“Maybe room service tonight?”
“Good idea.”
“What would you like?”
He waved a lazy hand through the air. “Order whatever. I’ll eat anything.”
I walked toward the other side of the room, picked up the house phone and put in an order. Softly, “Two steak dinners with loaded baked potatoes and side salads with ranch on the side. Two chocolate lavas. A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. And do you have popcorn?”
The man on the other end of the line said the gift shop sold microwave popcorn. And caramel popcorn balls special for the holidays.
“Can you bring over the microwave popcorn with our order?”
“Sure.”
The room came with a small fridge and microwave. We’d stocked in drinks earlier. Sodas and water.
“It will be about forty-five minutes,” the man said.
“Fine.”
When I returned to the couch, Aspen was asleep, his mouth slightly open. I grabbed the blanket he’d dropped on the bed and gently covered him.
Then I picked up my tablet and went back to the bed, lying back against the pillows. I entertained myself with some online puzzle games as I waited for our dinner to arrive.
The fire began to die but I let it. I didn’t want to disturb Aspen.
Finally, there was a knock at the door. “Room service,” someone called out.
I got up, looking over my shoulder to see Aspen stir. I opened the door to a bundled-up guy. He had a warming cart which I immediately wondered how he’d gotten up the porch steps. Then I realized it was a deep container. He could wrangle it without anything falling off.
He wheeled it into our cabin. By then, Aspen was standing and bending back to stretch.
“Is that dinner?”
“Yep.”
I signed for the food and tip, then shut the door.
I rolled the cart beside the coffee table in front of the couch and started unloading. Everything was on trays, so it was easy. They’d even supplied stemware made of real glass for the wine.
I set everything out.
Aspen rubbed his palms together. “This looks great.” He pulled a plastic toothpick from his steak and read it. “Rare. Exactly what I would have ordered.”
After pouring the wine, I sat and took the other tray onto my lap. I hadn’t been the one who’d gone for a run, but I was starving.
“Would you like a movie with dinner?”
“Sure.” Aspen was already digging in. “Whatever you want.”
I found a movie we could rent. A new Christmas movie. My budget had been expanded by sharing cabin rent, so I didn’t care about the price. I clicked on it, and it started.
A great meal. A magical movie. Good company. This was my idea of a great vacation.
We finished every bite and paused the movie to clean up. I grabbed the bags of popcorn and waved them. “For later.”
Aspen clutched at his stomach. “Couldn’t eat another bite.”
