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“Let’s wait until the day after tomorrow. That’s when are reservation starts.”

“Okay, I’ll just pack my dinosaurs now.”

I laughed. “Okay, go pack your dinosaurs.”

“And my Legos.”

“And your Legos.”

He ran out of the kitchen and now I was the one grinning.

It was good having connections. When I opened the door to our room at the Inn, I was floored. There was no way this was the normally priced room that I was paying for. This was definitely a suite.

James ran under my arm and zoomed into the room. He zeroed in on the tray of snacks, water, sodas and bottles of alcohol that we could purchase for probably exorbitant prices. He had already pulled a package of cookies out of the tray and was just about to tear it open when I plucked it out of his hands.

“Dad, I wanted that,” he said in a reasonable tone of voice, “They gave it to us.”

“No they didn’t. Everything in there, we have to pay for.”

“We do?”

“Yep.”

“So I should eat the snacks Grandma made.”

“That’s right.”

“Where are they?”

“In the cooler, in the truck. I’ll bring them up.”

He smiled. “I can help. I’m a good helper.”

“You’re the best helper.”

We headed back down to the truck, and picked up the small cooler out of the bed, which James immediately said he could carry.

“I don’t know, it’s pretty heavy.”

“I can do it.”

I handed it to him, and he grimaced, but hefted it up. I grabbed two suitcases and a box, and followed him. He was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the door, but proud of himself. Yep, he was a good helper.

“Where does this go?”

“Over near the fridge.” The damn suite even had a small kitchen area. Ford sure had some good connections here in town.

I set the box down on the coffee table, and took the suitcases into a bedroom with two double beds.

“Dad, I need the bafroom.”

“In here, Buddy.”

He hustled, and I went to the fridge and started unpacking the food. I left out a juice box, a bottle of water, some trail mix and four of Sharon’s brownies. They were good-sized, and I was hungry. I bit into one, and went to the couch to call Ford. He answered on the first ring.

I swallowed.

“This place is great. What kind of strings did you have to pull to get us a suite?”