2. Annie
Sometimes I wanted to shake my sister to see if I could get her brain to fall into the right grooves. Surely it was floating around in her beautiful head without an anchor point.
“Richard is not cheating on you, Val. I promise you.” I had to make a concerted effort not to roll my eyes while I spoke. She was being ridiculous, so it was difficult not to match her ridiculousness with silly faces.
Val’s eyes were red rimmed and puffy from crying and probably lack of sleep. “He’s never home. And when he is, he ignores me and hides in the bedroom all day.” She cleared her throat of the tears clogging it. “I’m telling you Annie, he’s found someone else. He’s so…distant.”
I groaned. “You knew when you married him what it would be like to be with a fireman. He’s gone a lot and he comes back tired. It’s how it is. You knew that.” I frowned. “Are you about to start your period? You always get weird around then.”
I was never sensitive about such things. I knew if I was extra grouchy or overly sensitive that hormones were likely causing it. Science. No need to get offended. Unfortunately, my sister was not so self-aware.
“How could you say that? You’re as bad as he is. Don’t you think I know how I feel? Something’s not right. I know it.” She picked up her plate and coffee cup and took them to the sink. “I wish you’d take my side for once.”
Her back was to me, so it was safe. I rolled my eyes super hard while I could get away with it. “Honey, I’m always on your side. I also think maybe you’re overthinking this. Richard loves you more than anything on this earth. The love you two share is all I’ve ever wanted in life. True love, Val. Don’t throw it away on weird suspicions that have no basis.”
Valerie returned to the table and buried her face in her hands, letting out a small sob. “I don’t know what’s going on with him.”
Maggie, Val’s golden retriever, chuffed and rested her head on Val’s knee, and Val rested her hand on the dog’s head.
I reached out and rubbed my sister’s back with the palm of my hand. “Talk to him. But wait until he’s not fresh off a shift or half asleep, okay?”
She nodded but didn’t look up. “I’ll try.”
That was all I could ask of her, I supposed.
“So, what about you, baby sister?” She brightened, having switched gears to focus on my love life instead of hers.
“What about me?” I focused on scratching behind Maggie’s ears rather than making eye contact.
“You’ve been on—what?—five dates in five months with five guys. Am I counting right?”
I gave her a slow nod without lifting my head. “So?”
“So, you never go out on a second date.”
I let out a long sigh and straightened in my chair. “None of them are The One. Why should I waste my time on a second date?”
“How do you know someone isn’t The One if you don’t get to know him over, say, I don’t know, a series of dates?” She reached across the table and took my hand. “You have to give somebody a chance eventually, you know.”
I squeezed her hand and smiled. “I will. When he’s The One.” I didn’t know how to explain to someone who already had her One why I didn’t want to waste time on less than true love. Until true love found me, I was perfectly fine on my own.
Val gave me her long-suffering-sister expression and gave up for now, for which I was grateful.
I sat with her for a while longer until some of her lingering dramatics were burned away by gossip and a synopsis of last night’s episode of some CSI show she’d watched. It wasn’t really my favorite genre, but I listened like a good sister and helped her think about something else.
After she told me the shocking ending that I saw coming in the first three sentences, I glanced at the clock on the microwave. “I’ve got to get going. I have a shift this afternoon, and I can’t be late.”
She nodded. “Go. Thanks for looking out for your big sister.”
I kissed her cheek. “Anytime.” I gave Maggie’s ears a goodbye scratch and bolted out the door.
Once I was out of the house, I practically ran to my car. Val was a great sister, but her drama was contagious and all-consuming. I needed a little fresh air to clear out my own head.
Something was definitely up, though. Val and Richard had one of those perfect relationships that everyone both admired and envied. Their smiles lit up a room when they saw each other, and a person could almost feel waves of love coming off them when standing in their proximity.
If Val was unhappy, something weird was going on, and I intended to find out what it was.
~*~
The River Rock Hotel was nowhere near a river, and the only rocks nearby were the little pebbles tossed into the city street by construction trucks. It wasn’t huge and majestic, but it was nice, clean, well run, and a pretty decent place to work.
I dropped off my purse in the back room, checked for stray lint on my black pants and polo shirt, then took my place behind the front desk.
“You’re late.” Stuart made a sour face and touched the pile of blank keycards to neaten them.
“Don’t start, Stuart.” I flashed him a smile, trying to get him to smile back. “I’m ten minutes early.”
It didn’t work. Stuart was always so serious.
He took a clipboard from where it hung on a hook under the counter. “I have a few things.”
