, following Kayla over to her table. “My name is Emily Swinton. I’m an intern at Chicago Grace.”

“Ooh, are you one of Dominic Berger’s interns?”

“I am.”

“That internship is legendary,” Kayla said. “Now youreallyhave to come and sit with us. You’ve got to tell us all about it.”

---