I couldn’t meet his eyes.
His fingers slipped beneath my chin, gently lifting my face until I looked up at him.
“We’re done with the conference tonight,” he said suddenly.
I blinked. “But I need the hours.”
“I know,” he said firmly. “You’ll get them. We have more classes in the morning.”
I hesitated. “But, Jay?—”
His hand fell away from my chin. “You’re not going back in there right now, Hope.”
The certainty in his voice made my chest ache again. If I were being honest, I really didn’t want to return.
“Come on,” Jay said, already turning toward the hotel. “We’re checking in.”
We returned to the front desk, and the woman who had greeted us earlier smiled when she saw us approach.
“Checking in?”
“Yes,” Jay said. “Reservation under Alarcón.”
She nodded and began typing on her computer. “One moment, please.”
A few minutes went by, filled only by the sound of her fingers tapping against the keyboard.
After a few more minutes, when nothing happened, I started to feel a sliver of impatience. I really just wanted to get into my room so I could shower and shake off the whole seeing Dr. Pike thing. What was taking so long?
The front desk woman’s smile faltered, morphing into something tighter.
“I’m so sorry,” she finally said. “It looks like there’s been an issue with the reservation.”
Jay’s brow furrowed. “What kind of issue?”
“Well,” she said carefully, “your booking isn’t showing two rooms. We’ve had some issues through one of the third-party sites, and it looks like it’s saying you only booked one.”
“Can I book another room now?” Jay asked.
“With the conference this week, I’m afraid we don’t have any more rooms available. I’ve checked our system,and I’ve refreshed it twice. Unfortunately, one room is all we have under your reservation.” The woman looked a little pale.
I felt disappointment thread through me, and I started to prepare myself for a long drive back to Big Bear and stifled a groan.
Jay sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Is there a couch? A chair?”
The woman hesitated. “The room is a king,” she said. “But there is a small pull-out sofa.”
Jay exhaled slowly, then turned to me. “Do you want to drive home?”
I shook my head immediately. “Not really…”
He turned back to the desk. “We’ll take it.”
I blinked. “Jay?—”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa bed,” he said calmly, as if it had never been in question. “You’ll take the bed.”
I sucked in a breath. “You don’t have to do that.”
