She goes quiet down the line. “Nah, this one is different to the last … I’m sure of it. And she’s not that good-looking. You wouldn’t go for her.”
I let out a laugh. “Okay. Good to know. Should I take it she’s more of Pine room kind of girl?” Pine is our cheapest room.
“Nah, this one is definitely a Lakeview kind of girl. She might be unfortunate looking, but she’s definitely got good taste.”
I swallow down. No one has stayed in there since Mia. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to let anyone sleep in there yet.
Stupid I know.
“Okay. Cool. She on her way now? I’ll go get the room ready.”
“She’s setting off in a few.”
“Thanks, Beth. And I mean that.”
“I know you do. And thank me later.”
I hang up and push out the chair. I grab the keys for Lakeview, and head down the hall.
I switch the light on, avoiding looking anywhere that will remind me of the times I had in here with Mia. I switch the heater on to warm the room for our new guest, turn the bed down, and put fresh towels in the bathroom.
I turn the light off, lock the door up, and go back to the office.
Twenty minutes later I hear a car pulling up the gravel. Dozer jumps to his feet, ears pricked, sniffs the air, and he’s out of the office. Guess he’s smelled something he likes.
I follow to get him back in the office before he scares the living daylights out of our new guest, but I’m too late, and the door opens on the chime. I look up and my heart stops.
It actually f**king stops.
“Mia.”
I’m not sure if I say the word, or just breathe it through my aching lungs.
“Hi,” she says. Her voice sweet and soft … and painful.
I feel a surprising jolt of anger toward her.
Nothing for three f**king months, and she just shows up here unannounced. Screw the fact that I’ve been dreaming about this very thing happening for three months, I’m still f**king pissed. I’m beyond pissed.
I turn and walk away, putting myself behind the reception desk.
I need a barrier between us to stop me from doing something stupid. Like getting down to my knees and begging her to take me back.
She stays by the door, unsure eyes on me. She looks so tiny and fragile. It makes me want to go to her … hold her.
I grip hold of the desk to steady myself.
Dozer is on her, nudging his head at her leg, desperate for her attention.
“Hey buddy.” Her eyes leave me, and she bends down to stroke him. “Look at your leg, all healed.”
Yeah, well it has been THREE FUCKING MONTHS!
She wraps her arms around his neck, hugging him. “I missed you,” she whispers to him.
She missed him! What the f**k about me?
I scrub my hands over my face, exhaling through my feelings. “Why are you here, Mia?”
She looks up at me, slowly rising to stand. The crestfallen look on her face is like a knife to my chest.
Her hands are shaking. She wraps her arms around herself.
“I read your letter, and the song … I listened to the song. All the way here, in fact,” she adds quietly.
I cross my arms over my chest. “You mean the letter I sent two and a half months ago.”
She bites her lip. “I only read it this morning. I was afraid … afraid there would be something in it that would bring me back here. And I couldn’t come back then. I had to figure a way to get past everything I was feeling, complete my treatment. In hindsight, I wish I’d read it straight away. But the moment I did … the moment I heard that song … I checked out and drove straight here.”
“Why?”
She takes a step closer. “Because … I hoped you’d still be waiting.”
I tighten my arms, and my stance. Every muscle in my body locked. “Why?”
She closes her eyes. “So I could tell you the one thing I didn’t when we were at the hospital.”
I stare at her expectedly.
“That I love you … I’m in love with you, Jordan.”
She loves me?
I can’t speak. Or think. Or move.
You know when you’ve been waiting to hear the one thing from the one person who matters most, and then they say it and it freezes you to the spot with fear.
Yeah, I’m about there right now.
The silence between us is blistering with pain and confusion and want.
Then I find my voice. “So you came here to tell me you love me?”
I watch her wipe a tear away with her hand. She nods, tugging on her lower lip, twisting it nervously. “Yes. I needed you to know that. And … also … to see if you have a room … for me?”
And there it is. I should have f**king guessed.
“You’re the tourist … you went to see Beth first?” I don’t know why, but knowing that is really pissing me off.
Her eyes drift from me. “I got here and I was afraid. I thought maybe you might have changed your mind … that your feelings for me might have changed after all this time, maybe … there was someone else…” Her eyes come back to me. “I guess I panicked, so I went to the diner in the hope Beth would be there and I could ask her.”
“And what did she tell you?”
She runs her hands nervously down her clothes. “That you … you haven’t moved on.”
“Yeah. Well, Beth was wrong. I have moved on. Moved on majorly, in fact. And I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here.”