“Maybe we should fight more often, if that’s the result,” I said. “Think about it. If you ever want me to propose, all you have to do is start an argument with me. I clearlylovearguing.”
“Noted,” Alex replied, laughing.
We drove past the old gas station and turned right onto a street marked as a dead end.
“Isn’t this the road to the closed hotel?” I asked, turning my head as we passed the sign, as if the back of it could confirm it.
“Yup.”
The winding road beneath the towering trees was famous. It wasn’t like I came here often when the hotel was still open, but since it had a decent restaurant, it was where our family held reunions until it closed.
The building at the end of the road had scaffolding all around it. A container full of construction materials stood beside the cul-de-sac leading to the main entrance. Now, it made sense why Nicholas said they had built a spa.But good luck opening a hotel in this dead town.
We parked behind a gray minivan, and the moment Alex turned off the engine, I kissed him—a short but heated kiss to show him how much I liked how our evening was shaping up.
As we made our way toward the main entrance, I grabbed Alex’s hand. He glanced at it, slowing his pace.
“Trial boyfriends can hold hands,” I explained.
“True,” he replied, rearranging his fingers to hold mine back. “Does that mean I can also tell my friends about our music? If we’re going full boyfriend mode?”
“Of course. It’s not like we can keep that a secret for long anyway.”
The glass double doors opened, and a guy as tall as the frame with short brown hair appeared in the doorway, whom I recognized as Nicholas on my second glance. He was already wearing bathing shorts with palm trees printed on them and a loose white shirt.
“Welcome, welcome! You’re the first to arrive.” He beamed at us like a proud dad about to meet his son’s boyfriend for the firsttime. His eyes flicked to our joined hands. “Nice to see you again, Sebastian.”
“Nice to see you again, too.”
“Come on in.” He held the door wide open for us.
The hotel’s foyer had undergone a complete transformation. It used to be all dark wooden paneling, a red carpet, and lots of creepy paintings. Now the floor was covered in cream-coloured tiles that reminded me of movies from the 1920s. The walls were covered in light oak paneling with built-in indirect lighting strips, giving the space a modern, sophisticated feel.
While the right half of the floor was still covered in plastic sheeting to protect the work already done from additional construction, the left side of the room looked ready to open tomorrow. It was set up like a café, with ten tables of various sizes, separated from the entrance by healthy-looking palm trees. Next to it was a small shop with a coffee bar and empty food displays. Even though it wasn’t finished, and the shop’s shelves were still empty, I could already imagine how magnificent it would turn out. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I had been teleported to a trendy hotel in L.A. or New York.
“Wow, this has changed a lot since the last time I was here,” I said, craning my neck to get a better look at the back of the room.
“Two years of work, yes.” Nicholas puffed out his chest proudly, his smile widening. “So I take it you’re a native Seastonian?”
“Psst!” I brought my index finger to my mouth and leaned closer to Nicholas. “Don’t let myboyfriendknow.”
“Well, that’s a word I didn’t expect to hear so soon.”
We both glanced at Alex, who stood with his back to us, studying the store layout as if he weren’t paying attention to our conversation.
“But in all honesty, what a transformation,” I added. “Wonderful job. I’ve stayed in quite a few hotels in my life, and this looks like a place I would enjoy coming back to regularly.”
“Thank you. People like you are part of our target group, so it’s good to hear that.”
A rumble from the back, followed by the plastic sheeting on the floor flaring up, caused us to turn around. A guy wearing an eye patch, black bathing shorts, and an open dark blue shirt that showed off his chest muscles joined us.
“Hey, guys,” he said.
“This is my husband, Jason,” Nicholas explained, then pointed at me. “And this is Sebastian.”
“Sebastian?” Jason narrowed the eye that wasn’t covered. “You look somewhat familiar.”
He did, too—and not just from the horror prank video. “Yeah. I think we met years ago, before I moved away. You’re the one who took over the gas station, aren’t you?”
