15
Ethan took the stairs back to the lobby and went straight for the restaurant. Miles would already be home for the night, but Ethan knew the rest of the staff and planned to snag a slice of cake.
Jolene, the hostess, was standing at the entrance to the restaurant, tapping her pen on the wood counter. He walked up to her and smiled.
“Hey, Jo.”
When she looked up, her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, Ethan. What happened?”
He tried to smile brightly, but the skin tugged painfully, and he winced. “Just a minor incident while camping. I was hoping to grab a slice of cake to go.”
“Of course.” She tapped around on her tablet before looking back up at him. “That looks painful.”
“I assure you it is.”
“Have you gotten it checked out?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not too worried about it.”
At that moment, Noah stepped out of the restaurant with Jessa’s hand in his. He stopped short and his eyes widened. “Whoa, dude. What happened?”
Ethan sighed. This would be the talk of the town before long. “Just a minor incident.”
Noah nodded his head off to the side when a group of tourists walked up to be seated. They stepped out of the way.
“Seriously, what happened? It looks painful,” Jessa said.
“Lily accidentally flung a flaming marshmallow at me while we were camping.”
Noah and Jessa remained silent for only a beat before they both cracked up laughing. He swore they laughed for a solid minute before Noah held a hand up with tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, man. But that’s hilarious.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow, but even he couldn’t keep a straight face. A small smile played at the corner of his lips. “When you’re done laughing at me, can you look at this and see if I need to go to the hospital?”
Noah sobered up and looked at his cheek. “Nah. The only thing they would do there is clean it and then put a cream on it. You could get that at the Country Store. It wouldn’t hurt to get some bandages to put over it, but that will be pretty annoying on your face.”
“Ethan, I have that cake for you,” Jolene called.
“I’ll text you a picture of the cream to grab,” Noah said.
Ethan thanked him and said “bye” before going over to Jolene to pay. At that moment, Lily walked off the elevator. He thanked Jolene and approached Lily, taking her bag from her.
“I can get that, Ethan,” she said.
“I know. But I want to.”
She reached for the takeout bag. “Then at least let me carry this.”
He relented and released it. She peeked inside and her eyes widened. “Oh my. That looks delicious.”
“It’s the best.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Ethan held the front door of the resort open for her and then her car door. Once she was inside, he shut it and put her luggage in the truck's bed. They pulled out of the lot and he headed toward the Country Store.
“I figured we could grab some ice cream to go with that cake. I also ran into Noah, and he suggested I get a burn cream. They’ll have that too.”
Lily let out a breath. “Oh good. I’m glad you’re getting something for it. It’ll make me feel better knowing it’s being taken care of.”
