She handed over two room keys. “Try to stay on schedule tomorrow.”
He took them with a nod, then turned to me. For a second, it looked like he might say something else.
Then the phone buzzed again.
“I’ve gotta take this,” he said. “Thanks for coming with me.”
Of course, he had to take the call. He’d spent all day with me. That was more than enough. We’d had a good time…
But honestly? I needed a reset, too. A deep breath. A step back.
So I smiled. “Thanks for asking.” Light and easy. “Go. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
He nodded. After one last look, he turned and disappeared into the elevator.
I glanced down at my room key, but before I could start second-guessing being on my own again, Babs swept in out of nowhere.
Dressed in another purple tracksuit—darker this time, with a hint of sparkle—her gray hair frizzed around her face like she’d shampooed it and let it go wild. But her lipstick was bold and bright, and she looked as fresh as she had that morning.
“There you are!” she said, beaming. “See, Tay? Didn’t I tell you? Just two young people out on the town together.”
No symptoms of a stroke. Collective or otherwise.
Tay rolled her eyes, still visibly annoyed, but something in her softened when she looked at me. “Just please, let someone know if you plan on skipping out again. If you don’t mind.”
“Definitely,” I said.
“No harm, no foul,” Babs chirped, already looping her arm through mine. “You must be starving. Or did you and Noah grab dinner?”
“We didn’t.”
I might have ducked out to my room if she hadn’t already started steering me toward a table at the back of the bar.
“They serve a full menu here, and I’ve been waiting for you. To thank you again. That massage. It was heavenly!”
“I’m glad. But Babs, you didn’t have to wait for me.”
She waved that off. “I just thought it’d be nice for you and me to have dinner together. That’s all.”
Well, I couldn’t say no to that. It was probably a good idea for me to have an actual meal anyway, considering I hadn’t eaten anything but junk food since the soup I’d had way back in… Was that Granby?
I was already losing track of where we’d been.
The server came—a young woman with a slick ponytail, wearing an all-black uniform. Babs and I both ordered their signature chicken salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio, and the server left us with a couple of ice waters.
Once we were alone again, Babs sighed, stretching her legs. “Not sure what relaxed me more—the massage or the caves. Nature works better than half the medicine they throw at us these days.”
I smiled faintly, trying to shift away from all the tangled feelings left over from the day. About Noah.
About the way I was handling things. The way I should handle things.
But Babs caught the flicker of something on my face.
She leaned in. “How was your outing with our Doctor Noah?” She said his name with exaggerated care, her red-framed glasses dipping with each eyebrow waggle.
I rolled my eyes, though my heart definitely fluttered. “It was…fun,” I said, too quickly. “Nice. We had a nice day. We just went to the Adventure Park—rode the gondola, a rollercoaster. Took a cave tour.” Talked. A lot.
“It’s good,” I added. Had I said that already? “We’re becoming friends—exactly what I need right now, actually.” I reached for my water glass, dragging a fingertip through the condensation.
