Faith laughed. “I’m sure you can do some chair exercises.” They dug into their meals, enjoying every bite. When the billarrived, Shay snatched it up and withdrew his own credit card. On the way back to the hotel, she paused and looked at him.
“How observant are you?”
“I think I’m pretty observant, why?”
“Do you realize where we are?”
He looked around, then down at her with a shrug. “Some city.” He sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t even know what state we’re in. That last gas station before we stopped for the night, I took one of the pain pills, and I heard your entire story about what happened when you raced, but I didn’t pay attention to our surroundings. I guess I’m not as observant as I thought.”
“Are you okay?” she asked in instant concern, and reached out to place her hand on his chest.
“I’ll be fine, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like to get to the room. Yes, I sat on my ass all day, but I want to remove the brace.”
“Good, then we’ll go back.” On the way, they stopped at her truck and withdrew their suitcases. Because they had already checked in, they had the keys, and didn’t have to stop. They rode all the way to the eighteenth floor, and Faith wrinkled her nose when she realized they would have a long walk.
“I’m good.” He saw her expression, and braced his crutch beneath him. “Can you take my case and go ahead?”
“Sure,” she said as she did that. When she got to the room, she looked out the windows, grinned, but closed the curtains. She looked at the beds, and froze. “Shit,” she whispered to the empty room. She had requested a room with the best view, and with two beds. There was only one, but it did have the best view. They could deal with it after they settled.
Faith stood in the doorway, with the door open, waiting for Shay, and noticed he was walking slower. She called out, he looked up, and sighed in relief. One inside, she shut and lockedthe door, but he stepped into the bathroom. She waited for him to exit, and held up her hand to stop him from going around the corner into the room.
“What? Faith, I really need to get this brace off.”
“I know, and I realize you’re tired, in pain, and not very observant. I requested this room because I wanted the view. Like I said at dinner, this town has been on my bucket list for some time. The good news is that we do have a terrific view, the bad news, there’s only one bed.”
“It is a king?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because it will be big enough for the two of us. I’m sure you won’t take up much room, and I’ve been known that once I fall asleep, especially if I’m exhausted, I don’t move.”
“Oh, okay, so, let’s go in. I want you to sit on the bed and face the curtains. I closed them because I wanted to shock you with the view.”
Because he was in pain, he indulged her and sat on the side of the bed facing the windows, and even closed his eyes when she told him to.
“Okay, you can open them.”
He did and sat there in stunned silence. It took a good thirty seconds before he picked up his crutch and hobbled to the window to look out. He looked between what was outside and her.
“Holy shit, is that the Arch? We’re in St. Louis?”
“Yes, and yes.”
He laughed as he looked back and saw the setting sun reflecting off it, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to bring her closer and kiss the side of his head. “Can we go up in it?”
“Yes, but they don’t open until nine in the morning.”
“Perfect, we can sleep in a little, pack up, enjoy the free breakfast, then go up into the arch. I guess this has been on my bucket list too.” He hugged her tighter and sighed when she wrapped her arms around him, and they both continued to watch the setting sun. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” They watched until it was dark, then he went back to the bed and removed his brace, along with a heavy sigh.
“I’m going to jump in the shower.”
“Okay, I’m going to check the weather. Call out if you need me.” She didn’t see his nod, but he said he would. Thirty minutes later, he rejoined her and saw the weather report on the TV screen.
“All good?”
“Yes, just as I predicted in Colorado, we’re following the storm. It’s in the Carolina’s now, going out to sea.”
