Chapter One
Ben
What the actual fuck?
The hotel desk clerk held my gaze with a level look, her hazel eyes scrutinizing me.
Buddy rubbed against my leg.
I did mental gymnastics. “Does that come with food?”
“Complimentary breakfast buffet.”
She patted her platinum blonde hair in its elegant chignon.
Ugh, too similar to my mother. None of the scenarios in my mind appealed. The storm that’d been threatening my entire trip up from Nanaimo had finally materialized—part of the reason my poor beagle was cowering by my legs.
So a return trip back to the ferry was out. And likely the ferry back to Vancouver would be canceled due to the high winds anyway. Authorities were threatening to close the highways.
My friend Marisa was never going to make it down here.
Damn woman.
This’d been her idea. Graduation celebration in Tofino. Winter surfing before we started our teaching careers in January. Who the hell surfed in early December? In the middle of storm season on Vancouver Island? My best friend, apparently. With whom I was supposed to be sharing the room. Sharing the expense. Eighteen months of teacher’s college had me completely tapped out.
I laid my head on the counter, revelling in the cool of the granite.
“You know I’d help if I could, Isaac.”
The other desk clerk’s quiet voice carried through my panic.
“I’ll call around to see if there’s somewhere else.”
He sounded doubtful.
“It’s okay, I can search myself. I just hoped to get home today and now it looks like I’m stuck for a few days.”
This guy was also in a predicament, I presumed.
“You do hate to be landlocked.”
The soft-spoken clerk again.
I glanced over at the Black man putting his wallet away. Surely there must be plenty of rooms available. This was the off-season. In Tofino. My gaze returned to the woman. “He can have my room.”
The man cleared his throat.
She arched a brow.
“We can, you know, sleep in my car. And head back out in the morning.”
I looked down at Buddy.
The man moved toward me, and I turned to face him.
“This storm is the first of three atmospheric rivers headed this way. It’s likely they’ll close the highway in case of flooding. You’re pretty much stuck.”
His voice was a soothing baritone.
“I can’t be stuck.”
I gazed back and forth between the clerk and the man who had a good four inches on me. “There’s got to be a cheaper place. Or maybe I can head out before the road closes.”
“And stay where? The ferry terminal?”
His brow creased.
“We have two weddings booked this weekend, but, as Mike said, we can call around to find other accommodation for you both.”
The officious clerk’s arched eyebrow didn’t move.
The man pulled out his credit card. “We’re two adult men. We can manage a room together.”
He met my gaze as I tried not to gape.
“At least if you don’t mind sharing your room. I have no problem paying.”
As he said the words, another lash of rain hit the front door.
This couldn’t be happening.
And yet it was.
Deal with it.
“Uh, yeah. I mean, thank you. I can pay half.”
Again, with the gymnastic calculations. I taught French Immersion to elementary school children, so I usually needed only basic arithmetic.
His smile was genuine, and he showed me his perfect teeth. “I get to put the expense on the company card.”
“Well, in that case, sign me up.”
He handed his card to the overbearing desk clerk.
She smiled far more benevolently than anything she’d given me. Apparently she knew the guy because a minute later she handed him a paper to sign.
I tried to glance at the signature, but couldn’t see it. Hadn’t the other clerk said the guy’s name was Isaac? “Oh, are you okay with dogs?”
A little late to be asking.
Instead of responding, the man crouched down to Buddy’s level. “Hello, little one, my name is Isaac.”
He held out his hand, palm down, knuckles bent.
I held my breath as I waited. My rescue dog sometimes was gregarious and accepting, but other times he was nervous and withdrawn.
Buddy leaned over as far as his little body could go, took a good sniff, eyed Isaac warily, and finally nudged with his cute little black-button nose.
Isaac giggled. Yes, the grown man giggled. Then he tipped his head back to meet my gaze. “I think we’re going to be okay.”
He rose and accepted the two key cards the woman handed him. He immediately gave one to me.
“Room 303,”
she said. “Ocean view.”
“Not much to see,”
I muttered, gazing out at the pouring rain.
“I’ll show you when things calm down. There’ll be lulls.”
I was dubious at this point, but willing to accept what Isaac said.
I snagged my rolling suitcase, and he hefted his rucksack.
With a click of my tongue to signal Buddy, the three of us headed to the elevator. This was going to be the longest three days of my life.