He had never been so glad that no one outside his own head could hear his inner horse. Especially Maggie, at the moment.
“You two can have the room,” Maggie said to Sam, which immediately caused his stallion to switch its tone entirely.
No, absolutely not, we cannot take a nice bed while our mate sleeps in an OUTBUILDING.
However difficult it was to think with a stallion stamping its hooves in his head, Sam agreed with it. There was no chance he was going to settle down in a comfortable room while Maggie had to make do with improvised accommodations elsewhere. However, he wasn’t willing to consign his daughter to a makeshift bed in a storage building, either.
“How awkward would it be for you two to share for the night?” Sam asked. “They said they could bring up a cot when it was going to be me and Charlie ...”
Maggie looked stunned. So did Charlie. Sam ran his words back and realized that he had just suggested that his daughter share a room with a known criminal.
“I—wouldn’t mind if you and Charlie don’t,” Maggie said slowly. “She can have the bed. But ... I don’t know if ...”
“No way,” Charlie said.
“What else is there?” Sam asked.
“I can only think of two other places we can put you for sure,” Mauro said. “We can take one more person in my and Hester’s living space, as long as you don’t mind sleeping on a cot in our bedroom. Other than that, or a room with no heat, the best option I can think of is the generator shed.”
Sam definitely was not having his daughter sleep on a cot in a married couple’s bedroom. “What’s the generator shed like?”
“Dad!” Charlie protested.
“It’s heated for equipment storage, so you’ll be warm enough. There are no bathroom facilities, and not much privacy?—”
“Okay, yeah, no, I’m not sleeping in a shed with no bathroom,” Charlie said. She heaved a sigh and looked at Maggie. “This is fine. It’s better thanthat.”
Sam took his daughter’s arm and steered her a few steps away, holding up a finger to indicate one moment to the others.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, Dad. I’m sure.” She looked at him pleadingly. “Can’t you stay too?”
Sam imagined sharing a room with Maggieandhis teenage daughter. “Not tonight, but I don’t think kicking her out on short notice is right, either.”
“I guess not.” Along with intense stubbornness, Charlie had a deeply ingrained sense of right and wrong; he had always loved that in her. “I’ll be fine. She said I can have the bed.”
“Okay, but remember, if anything happens that you’re uncomfortable with, anything at all, you can turn into a mountain goat and she turns into a bird, so just?—”
“Shift and parkour down the wall. Got it.”
“Well, I was going to say shift and go find an adult to help, but yeah, that too. We’ll both get on the hotel wifi, so you can text me to touch base before bed.”
Charlie shrugged and nodded.
They rejoined the others. “Did you work something out?” Mauro asked.
“Yeah,” Sam said. “Maggie, you and Charlie will be sharing, provided they can find a second bed. She has all her stuff with her.”
Maggie turned a curious gaze on Charlie. She had amazing eyes, Sam couldn’t help noticing—gray with hints of green. Summer stormcloud eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I said I was, didn’t I?” Charlie said crankily. “And I’m starving. Did we miss dinner?”
“You did,” Mauro said, looking apologetic all over again. “But I can have something sent up, along with a cot. Sam, if you come with me, we’ll get you settled.”
Sam put an arm around Charlie and kissed the top of her head. “Remember, anything at all?—”
“Anything at all,” Charlie agreed. She gave him an awkward side-hug back.