“Okay. Go for it.” I folded my hands in front of my waist and gave him my full attention.
There was no use messing with Stuart before he left. If he didn’t think I was taking things seriously, he’d stay for an hour watching me.
It’s important to point out that Stuart was not my manager. He only worked the shift before mine.
He narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, then must have decided I was ready to listen. “Don’t put anyone in room 317 tonight. I had to move the guests who were in it last night.”
“What happened?”
“The guests next door in 319 are on their honeymoon. There were…noise complaints. It’s best to just give them a buffer unless a busload of people without reservations shows up.” Stuart cleared his throat and adjusted his collar. He was clearly uncomfortable with the subject. “Anyway. There’s a problem with the jacuzzi. Maintenance is working on it.”
I frowned. People hated when the jacuzzi was out. “How long has he been working on it? Does he think it’ll be done tonight?”
“I couldn’t say. It was like that when I came in this morning.” He cleared his throat again and ran his finger over the page on the clipboard. “Oh. And Chet’s wife went into labor, so you’ll have to work a double shift or find someone to cover his shift tonight.” He bent, hung the clipboard on its hook, straightened, and gave me a quick, precisely measured smile. “Well, that’s it, then. Have a good evening. I’m off to a cheese tasting.” He turned and disappeared into the back room to clock out.
I blinked. A double shift? What the hell? Nobody was going to come in and cover the night shift at the last minute. I’d have called the manager, but Chet was the manager. I might as well suck it up. For the next sixteen hours, I was running the front desk.
Fortunately, we weren’t busy. I was sure I’d be fine.
Val would have had a meltdown and called Chet, regardless of how close together his wife’s contractions were. I rolled with it. It wasn’t the first double shift I’d picked up at the last minute, and likely wouldn’t be the last. I could always nap in the back when nothing was going on.
Guests loved the opportunity to use that stupid bell on the desk.
I checked the day’s printout on the second page of Stuart’s clipboard. Since it was the middle of the week, I only had a few guests checking in, and everyone checking out was gone. With any luck, everyone would be tucked into their rooms by nine. Once the restaurant closed at eleven, I’d have the whole night mostly to myself.
The honeymoon couple Stuart had told me about came through the lobby shortly after I settled in for my shift. When the elevator doors opened, I stopped leaning against the counter and stood straighter. We weren’t supposed to lean. I needn’t have bothered. They barely glanced in my direction on their way to the restaurant. The wife giggled at something her new husband said, he bent to kiss her, and they disappeared through the frosted glass doors of Caffrey’s Steak House.
I rested my elbows on the counter and stared out the window. It was going to be a long night.
Before long, an older woman in a cream skirt and jacket emerged from the elevator.
She placed her fingertips on the counter and smiled at me. Her crimson lipstick was smeared at one corner and a little was on her teeth. “I have reservations downtown. Would you be a dear and call me a cab? I’m in a hurry.”
“Of course.” I smiled back, wondering who she was meeting, why she was in town, and whether I should tell her to fix her lipstick.
After I took down all her information, I dialed the cab company and gave them her name—Jill—our address, and where she was going.
“The River Rock? Is this Annie?” The man on the other end of the call had a cheerful, friendly voice. He was the biggest reason I usually chose that particular company.
“How are you, Sean? Is Amy’s cold better?” I flicked my gaze to the lady in front of me. She shifted from foot to foot, and her red lips had pressed together in a thin slash.
“Much better. Thanks for asking.”
I held up a finger to my guest, letting her know it would only be a minute. “I’m glad to hear it. How long till the cab gets here, Sean?”
“For you, three minutes. I’ve got someone up the street.”
“You’re a rockstar. Thanks, Sean.” I hung up and grabbed a box of tissues from under the counter to put in front of her. “He said it will be about three minutes.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Well. That’s quick.”
I pushed the tissues toward her. “Ma’am, your lipstick’s a little smudged.” I could not, in good conscience, let her go out in that condition. She might be going to a business meeting, but she also might be going to meet the love of her life. Maybe there was an old-people’s version of Tinder. What if she’d met someone online and was going to meet him for the first time tonight? No. The smudged lipstick was not going to be my fault.
She pulled out a compact and fixed the smudge at the corner, then noticed the red on her teeth. Her hand shook as she closed the compact and put it away in her purse. “Thank you. I’m a little nervous tonight.” She touched her head to be sure every bottle-blonde hair was in place. “I’m having dinner with a man I haven’t seen in almost forty years.” She wadded the tissue and glanced around.
