Chapter 62
“A what?” Lucky asked loudly, drawing attention from most of the crowded lobby. They had just returned to their original hotel from the airport, having spent most of the flight sleeping in order to avoid talking to one another.
“A pharmaceutical convention. It starts tomorrow, and there are people from all over the country coming in for it. I’m sorry, sir, but we’re totally booked tonight,” the reservations clerk said apologetically. Lucky turned to Liz and groaned.
“This is unbelievable!”
“We’ll just have to check another hotel,” she suggested. “I saw a bunch down the road, let’s just go there. One of them has got to have a room!”
“Fine, let’s go,” he ordered, storming out of the building. Liz sighed and followed, wondering what else could possibly go wrong.
“I can’t believe on a Sunday night in New Jersey, we can’t get a stupid hotel room!” he complained as they drove to the next group of hotels.
Liz smiled wryly. “You know, if Luke was here he’d say it was fate.”
Lucky rolled his eyes and pulled into the parking lot. “No, it’s just incredibly bad luck, and it all started when I came home and ran into you!”
“Hey, don’t blame me for this. I was doing just fine until you came back. If one of us is the problem here, it’s you! Come on, I have a good feeling about this one.” She climbed out of the car and headed for the lobby, not bothering to wait for Lucky.
A few minutes later, they returned to the car. “So much for your good feeling,” Lucky teased, driving on to the next one. “We may end up driving back to New York tonight, after all.”
“Oh no, there’s no way I can drive tonight. I can barely stay awake now. Anyway, it’s starting to get late, we really need to find someplace to stay, even if it means driving to the next town.”
Lucky nodded, turning into the next hotel. “I know, I don’t exactly want to drive home now, either. I’m just getting frustrated with this whole thing. I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get back. I got a strange feeling when I was talking to my dad, I think he might know something’s up with us. I don’t think he was buying our excuse.”
After two more hotels, which were completely booked, they lucked out and found one vacancy at a Motel Six further down the road.
“Your timing couldn’t be better, sir,” the woman behind the reception counter said cheerfully. “We just had a cancellation a few minutes ago.”
“We’ll take it!” Lucky exclaimed quickly.
She smiled and took his credit card, completing the registration information, then handed him the room key. “Have a nice stay.”
Lucky turned around to look for Liz and found her sitting on one of the couches in the middle of the lobby, looking bored. He walked up behind her and dangled the key in front of her face, startling her. She turned around to glare at him, but then broke out in a smile when she realized the key meant they found a room.
“You’re kidding! They actually had one?” she asked, jumping up from her seat. The medicine she had taken earlier was finally doing it’s job, and aside from some lingering nausea, she was feeling much better.
“Yep, she said someone canceled at the last minute,” he explained, heading outside to find the room. “It’s not exactly a luxury suite, but it’ll have to do.” They finally found the correct room and he slid the key in the lock, turned it, and opened the door.
“Whoa, hold on a minute! You never said there was only one bed again!” Liz said angrily, looking in the door.
Lucky sighed and stepped into the small room. “I didn’t ask, I was so desperate to get a room, I forgot to specify anything.” He then turned to her, smirking. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re married now.”
Liz groaned and smacked him on the shoulder, then pushed past him into the room. “You know, for someone so rich and famous, you sure do stay in some crappy places.”
“Yeah, that honeymoon suite we were in last night was just terrible, wasn’t it?” he asked sarcastically, tired of her always commenting on his celebrity. “It’s not like these are normal circumstances, I had to take what we could get, and unfortunately, this is it.”
“Well, I’m dying to take a shower, and then I’m going to go to bed. Hopefully I’ll just sleep straight through till morning, and then we can just go home and put this whole mess behind us.”
“Sounds good to me. Save some hot water, will ya? I could use a shower, too,” he asked, flipping on the TV to see if there was anything worth watching.
Liz smiled and grabbed a towel from the closet. “I’ll try, but no guarantees. I like to take long, hot showers.”
“Then maybe I should go first.”
“Nope, I called it already,” she said, shaking her head. “If you want to shower now, you’re going to have to join me.”
Lucky gaped at her a moment, totally shocked by her suggestion. She laughed and snapped him with her towel, walking back to the bathroom. “I was kidding, Lucky! Don’t even try to join me, not if you want to live to see tomorrow.”
He sighed and shook his head, sitting down on the bed as she locked herself into the bathroom and turned on the shower. For a moment there, he had thought she was being serious, and the thought of it hadn’t exactly bothered him. After a few minutes, he turned up the TV, trying to drown out the sound of the water in the next room, hoping it would help push away the flood of mental images he was getting of Liz in the shower. Finally, it shut off, and few minutes later, she came out wearing her clothes from Friday, with a towel wrapped around her head.
“All yours,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and flipping her head over, rubbing her hair with the towel to speed up the drying process.
Lucky quickly grabbed a towel and his other set of clothes, then hurried into the bathroom, hoping that she had left some hot water. Then again, after what had been going through his mind earlier, maybe a cold shower wasn’t such a bad idea.
Liz finished drying her hair and wrapped the towel around her head again, then began flipping through the small number of television station that the motel received, trying to distract herself from the image she was having of Lucky in the shower. She found herself wondering about the previous night, if they had really done what they thought, if they had actually made love. She couldn’t help being intrigued by the idea, and found that the concept didn’t horrify her nearly as much as it used to. Her mind wandered back to the time when they were up in his apartment, cleaning up after their water fight in Kelly’s kitchen, and he had come out his bathroom after showering in nothing but a towel. The memory still had a pretty strong effect on her, and just thinking about how the tiny droplets of water had glistened on his well-toned chest.....
“Stop it!” she softly scolded herself, turning up the TV to drown out the shower. Thankfully, his was quicker than hers, and he shut it off a few minutes later. He emerged in a cloud of steam, still drying his hair, and eyed the bed.
“Now what?” he asked hesitantly, not sure what they were going to do about the sleeping arrangements this time.
Liz shrugged and shut off the TV. “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
“Me too, but how are we going to do this? “
She sighed, too tired to care anymore. “Look, it’s not like we’ve never shared a bed before, and anyway, we’re married now, like it or not, so why don’t we just try to be mature about this and just go to bed?”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, look what happened last night! Well, at least, what we think happened....”
“We were drunk last night, we’re not now. Just think of it this way, it’s the last time we’ll have to do this. Tomorrow, we’re going home, and we can go back to our normal lives, and more importantly, our own, separate, beds.”
“Okay, you’ve got a point there. Just try to keep on your side this time, okay?” he joked, climbing into the bed.
“I will if you will,” she retorted sarcastically, pulling back the covers and laying down. She flipped onto her side, her back facing him, and shut off the light. “Good night, husband,” she teased, chuckling.
Lucky smiled and shook his head slightly. “Good night, wife.”
