Chapter 28
“That was… really good,” he said.
My eyes hadn’t left my phone and they were still there as I scrolled back through the first five pages of the manuscript that Marissa, the author, had included in her email. “It was very good, Oliver.”
“Keep reading.”
“That’s all there is. It’s part of my submission requirements: just the first five pages.”
“You’ll ask for more?”
“Immediately.” I pushed the reply button on my email and typed: Such a strong start! Will you send me the rest as soon as you can? Thank you so much.—Margot “Let’s hope she’s as obsessive at checking her email as I am.”
I had been glued to my screen for most of the drive, reading the three queries that had come in right after Marissa’s.
It was like the universe was pouring out good vibes.
Each query came with the first five pages of the manuscript included.
I’d read them all out loud to Oliver and we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each.
It was nice to have a sounding board. And he was good at the job too.
Out of the three additional choices, there was one that was promising, so I had sent her a request for the full manuscript.
By the time we arrived at our hotel, I was buzzing with positive energy.
As I got out of the car, shouldered my backpack, and retrieved my suitcase from the trunk, I assessed our surroundings.
It definitely had small-town vibes. It was both picturesque, with its blue skies and yellow hills, and unremarkable at the same time.
That would be my job this weekend, to figure out what made this place unique, what could make the setting pop on the page and not just be every other generic small town.
Because my brain had been engaged the entire drive here and because before today Oliver wasn’t a part of this weekend, it took until now, heading into the hotel, to think about the sleeping arrangements for the weekend.
I must’ve hesitated as we walked to the counter just enough, because Oliver said, “I’ll get my own room.”
“What? No. Why? Kari Cross is paying. We can handle a room together, can’t we? I’ll keep my hands to myself,” I said. If you want me to, I added in my head.
“I’ll get my own,” he insisted.
I held back my frustrated sigh. So much for thinking he’d figured out how he felt. “I’ll pay you back.”
“No, you won’t,” he said.
I was waiting for the woman behind the counter to tell us there weren’t any rooms left and we would, in fact, have to share one. But the universe wasn’t in the habit of granting my storybook fantasies, because she handed us two keys.
I pocketed mine. “Are you from around here, Bree?” I asked, reading her name tag. “Or know this area well?”
“Yes, born and raised,” she said.
“Is there anywhere around here where the internet is bad? Like famously bad? Somewhere off the beaten path where people might go to hide out, make out, or bury a body?”
She just stared at me, her expression going slack.
“It’s for research,” Oliver added. “For a book. She’s not planning to bury a body.”
I smiled. “I mean, I was, but now you’ve found me out.”
“She’s kidding,” Oliver said. I wondered if I was making him uncomfortable or if he was just feeling sorry for the wide-eyed Bree.
“Yes, actually,” she said. “Lots of teens hang out at the abandoned silos just north of here because it’s a cell phone dead zone back in the hills. Their parents can’t track them.” She pulled a paper map out of a plastic holder on the counter and pointed to where I assumed these silos existed.
“Perfect. One more question, on the opposite end. What do locals do for fun?”
“Tourists are big on vineyard tours. But if you want to hang out with locals—”
“Which we do,” I assured her.
“Then I would say Boots and Spurs.” Her finger moved on the map to the center of town. “They have line dancing there tomorrow night. It gets pretty rowdy in the best way,” she said.
“We can’t wait to see what that means,” I said. “We’re there.”
“She is there,” Oliver said. “I’m just the Uber driver.”
“It’s true, he is. But when I asked him to come inside with me, he said yes. Don’t report him to corporate, okay?” I said.
He gave me a side-eye but didn’t tell her I was kidding this time.
“I won’t,” she said. “We respect our patrons’ privacy.”
“As any good hotel would.” I patted my pocket where the key was and grabbed the handle of my suitcase. “Thanks again.”
We walked away and were silent all the way to the elevator. When I pushed the button, Oliver said, “You’re the worst.”
I laughed. “Sorry, sometimes I just say whatever comes into my head. My sister says I lead with my emotions instead of my logic. Something I obviously need to work on if I want to be a shark agent and not a teddy-bear one. Her words, again.”
