“Yes. I do have one room that’s available. It’s not as upgraded as the room you booked; therefore, I’ve already put in a fifty percent refund to the card you used to book the room with.”
I nodded and looked at Taylor. We had no choice but to accept the room.
“That’ll be fine. We just need to get some food and then to bed,” I said. The man set our passports on the counter with the key cards and two postcards.
“These two vouchers are good for the restaurant next door. Unfortunately, our restaurant here in the hotel closes at ten, but these vouchers will cover your meals.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Yes, thank you,” Taylor added.
“Would you like to leave your bags here at the front desk while you go next door to eat?”
I glanced at Taylor. Neither of us wanted to leave our bags out of sight.
“It’s alright. They’re very lightweight, and my wife has her medication packed. She needs to take her pill before she eats.”
The clerk smiled and left it at that.
“Very well. If you go out the main lobby doors straight ahead and make a right, the restaurant is a short walk away. When you return, the elevator to the rooms is over there.” I glanced in the direction of where he pointed. “The room number is on the back of the key cards.”
“Thank you,” I said and then pulled my luggage away from the front desk. I handed Taylor the vouchers for the restaurant before I put our passports and the room keys in the pocket inside my coat. “Ready?” I asked her.
“Yes. I need to take my pill,” she said under her breath. As soon as we stepped outside, she asked, “What happened to keeping it simple?”
“What? That was simple.”
“Really? You call the elaborate story info dump simple?”
“Gotta give them a little,” I said. I pulled open the door to the restaurant and gestured for her to walk in ahead of me.
“Giving a little would have been a simple greeting and a quick question about the weather. Telling the guy that you love hockey and how I basically sit on the couch all day and watch reality TV is going overboard.”
A server hurried over to greet us when she saw us walk in. She showed us to a table and then offered us menus. I quickly picked up a menu and skimmed it to the drinks section. I recognized the Coca-Cola logo and ordered a Coke.
“I’ll have a Coke too, please. And I’ll have a bowl of the tomato soup and the turkey sandwich, please,” Taylor said as she handed the server her menu.
I scanned my menu. I wasn’t prepared to order so quickly. It’d been a long day, though, so I understood why she wanted to move this along. We needed rest to be ready for tomorrow.
“I’ll have what she’s having, please.” After the server walked away, I shot a warning glance at Taylor, daring her to touch that hand sanitizer bottle she set on the table.
“Fine. I’ll eat with dirty hands in a foreign country. Then when I get sick, I’ll breathe all over you.” Taylor pocketed the sanitizer bottle.
“You ordered quickly,” I commented. And it was more for the sake of polite conversation than to make a jab at her.
“Don’t blame me for being able to make a decision,” she said. “Thank you,” Taylor said to the server as she set the two Cokes on the table.
“Three things. One, I wasn’t blaming you.” I put the straw in my glass and took a long sip.Fuck, it tasted so good. “Two, I have no problem making quick decisions on all things that matter. And three…” I paused to take another long sip from the glass. “I will blame you if I don’t like my dinner.”
The corners of her mouth curved upward, and I smiled too.
“The military taught me to make a quick decision when facing options.”
“Damn. You treat dinner as though it’s a military decision. We’ll see if you’re that quick to decide when you take me out to dinner when we get back to Vail.”
Taylor rolled her eyes at me but quickly recovered just in time as the server set our bowls of soup down. She set a basket of packaged crackers between us and said, “Your sandwiches will be out in a few minutes.”
“This is almost laughable,” I said as I reached for the crackers.
