Not that I had romantic ideas about Noah.
I shifted restlessly, pulling the covers tighter around me.
I’d said no to that drink without even thinking. After six years with Leo, declining something as casual as a late-night cocktail with a guy had become instinct—just another quiet reflex from the habit of being someone’s other half.
But Leo wasn’t here.
I might as well have gone down to the bar—I wasn’t falling asleep.
And Noah’s offer had been innocent. A gesture of friendship.
And still, instead of simply saying “no thanks,” I snapped at him. Like he was trying to manage me.
Good gravy.
I groaned and pressed my palms to my eyes.
It wasn’t that my reaction didn’t make sense in my head. It just came out all wrong. Sharper. Louder. Like something I’d been holding in had broken loose.
My mother loved to say I was overly dramatic.
Luna’s my little firecracker, she’d tell people. I never know what to do with her. She feels everything at full volume.
Leo, at least, had phrased it more gently. You’ve got flair, babe. That’s what I love about you.
But how many times had he suggested I was overreacting about something?
Noah probably thought I was completely unhinged.
And maybe I was. I could have said yes. I should have said yes. At the very least, I shouldn’t have jumped down his throat.
Only half-watching the sitcom on my phone, I quietly spiraled into a loop of regret and overthinking.
Then, finally, the sound of a door closing next door.
Noah was back from having his drink.
With that, I finally drifted off, the laugh track playing faintly in the background.
BEEFCAKE AND SUMMERTIME SNOW
By seven the next morning, our bus, which oddly enough was beginning to feel like home, slowly pulled away from the historic hotel. Unlike the gorgeous day before, the sky was low and gray, muting the landscape as we left the small town known as the “Gateway to the Rockies.”
The passengers around me were buzzing with conversation, their paper coffee cups steaming as they laughed and swapped stories about everyone’s ghostly encounters.
“I swear, I heard children laughing in our room.” Eddie had twisted around, her eyes wide as she gripped Ed’s arm. He nodded along, though he looked more amused than concerned. “And then my phone battery went from sixty percent to zero!”
“I caught three orbs on my camera,” Josie chimed in, holding up her phone proudly.
“We heard footsteps outside our door last night,” Denise piped up. “But when we looked, the hallway was completely empty!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just the hotel staff?” Babs asked. “I couldn’t sleep after that tour, so I ordered another piece of cheesecake from room service, and that little lady? She was in and out in a flash.”
“Could have been, I suppose,” Patty said. “But Denny heard voices.”
“Maybe there was some romance in the air.” Eddie had turned around to face me, the look in her eyes distinctively mischievous. “You’re young and single. Did you by chance order up a side of beefcake?”
Laughter rippled through the group again, and without meaning to, my eyes flicked across the aisle—right to Noah.