“I’ll get rid of that for you.” I took it and tossed it in the trash. “You look stunning, Jill. And I believe your car just pulled up.”
“Oh. That was even faster than I expected.” She took a deep breath and smoothed her skirt. “I hope Edward recognizes me. Wish me luck!” She hurried out and climbed into the waiting cab.
Now I wanted to stay for the second shift, in case she came back late. One of the perks of working in a hotel was all the wonderful stories I got to see play out. One of the drawbacks was all the stories I never saw the ending to because my shift ended.
I sighed and leaned against the counter. I hoped Jill and Edward would fall madly in love. And I hoped they’d come tell me about it later.
~*~
Several people came and went through the lobby over the next hour, some leaving to be a part of the Dallas nightlife and others stopping in Caffrey’s for dinner. The honeymoon couple came out after an hour, holding hands and carrying multiple to-go boxes—far more than could be accounted for as leftovers. They were obviously stocking up for later. I waved as they went by and made a mental note to send up some champagne later to help them celebrate.
Wouldn’t be seeing them again anytime soon.
Three people called down to see if the hot tub was fixed. It was not. Chuck from maintenance had already declared defeat. An outside guy would have to come fix it tomorrow.
A family of four came in from the street and went up the elevator. A few minutes later, the dad came back down because nobody in the group could find their key. I printed him two new cards.
As I hung up the phone to send Chuck up to the third floor to fix a clogged toilet, a guy walked in and made a beeline for my counter. His dark hair skimmed his collar and curled a little, as if he were maybe a week from needing a haircut, but not quite there yet. He pulled his suitcase toward him and pressed the handle into itself. Even that small action caused his biceps to flex.
I swallowed hard and wondered if the AC had stopped working. “Welcome to River Rock. Checking in?”
He took his sunglasses off, revealing eyes so blue I could happily stare at them for the rest of the night.
He leaned toward me. “Flynn. I believe my office made reservations.”
I realized I was still leaning on the counter. And that he was now alarmingly close. I pushed away from the counter and tapped his information in the computer. His account came right up. “Joshua?”
“Yeah. Josh.”
I took his ID and credit card and went through the steps to get him checked in. My fingers grew sweaty, causing me to drop the cards twice. Those blue eyes were kind and patient—possibly amused. I gave my head a small shake to clear it. He smelled like clean laundry and freshly cut grass. I couldn’t tell if it was an aftershave or something else, but it was distracting. I took one more deep inhale, then focused on the reservation.
His room hadn’t been assigned yet, but at that time of the evening, all the vacant rooms were clean and ready to go. Remembering what Stuart had said, I chose a room as far away from the honeymooners as possible, and up on the fifth floor, 512. It was my favorite room, newly refurbished and with a great view of the park behind us.
Michelle, one of the regular servers at Caffrey’s stepped through the glass doors and scanned the desk area. She was probably on her break and looking for Stuart. She caught my eye, and I shook my head to let her know he wasn’t there.
Josh turned to face her, resting one elbow on my counter. His focus on her was intense, as if she were a show horse he was thinking of buying, and a wide smile grew on his face.
She glanced at him, made a small frown, then returned to the restaurant.
Josh grunted. “Who was that?”
I raised an eyebrow at him and stopped moving my hands on the keyboard. “That’s Michelle. She works in the restaurant.”
“Is she single?”
In one second, I went from thinking his eyes were dreamy to thinking they were predatory. Hot guy was no longer hot. He was gross.
What a disappointment.
I clenched my jaw. “She’s already found her true love.” That was a half lie. She was single and waiting for Stuart to fall madly in love with her. She’d been waiting for awhile. I switched the reservation to room 317. Let the honeymooners keep him up all night.
He made an ugly chuckle. “True love, huh?” He shook his head and glanced back at the glass doors, his voice sounding distracted. “I’m always astonished when I hear people still believe in that sort of thing.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me?”
“That whole happily-ever-after thing.” He drew his shoulders into what looked like a rehearsed shrug. “People expect too much out of love. They should be content with happily-for-now. It all fades eventually.”
How could I have been attracted to this guy? He was devoid of a soul.
My voice was cold and formal. “How many room keys will you be needing, sir?”
“One’s fine.” He tried to give me a charming grin, but it fell flat.
I printed out the key card, wrote the room number on the inside of the envelope, and tucked the card inside. I gave him an insincere smile and handed it over. “The elevator is right across the lobby, and you’re on the third floor. Have a pleasant stay.”
I turned and walked into the back room before he could say another word.