“Nilsen. Right, of course. Thanks.” He writes the name in and sets aside the paper. “What can I do for you?”
“I need a pair of rooms.” I didn’t ask Ashley if she wanted her own room, but I’m not going to assume she wants to stay with me.
The man frowns. “Afraid I only got one room left. Storm pushed a lot of people off the roads.”
I sigh. “Any chance it has two beds?”
He shakes his head. “Just the one.”
I nod and pull my wallet out of my pocket. “It’ll have to do then.”
The man is really friendly, checking us into our room, and I leave the reception area with the key for room number thirteen. The gentleman tells me there are some vending machines in the laundry room at the end of the motel.
I slip twice on the walk back to the truck, but I manage not to go ass over tea kettle. I get back in the cab of the truck, thankful for the heat pumping out of the vents. “I got us a room.”
Ashley smiles. “Awesome.”
“But there was only one room available. With only one bed.” I wait for her reaction, but I’m not sure what other choices we have.
“Okay, well, that’s not the end of the world.” She holds my gaze.
I nod and turn off the vehicle. “All right, let’s go then.”
We head to room thirteen, and when I swing open the door, I’m pleasantly surprised. You can never be sure what you’re going to get when you stop at a motel on the side of the road, but this place is nice.
There’s what looks to be a double bed in the center of the room and dark wood nightstands with a matching dresser. A relatively new TV is mounted to the wall over the dresser, and a small table with two chairs sits in the corner. The carpet is dark green with flecks of gray, and the bedding appears to be a flannel comforter coordinating with the carpet. The room is paintedbeige with older landscape art prints throughout the room. It’s a little dated, but it’s cozy and, most importantly, clean.
“This is pretty nice,” Ashley says as she walks in and looks around.
We remove our boots and leave them on the rubber mat near the door.
“Are you hungry?” I thumb at the door behind me. “The guy mentioned that there are some vending machines.”
She shakes her head and unzips her jacket. “I’m okay for now.”
I unzip my jacket. “What do you want to do then?”
She shrugs. “Want to see what’s on TV? We can relax.”
Six hours later, we’re deep into the Food Network’sHoliday Baking Championship. They’re doing a marathon today, and Ashley said she loves the show. Now she’s turned me into a fan. Jesse, the host, is funny in a weird way with all his puns, and it’s cool to see what the contestants can come up with on the fly.
“I’m going to have to tell my mom about this show. She’d love it.” I toss another one of the chips from the bag on my lap into my mouth.
“Is she a baker?” Ashley asks from where she’s propped up against the headboard beside me.
“Not so much throughout the year, but during the holidays, she’s a hardcore baker. My sister-in-law Tessa is actually a baker. She had her own place in Manhattan for a while.”
Ashley’s eyes widen. “Oh wow. Remind me never to bake for either of them.” She seems to think better of what she said, then her eyes widen even more. “Not that I’ll ever meet them or have the opportunity to bake for them, I just?—”
I quickly kiss her lips. “I’m counting on you meeting them at some point.”
She blinks rapidly. “You are?”
I nod slowly. “I’m counting on a lot of things. I haven’t told you because I don’t want to scare you off.”
The corners of her mouth tip up. “Me too.”
“Yeah?” My head tilts.
