AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, grabbing my suitcase and heading back to the bathroom. Everything would be better after a shower.
* * *
Once I was clean, I did feel a lot better, I had to admit. I was tired as fuck, and I was hungry again.
“Do you want to order some dinner?” I asked. She was still watching murder shows.
“Yeah, sure.” We traded the menu back and forth.
“It’s going on Wyatt’s card, so get whatever you want,” I said.
“Then I’m definitely getting two kinds of dessert,” she said, writing down her order on the notepad with the hotel logo on it. I added mine and then she called the order in. I hadn’t even looked at the prices.
I dried my hair with my towel as we waited for the food.
The TV was a welcome distraction from having to talk to her, although that didn’t stop me from being aware of her every movement.
Being in the same space with Natalie after so many years was like diving into the cold ocean. I was still trying to figure out what the fuck was happening.
“We can watch something else,” she said.
“No, this is fine. I know how you like your murder stuff,” I said, and then realized I’d broken my own promise not to talk about the past or the things I knew about her.
“It’s true. I can’t explain why I love it.” She smiled softly, and I had to look away.
I remembered too many things when I gazed at her. The sleepovers and summers spent at the beach, and the secrets shared under blankets, whispered so our parents wouldn’t know we were awake. She had been everything to me, and then one day she wasn’t. She’d chosen other people to share those things with.
* * *
I kept texting updates to Paige and Linley. They wanted to know everything, and it was a relief having someone to talk to about it.
Room service arrived on a rolling tray. We’d ordered a lot of food. Oops.
Natalie and I sat on our beds to eat. She’d gotten the roast chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes, and I’d gone all-out and got the steak and lobster tail dinner. I had lobster pretty frequently in Maine, so it wasn’t as much of a special delicacy for me, but I knew it was expensive, so that’s why I’d ordered it.
“Do you want some of this?” Natalie asked, holding out a plate of caramel cheesecake. “I can’t eat two desserts tonight, and I don’t want it to go to waste.”
I could absolutely polish off the rest of that cheesecake, so I took the plate from her.
“You know, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, so we might as well figure out how to make this work for the next few days,” she said as I shoved cheesecake in my mouth.
I hated that she was right.
“Okay. But let’s agree to keep it on business level. Small talk only,” I said.
That would work with the rules I’d made for myself.
“Business level? Like the weather and current events, but not the controversial current events?” she asked.
Pretty much.
“It’s supposed to rain in Castleton this week,” I said in response.
“Mmm,” she said, looking at her phone. “It’s going to be very humid in Texas.”
Not riveting conversation, but it was something.
“What time did you want to get going tomorrow?” she asked.
