“What room are we staying in?” I asked Presley.
“I’m staying in a room on the fourth floor, and you’re staying in one on the second.”
“Say what now?”
“Just until someone else chooses a room on the second floor,” she said, as if that helped.
“And what does that have to do with where I’m sleeping?” She wasn’t making any sense to me.
“I want to stay in the room on the fourth floor, but Ariel chose one on the third. I want someone on the floor below Ariel. If no one chooses a room on the second floor, we’ll move down there, but I need your luggage to reserve the room I want,” she said.
“If no one picks a room on the second floor, you don’t need to worry about reserving your room,” I said. “And Ariel will be right beside your grandfather.”
“Mind your business,” Presley said jokingly.
“Are you trying to reserve two rooms?” I laughed.
“I can’t make decisions that fast. I need time to think,” she said.
“You’re an ER nurse. You can make decisions faster than most.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “I want two rooms.”
“I didn’t expect you to admit it,” I laughed and reached for her hand. “Show me our rooms, baby.”
Diceand his caravan arrived close to eight, which was also five minutes after the pizzas were delivered. I had to wait until they ate dinner, picked rooms, and unloaded their luggage to find out what happened at church. Then Alice wanted to give everyone the grand tour.
“Are you guys ready for bed? Does anyone want to watch a movie in the theater room?” Alice asked after the tour.
“I’ll fall asleep within minutes if I try to watch a movie,” Presley said. “So, I think I’ll pass on the movie tonight.” Then she turned to me. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the movie.”
“Yes, it does. I’m the princess’s guest. The guest doesn’t play in the castle without the princess.”
“No,” Presley said and shook her head. “Just no.”
“All right, for those who want to come, we’ll start the movie in fifteen minutes. For the rest of you, we’ll see you in the morning,” Alice announced.
Since Ariel wanted to stay for the movie, Presley hugged her and told her good night before we headed back to our room—on the fourth floor. Walter, Buck, and my mom were staying in separate rooms on the second floor, and Dice and his family were on the third floor with Ariel and Pop.
“I’m going to go down and talk to Dice for a few minutes,” I told Presley as she walked into the bathroom to change. “Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, I need to brush my teeth and do all the before-bed stuff, so I’ll be a minute.”
“Okay, I won’t be long,” I said and hurried down to Dice’s room.
I lightly knocked on the door so I didn’t wake London. Daphne opened the door and seemed surprised to see me. “Hey, Ink. What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to Dice.”
“He’s in the bathroom,” she said and lowered her voice. “It might be a while. He was complaining about his stomach earlier.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I groaned in frustration.
“Do you want to come in and wait?” Daphne chuckled.
“No dice.”
“Hey! That’s my phrase.”
