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According to the next road sign, the upcoming town had a motel, so I put my head down and plowed through, trying to ignore the sharp bits of rain hitting my cheeks, cursing myself for not thinking to wear my other helmet that had a full visor. When I finally reached the turn off, I let out a relieved cry and followed the sign markers to the small motel that was supposedly just a mile off the highway. As I cruised the main street, it became apparent that the motel was one of only a few places in town. I passed a gas station, small diner, and a post office, before arriving at the Blue Lagoon Motel. I hopped off my bike and laughed as I considered the sign.
“Blue Lagoon?” It was dark, but there was no doubt that I was smack dab in the middle of the dessert. There was nothing blue or lagoon about it. The motel itself looked sketchy beyond belief and as I started for the front entrance, I was struck by a strong sense that I should get back on Cherry Bomb and keep going. Surely there was something more…suitable…up the highway. I’d eventually hit a main city that would have more options.
I stopped short of the doors, ready to turn back, but a boom of thunder ripped through the sky overhead and sent me scurrying inside. The lobby was smaller than the bathroom in my apartment. I could barely take two full strides without running right into the desk. The lights were low, and a sweeping glance at the ceiling revealed that several of the fluorescent tubes had burnt out. There was no one behind the desk and the entire room was eerily quiet.
“Just my luck, I’m checking into the place from Psycho,” I mumbled to myself as I continued to survey the dismal surrounding. Everything was shabby and out of date. Two chairs were shoved off to the side, they were upholstered with some God-awful green colored velvet, and each heavily stained with…well…I didn’t really want to know what.
I should have listened to Cooper. I admitted, only to myself.
After a minute or two of waiting, I peeked over the edge of the desk and saw a dingy looking service bell. I hovered over it for a moment, before bashing down on the knob and sending a sharp chime echoing through the space. I winced as the sound faded and busied myself by pulling off my slick gloves and tucking them into my back pocket. I rubbed my hands together, willing some warmth into my fingertips, as I bounced on my heels and looked around for any sign of life.
“Hello?”
Still nothing.
I rang the bell again and pulled my phone out of my pocket. The screen was black and when I tried to power on, the battery sign flashed at me. “Shit,” I groaned. Cooper was going to kill me. Not to mention, that with my phone out, I had no way for my family to call and update me. I gave one last glance at the clock above the desk showed it was a little after midnight. If I couldn’t check in, I needed to get back on Cherry Bomb and keep going to the next small town.
I cursed again under my breath and stalked back the few steps to fling open the front door. The hours were posted on neon colored paper. Although the lights were on, and the door unlocked, according to the sign, the front desk was closed between ten and eight.
I slammed the door closed and stepped back into the icy rain. I went back to Cherry Bomb and strapped my helmet back on and was in the middle of pulling my gloves back on, when I looked around and caught the neon lights of the flashing Open sign that was hanging in the window of the quaint diner I’d passed on my way into town. It was better than nothing, and if I was lucky, they’d have an open outlet and I could get some juice back into my phone. I grabbed my backpack from the weatherproof side compartment of Cherry Bomb and ran the block and a half to the diner.
“Sit anywhere you’d like,” a voice called from behind the counter. I took a quick look around and spotted an outlet near one of the places alongside the long counter that overlooked the kitchen. I sat down and went to work untangling my charging cable from inside my bag. I was leaning over to plug in my phone when an older woman popped up from the other side and offered a warm smile. “Hello dear, what can I get for you?” Her hands were encased in yellow rubber gloves and I realized she must have been cleaning the floor on the other side.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were open,” I sputtered, moving to hop from the stool. From my experience working in a coffee shop, I respected there was nothing worse than customers coming in at the last minute and throwing off your closing routine.
The woman blinked a few times, as though she didn’t understand, but then glanced down at her hands and gave a sheepish grin. “No, no. We’re open. Sorry about these,” she said, stripping the gloves from her hands. “We had a situation involving a blob of whip cream on the floor, someone slipped, while holding a banana pie…it was a whole thing…”
“No worries.” I smiled at her animated explanation and sank back onto the stool. “Do you mind?” I asked, flicking my eyes to my phone that was plugged into the outlet under the counter.
“Not at all. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
I looked down at the laminated menu that was lying on the counter in front of me. “I guess I should. Might have a long ride ahead of me. Hey, do you know how far up the next town is? I’m looking for a place to stay tonight and wait out this weather.”
“Did you check over at the Blue Lagoon?” The waitress asked, turning back for a second to grab a clean mug from a stack near the row of coffee pots.
“Closed,” I said. “I went over but there wasn’t anyone there.”
She poured me a cup of coffee. “Oh, honey, that’s the owner over there,” she pointed her elbow and chin and I craned around to see a man in the corner booth, hunched over a steaming cup of coffee of his own. “He comes over here around this time. Not a lot of business over at the motel…” she let her words trail off and something about it made me even more reluctant to check into the motel, but I was exhausted and needed someplace to wait out the shitty weather.
“Thank you,” I said to the waitress as she set down a mug full of coffee in front of me.
“Tell you what, I’ll go see if he has a room, you warm up with that coffee,” she said, throwing me a wink before bustling across the room to approach the man.
I turned my attention to the menu, wondering if there was anything I could eat. Sometimes, being a vegan was a real pain in the ass. In LA it was easy, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of like minded people and restaurants were always willing to accommodate. Cooper gave me shit about it constantly, rabbit food, as he called it, but then he always surprised me by finding new vegan-friendly spots for our weekend dinners.
I smiled as I sipped the hot coffee and reminded myself how lucky I was to have found someone like Cooper. As if I conjured it up, my phone flashed to life and I smiled as the first message that popped up was a picture from Cooper showing him and Sam camped out on the couch together. I knew he’d be sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb him, even though I knew I’d face a lecture for not calling right away. I looked back at the picture and then shut off the power and let it finish charging.
“Good news, Paul has a nice room available for you,” the waitress said, rounding the counter.
I set down my coffee and flashed the waitress a huge smile. “Really? That’s great!”
I turned on my stool to wave my thanks to the man in the corner booth. He looked up and I was momentarily caught off guard by his piercing blue eyes. He was an older man, probably in his fifties, but he had a certain edge to him that intrigued me. I studied his face for a moment, and decided that fifteen years and twenty pounds ago, he had probably been quite a hottie. He gave a slow nod and got up from his seat to come over to join us. “Name’s Paul. Come see me when you’ve settled up here and I’ll fix ya up with a room.”
“Thank you so much!”
He dropped a twenty on the counter, ducked his chin in a nod to the waitress—who blushed at his gesture—and then left the diner, letting a gust of cold air in as the door swung shut behind him.
“He’s such a fox,” she breathed and I had to stifle a giggle.
