“Here,” he said, opening his own door. “You take this room, and I’ll sort this out downstairs.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, knowing he’d be a gentleman and do as he said.
“Yes, you get some rest. We have a big morning.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said, watching him drag his suitcase back.
I walked into my room, grateful to be alone to process everything. I took out my outfit for the next morning right away and plugged in the iron, deciding every single little crease needed to be ironed away.
A few minutes later, there were various thuds and a conversation outside my door. I looked out the peephole and saw that Colin was with the hotel worker who had checked us in.
I opened the door.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My door isn’t opening, and they have no other rooms. The maintenance worker won’t be here until tomorrow,” Colin said, a note of exasperation in his voice.
The worker apologized profusely and offered to call the hotel next door to see if they had availability.
I rolled my eyes. “We’ll share,” I said.
Colin’s eyes flew to mine.
I nodded. “We can share,” I reiterated. Then I spoke directly to the hotel worker, who looked like he might die of embarrassment. “Cancel that room. Thanks for trying.”
Colin thanked the worker and followed me into what was nowourroom.
Suddenly, the air felt different in there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I’m sorry,” Colin said. “I didn’t planthis.”
“No, I don’t think you’re that much of a mastermind to have us booked in a sold-out hotel and to have the door jammed.”
He laughed playfully. “It’s funny, though. One might take it as a sign that we should be together.”
I returned to my ironing and ignored his comment.
I wanted to laugh. To lean into his jokes. To revel in the idea that we were in a hotel room together. There was the potential to quite literally jump into bed together and get lost in each other.
Just as we’d done so exquisitely on Brightwater Island.
But I was scared. Oh, so scared. How many nights had I cried myself to sleep at my mom’s? How deeply had I forced myself numb simply to function?
And now it was starting to break, the resolve I had built to stay guarded. I ironed forcefully to bring it back, but the stinging at the back of my eyes took away all of my strength. My arm physically couldn’t hold the iron anymore, and I set it down. My head hung down, and the tears I’d held in for weeks surfaced in the most humiliating way.
“What’s wrong?” Colin asked.
Before I could try to compose myself, he was in front of me, holding me and stroking my back reassuringly.
“Oh, Colin… I’ve missed you so much,” I said into his shirt, and I wasn’t sure he’d understood me. He continued to slide his hand along my back in a comforting gesture.
His fingers found the nape of my neck. Then they moved through my hair and up to my scalp, where he massaged gently before trailing back down to my shoulders.
“Please tell me you can forgive me,” he whispered down into my ear. “I’d love nothing more than to kiss away your tears.”
If he hurts me again, I don’t think I’ll survive it.
