Ear Holes smiled nervously. “We’d be happy to arrange for you to stay at our sister property about ten minutes west, Selina Marsh Landing. It’s not on the beach but?—”
“It sounds like the Everglades.” Maggie narrowed her eyes. “We wanted oceanfront.”
“I’m sure it’s a lovely hotel,” Jo Ellen said sweetly. “But we chose this one very specifically because we’re celebrating a milestone.”
“We are?” Maggie asked under her breath.
Jo Ellen leaned in and stage-whispered, “It’s our sixtieth anniversary of…being together.”
Maggie blinked at her, startled.
“No!” Ear Holes gasped. “You two?”
“It’s true,” Jo Ellen said brightly. “We met in college, and it was love at first sight. We’ve laughed, cried, survived heartbreak and hot flashes together. Side by side, till death do us part.” She wrapped an arm around Maggie and pointed to her. “And whenthis beautiful woman doesn’t get what she wants, death can’t be far away. For you. Don’t make my darling Maggie upset on this trip.”
He just stared from one to the other, jaw loose.
“This is the anniversary trip we’ve planned our whole lives,” Jo Ellen said.
“Wow. That’s…incredible. Congrats, ladies. You don’t see that much with women your age—not that you look old. You’re gorgeous! Good for you!”
“Oh, it’s been a celebration!” Jo was clearly high on her own fiction. “We were just in Vero Beach and had the best sea bass of our lives. And before that? Watched a real rocket launch in Titusville. Have you ever seen one of those?”
Ear Holes shook his head so hard the wide-open windows of his lobes actually quivered.
“And beforethat,” Jo Ellen said, her voice growing excited, “we went shopping in Winter Park and, oh, we met a biker named Brick who took quite a shine to my Maggie.”
Maggie coughed into her hand to keep from laughing.
Jo Ellen beamed. “So, you see, this hotel is the final cherry on top. And we’d hate to end such a beautiful trip in a parking-lot motel across the causeway.”
There was a pause.
Then—miraculously—Ear Holes tapped his keyboard again. “Let me…see something. We may have had a cancellation this afternoon.”
Jo Ellen squeezed Maggie’s hand under the counter. Maggie just turned her head so he didn’t see how badly she was trying not to laugh.
She stared at the words “Summer Never Ends” with only one thought: shecouldn’tlove Jo Ellen more.
Two minutes later, they had keycards in hand and matching lavender welcome drinks with dried orchids on top.
As they walked away, Ear Holes congratulated them again and Maggie punctuated the whole thing by draping an arm around Jo Ellen.
“Too much?” Jo murmured. “I know you hate it when I make up things to get what we want.”
“Are you kidding?” Maggie squeezed her. “Don’t make me kiss you on the lips…sweetheart.”
They giggled their way to a room that was a fever dream of Miami Beach chic with whitewashed walls, terrazzo floors, sleek wood paneling, and an enormous window with a balcony. There was a record player on the dresser and a minibar that was calling Maggie’s name.
Jo Ellen dropped her purse and flopped on the bed. “We did it, Mags. We road-tripped to Miami Beach, didn’t die, and scored a room without using any weapons. Well, one of my stories, which could be considered a weapon. Think I should write a book?”
Maggie walked to the window, pushed open the slider, and looked out at the pink-lit skyline before turning back to her friend. “You know what I think?”
Jo Ellen lifted a brow.
“I think we are still young.”
Jo Ellen grinned. “That’s because of sixty years with me, darling!”
