Maybe knowing Mom was here before and knew some of these people amps up my anxiety—what if I disappoint her?
“The room is yours for the summer. Unless you decide to leave earlier, in that case, you really can’t stand us anymoreand need to flee.”
Sixty-one. Puncturing the bubble that sucked me in, I say, “What?”
“I had a feeling I lost you there.” Milo comments, a genuine grin tucked to his lower face.
I grin back, glancing at him once, “Sorry, must be the drive.” I focus on the mahogany doors of the two-story motel, and the silver railings that cross the second floor.
“Understandable. I’ll show you the setting tomorrow morning. You can rest now.” He extracts a key from his knee-length, navy pants pocket and opens the first door on the right.
Signaling me to check the room, “I assume you ate when you arrived, right?” he asks.
“Yeah, I couldn’t help myself. I was starving.” I pace inside, happy to see a bed, a small table and a chair, a bathroom, and an air conditioner—everything I need. “It’s great. I’ll take it!” I joke and we chuckle in unison.
He dangles the key before he tosses it to me and I catch it.
“If you need anything, don’t hesitate. You have my number or you can drop by the store at any hour.”
“Will do.” I nod. “Thanks, Milo.”
After he leaves, I place my backpack on the nightstand and sink into the mattress, stretching my stiff bones. With each movement I make, the bed creaks beneath me. Yet it doesn’t bother me in the slightest when a yawn entraps my mouth so I close my eyelids for a moment.
A loud bang from outside startles my sleepless form.My pulse skyrockets, hearing another one that follows. The whimpering sound outside my window causes me to jump out of my creaking bed and investigate the noise.
Stepping outside my room, I close the door behind me and then lock it. If some asshole is trying to peep through my window to see me naked or something, I’m going to run him over with my bike. The levels of capacity that I have to deal with this shit are none, as of non-existent. I just arrived here and I’m not in the mood for assholes with no boundaries.
I shove the key into the back pocket of my jeans.
The skies are a calming midnight blue, indicating I slept for a few good hours.
The convenience store in the distance is open and the big electrical sign that stretches across the front of it projects colorful logos and commercials in a loop as different groups are still out there chatting, drinking, and eating.
Where did the bang come from?
At night the patches of palm trees that are scattered in different areas are lit by green and yellow LEDs. The Bar’s neon sign projects a warm orange, red, and yellow glow from afar.
I round the perimeter of the motel wondering if the bang came from back here. I search for an animal on the ground that might be responsible for the sound when my body slams against a hard one for the second time today.
“Shit,” I say as he steadies me. The impact blurs the trail of rocks and plants I scanned and the pang in my chest is brutal, aches from the gear he wears. “Where did you come from?”
“You have a way of leaving a strong impression, don’t you?”
That voice.
Plus the mention.
I tilt my face up but all I get is yet another disappointing vision of him under the helmet. “You again,” I say dryly. “You seem to be everywhere.”
“You seem to like bumping into me everywhere.” He pulls away to check me from head to toe. “Did I wake you?” He prods himself in the chest and the eagle tattoo that trails across his knuckles disappears underneath the sleeve of his jacket.
“Yeah, you kind of did.” I place my hands on my hips.
“I helped someone who forgot her suitcase and bags out here, being a good samaritan you know.”
I give him my deadpan expression. “How chivalrous of you.”
“I thought so.”
