The doors hissed open, and one by one, the tour group began filing into the lobby.
Noah had said his mom would come around eventually. That I shouldn’t worry. That everything would be fine.
But the second Mrs. Grady stepped through the doorway, I knew he’d been wrong.
She froze mid-step, eyes finding Noah first—just him—and then dropping to our joined hands.
Her smile came a second too late. And when it did, it was too bright. Too practiced.
“Noah. Sweetheart,” she said, her voice pitched slightly higher than usual. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until Vegas.”
Noah didn’t even flinch. “Change of plans.” He gave my hand a small squeeze.
“But…the kayaking trip…” She blinked, visibly recalculating. “They told me you would be on the river until Friday.”
“I decided not to go.”
“You…what?” she asked, but quickly recovered, smoothing her expression. “I mean—oh. I see. You decided not to go.”
It was the first time I’d seen her truly flustered.
Tay strolled in behind her, casually pretending not to notice the unfolding drama, though the way she pointedly avoided eye contact with either of us made it clear she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped arrange our little escape.
“It was too much, Mom,” Noah said, calm but unbudging. “And I appreciated it. But I couldn’t abandon this crew, now could I?”
And by this crew, all three of us knew he meant…me.
“I just… I thought—” Mrs. Grady’s eyes met mine, and I saw something shift in her.
Not anger.
But definitely not warmth.
Because yes, I had also been suspiciously absent from the bus today. And now I was standing here, with her son.
Her expression said, so that’s what this is.
So much for the bonding we ‘d done on the train a few days ago!
I untangled my fingers from Noah’s, gently, sensing the storm brewing under her polite exterior.
“I’ll meet you…upstairs?” I said quietly, catching his gaze. I didn’t say our room, though that was what it was. Not his or mine. Ours. Because we’d already decided we’d only use one.
But saying as much in front of his mother now wouldn’t help anything.
And whatever conversation needed to happen between them, it wasn’t one I needed to witness. Not with this thing between the two of us still so…up in the air.
Noah’s eyes searched mine for a moment. “I won’t be long.”
And maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea for me to take a breather anyway. For me to reevaluate what I was thinking. What I was feeling.
But only for a little while.
Even though time was running out. Or maybe because time was running out.
I turned and headed toward the elevator, but before the doors closed, Babs dashed on to join me.
And she wasn’t laughing or joking like I’d expected. Instead, Babs—my Babs!—was frowning. “She just worries about him,” she said after the doors had closed. “What with his divorce, and the problems he’s having at work. She’s afraid he isn’t thinking straight… And that boy is all she has.” She touched my arm. “Impossible to understand when you don’t have kids of your own. That’s what Evel…everyone—everyone who’s a parent says, anyway.”
