I peeked behind me just in time to see the guy who’d walked in nod. But then he frowned, looking confused.
And sexy.
But mostly confused.
Okay, no. It was definitely mostly sexy, but I tried not to notice because he also definitely wasn’t Daryl—we’d exchanged pictures, so I knew for sure—and he also had a wedding ring on, so he must be someone else’s Daddy.
Or he might be a boy? Although that was hard to imagine, since he looked exactly the way I’d always pictured a Daddy looking, but it wasn’t like I was any kind of expert and besides, people didn’t always have to look like what they were.
Or maybe theydidalways look like what they were, and the problem was what we assumed certain types looked like?
The man’s eyes met mine and I looked away fast, flushing with embarrassment and hoping he wouldn’t realize I’d been thinking so hard about him. Especially the “sexy” part.
I clutched my backpack in front of me like a shield, trying hard not to feel like I’d already failed before the weekend had even started. No matter how attractive this new Daddy was—
I mean, this other man.
Who was obviously married.
Anyway, no matter how attractive the married-man-who-was-not-Daryl was, Darryl was the one who’d invited me here and it felt disloyal to be ogling other men when what I really wanted was to be special to a Daddy who’d think I was special, too. And even if Darryl hadn’t seemed to think I was all that special online, he was at least giving me a chance, so… so I’d do better.
I dug my fingers into my backpack, finding the soft give of Teddy inside, and stopped thinking about the married man altogether.
“This isn’t The Plazerra?” he was asking Sam, something about his voice sending a shiver up my spine that I ignored, too.
“It is!” Sam answered him, shooting me a conspiratorial wink that, just for a second, made it feel like wewerereally friends. “Rene and I were just talking about its nickname, though.”
Instead of asking Sam why it had been nicknamed the Purple Plum, his eyes locked onto mine.
“Rene,” he said softly, which made me shiver again, but harder. He didn’t say it like he was asking or like he expected me to respond, more like he was repeating my name to memorize it or something. Which was… well, it was weird, maybe?
But for some reason, I liked it.
“Hi,” I said, my heart suddenly racing like a scared rabbit and the way he smiled in response almost inspiring me to give him a silly little wave, too—just like Sam had done with me earlier.
That would have looked dumb, though, so it was a good thing my hands were too full of my backpack. And before I could do anythingelsedumb—because the married guy wasn’t Daryl, and what was I evendoing?—Sam whispered a quiet “oh, shit” from behind me that didn’t sound anything like his upbeat tone from before.
I whirled back around to face him, just in time to see him glaring at his computer screen with an angry expression that looked totally out of place on his freckled face. Then his eyes snapped up to mine, and he cringed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my hands suddenly clammy and my chest tightening with anxiety, all thoughts of the shivery Daddy behind me forgotten as the much more familiar feelings rushed through me.
“Um,” Sam said, his eyes suddenly full of sympathy. “So, I… I emailed you?”
“What?”
My chest felt even tighter, even though I didn’t know what kind of disaster this was yet.
Sam’s hands shot out, grabbing both of mine. “I am so,sosorry, Rene. I emailed yesterday, and I should have remembered as soon as you said your name, but you… you didn’t get it? The email? I tried to call, too, when I noticed you hadn’t replied today, but…”
But my phone had died.
I shook my head, his words still not making sense. Why had he emailed me yesterday at all? We hadn’t even met yet then. I’d been busy working, and I’d had to swing by the library after to print out the directions and the reservation, and then arrange things for my mom with Mr. Olson and making sure the fridge was stocked for her and pick up her prescriptions and… and… and pack.
It had been a lot, and why was Sam looking at me like that?
“You’re having trouble finding my reservation?” I guessed, since it was exactly the worst-case scenario I’d tried to plan for.
“No,” Sam said, which didn’t actually make me feel any better since he was still giving me that sad look. “The thing is…” He swallowed, then the rest of his words all fell out in a hot rush. “We’re fully booked, because this weekend is going to beamazing, right? I still can’t believe we were able to partner with Cuffd! But it’s just that, um, all our rooms are taken, and you—”
