AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Deciding I didn’t really want to know what I was getting into, I stopped reading, slapped my initials down where required, and signed the bottom.
“A risk-taker.” Jessica shimmied her shoulders as she printed up my key cards. “I like it.”
“More like at the end of my rope.” I dug through my wallet for my driver’s license and handed it over to her.
“Can’t say I blame you. I mean, Drew is easy on the eyes but that doesn’t make up for what a dick he’s turned into. Can’t imagine many women would last more than twenty-four hours in the same house with him these days.”
My head whipped up. “How did you know I ended up staying at his house?”
She laughed. “Are you kidding me? Gossip is an Olympic sport in this town. I’d heard by noon that a woman pitched a tent in his backyard in the dead of night because she didn’t have anywhere else to stay thanks to Brody’s stupid idea, and I put the pieces together that it must’ve been you.”
An absolute nobody staying in this guy’s house for one night lit up the Kelly Bay gossip network, but no one had anything to say about the Everetts? You’ve gotta be kidding me. “Everybody knows everybody’s business around here, then?”
“Pretty much.”
Truthfully, I wanted to ask more about Drew, but I needed to keep my job, so I focused on the task at hand. I leaned in and lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I heard a rumor Axel Everett has a vacation property here.”
She snorted. “Well, if he does, it sure wouldn’t be in my neck of the woods. I don’t even live in Kelly Bay. I live in Burkette. Seeing as you’re from…” She glanced at my driver’s license and whistled. “New York City…that probably doesn’t mean anything to you. But around here, Burkette is considered like the ugly stepchild of Kelly Bay. We share their high school, library, and ambulance service but heaven forbid you imply you’re actually from here. The true locals will be real quick to correct you.”
She handed me back my license and tucked two room keys into a little cardboard sleeve.
“But that’s neither here nor there. As a tourist, you’re at the top of the pecking order since people showing up for all our festivals is what’s keeping us in Carhartts.”
I laughed. “Good to know.”
“Why don’t you go get settled in and I’ll have a gift bag for you in a few minutes. I was putting the finishing touches on it, but you checked in a few minutes earlier than I expected.”
“Gift bag?”
“Consider it my way of apologizing on behalf of my cheapskate boss for opening the rooms earlier than he should have. And a plea for you not to leave us a terrible review. One employee of an idiot to another.” She placed her hands over her heart.
“You don’t have to do that.” This town was too much. The only time I’d ever gotten a gift bag at a hotel was the one I stayed at for my cousin Sylvie’s wedding, and I was sure that was because of Sylvie, not the hotel. I’d definitely never gotten one at a motel before.
“Trust me, I do. Bribery is how I manage to keep this place afloat. If it weren’t for gift bags and free drink coupons, our reviews would be so terrible we’d shut down and I’d be out of a job.”
“Drink coupons? You’re speaking my language.” Her argument made more sense now.
She grinned. “I’ll toss a few of those in the bag.”
“Deal.”
“Okay. Go get settled and I’ll see you in a few.”
Pushing back out into the cold night air, I hustled over to the car and grabbed my bags, excited to have an actual home base to be working from for the next few weeks. And I didn’t have to worry about there being any creepy-crawlies in there.
Or at least not any live ones.
I paused and a shudder ran up my spine before I shook it off and jammed my key into the card reader on the door. I’d stayed in worse places. I could make this work for a few weeks.
My nostrils vehemently disagreed when the first burst of air from the room hit them. A strong odor of mothballs and vinegar blasted me in the face.
Okay, I just needed a little time to acclimate to it. And the smell would dissipate in a few days. Hopefully.
I tossed my duffel bag and suitcase on one side of the bed and slumped down on the other side. The exhaustion from yesterday’s drive, limited sleep, and aimless wandering all day caught up to me as I stared out the window. It had been overcast all day, but the cloud cover was breaking up. Rays of orange and red broke through gray. I tried to find good omens wherever I could, and maybe this was one of them.
My mind drifted, thinking about how my life was like that cloud cover. How I was going through the motions day to day, one foot in front of the other, trying to make it to the next assignment. The next article. The next doctor’s appointment. In a meaningless daze with no real direction for the long-term. I needed a beam of light to filter out the haze and focus in on what the hell I was doing.
Whoa.
I rested my elbows on my knees and took a deep breath. It was not like me to get this philosophical about my life while sober. Squinting, I tried to lift my head back up to take in the view again, but my skull weighed about fifty pounds. My neck muscles were not up for the job.
Also, when did everything in this room get so spinny and start twinkling around the edges?
Then everything went black.
