“Want to get a hotel room?”
Dusty glared at Aaron. “Separate rooms.”
“You paying?” He raised an eyebrow.
She pressed her lips together hard. “Separate beds then.”
“I think we passed one a few minutes ago that had a vacancy sign, should we try that one?”
“Good as any, I guess.” She was dark at having to spend money she didn’t have on a room for the night, but also dreaded how the hell she was going to tell Blaise about sharing a room with Aaron. She’d rather risk spending the night sleeping in the ute.
“You don’t have to tell Blaise. I’ll keep it a secret.” Aaron steered the ute back onto the main road, along the way they had come.
“This isn’t a situation which is secret.” His comment irked her. Aaron was an opportunist, and this was going to be a long night that she could well do without.
He parked the ute at the reception area at the hotel. It looked dark and dingy. “Maybe we won’t eat here,” he suggested.
She was going to agree to that. “Take away sounds like a good idea.”
They got out of ute. It felt weird to Dusty to lock the door before walking into reception. That was something she only ever did when in the big cities.
A large man at the desk greeted them with a smirk on his face. His blue T-shirt was dirty and worn, faded with too many washes, and tattoos flowed over his arms. The place stank of stale cigarettes and beer. This was the last place she wanted to stay.
“Room for a few hours?”
“The whole night,” said Dusty.
He raised an eyebrow. “$250.”
She gulped. That was way too much. Her budget was going to have to be cut back dramatically with the very expensive new bearing she had to buy for the harvester.
“Twin share,” she added.
“Only got a queen size available.”
Of course, she thought to herself. Things were getting worse instead of better. She felt her cell vibrate in her pocket, and she took it out.
She smiled. It was Blaise. “I gotta take this,” she said quickly to Aaron, then she slipped outside to finally talk to Blaise. “How’s your dad?” she asked as she accepted the call on her cell.
“Banged up pretty bad. Both legs and one arm broken. He was in surgery last night, and a bit of concussion.”
“Far out.”
“Yeah, he’ll be all right, though. What about you? Got the… what was it again?”
“Bearing.” She inhaled slowly, it was better to confess straight up. He’d find out anyway. Aaron would make sure of that.
“That’s right, the bearing. On your way back?”
“Slight problem.”
“Oh?”
“The store’s closed. We have to wait until morning before we can get the bearing.”
The silence from Blaise unnerved her.
“We’re getting a hotel room, so we can rest up, sleep before the trip back tomorrow. Got no choice really.” She blurted the words out before she lost her courage.