“I thought it was funny,” he said. “And I like teddy bears.” That last sentence he’d said under his breath, almost like he was talking to himself.
Winged creatures took flight in my stomach as I stepped inside the elevator. He pushed the button for the third floor, the highest floor of this hotel.
“Do you have a best friend, Oliver?”
“I do.”
“What’s he like?”
“He moved up to Seattle for work. Got married a couple years ago. Has a baby on the way.”
“Is that why you asked me if I’d ever been to Seattle?”
“I don’t know why I asked you that. Probably. I was nervous.”
“Do you visit Seattle a lot to see him?”
“Maybe twice a year.”
I leaned back against the railing next to him. He mimicked my position, our shoulders bumping. “You really won’t line dance with me tomorrow? For research?”
“I’m not big on making a fool of myself.”
“I’m so big on you making a fool of yourself,” I said, smiling his way. “No, but really, everyone will be doing it, so nobody will be watching you.”
“Except you,” he said.
“I’ll be recording so that I can blackmail you into deleting that voicemail of me you have.”
His throaty laugh was my favorite.
“You didn’t seem nervous, by the way,” I said. “On our second first date.”
“You make me nervous,” he said softly.
Was that a good thing?
The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
“What was with the burying-bodies question?” He put a hand on my lower back as if I didn’t know how to leave the elevator on my own. I didn’t mind the direction.
The wheels on my suitcase echoed through the empty hall as we walked. “I told you about this book, right? How the AI controls the town?”
“Oh, right. Yes, you did.”
“There’s this point where the main characters, Ana and Alan, need to talk without being listened to or detected, and right now that scene feels like it exists in white space. No real setting. I’m hoping to find some options while we’re here.”
“I see,” he said. “Abandoned silos could work.”
“They could.”
We may not have been sharing a room, but we were neighbors. We each used our key at the same time, the green lights on our respective door handles flashing together.
“Back here in thirty minutes?” I asked, indicating the hall. “And we can check this place out.” It was only three o’clock, plenty of day left to explore the even smaller surrounding towns and find the silos.
He nodded and disappeared into his room.
I flung my suitcase onto the bed, then turned in a circle.
A bathroom, desk, a mini fridge, a microwave, a king-sized bed, a slider out to a balcony, and on the wall that separated my room from Oliver’s…
a door. I walked over to it and opened it to reveal another door. I knocked.
A minute later, he opened it with a smile.
“Hi,” I said. “We have adjoining rooms. Just thought you should know.”
He laughed and I shut and locked my door.
“You’re a goof!” he called out through it.
“I know!” I called back.
I placed my palm on his closed door as if my energy could somehow convince him that he needed to drop the last of his reservations, the ones that kept him from jumping on the opportunity to share a room with me.
No, it wouldn’t be weird , he could’ve said.
Why would it be? I want to ravage you all night anyway.
I sighed and went to my suitcase on the bed, unzipping it and flopping it open. I dug around in my toiletries bag until I accepted the fact that I had forgotten my toothpaste. Audrey had a packing list she consulted before trips. I was sure she’d never forgotten her toothpaste.
I marched back over to the adjoining door, unlocked it, and swung it open, then let out a yelp when Oliver was standing in the frame, his door already opened.
“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just going to ask if you have the Wi-Fi password on your key sleeve.” He held his up. “It’s not on mine.”
“Maybe?” I walked to the dresser where I’d deposited my key. “It’s Paso7.”
“Thanks.” Then, as if remembering I had opened the door before he’d knocked, he said, “Did you need something?”
“I forgot toothpaste. Do you have some or should I ask the front desk?”
“I have some. Do you need it now?”
I nodded.
He disappeared into his room and came back with a full-sized tube of Colgate. “Didn’t you brag about being excellent at dental hygiene recently?”
“Shhh,” I teased, taking the toothpaste. “I’ll bring it right back.”
I left my side of the door open and he did the same with his as I carried the toothpaste to my bathroom.
This was going to be a hard weekend if one of us still had his walls up and the other wanted to strip down naked and splay herself across his bed to see how well he could control his hands then.
Oh how I hoped he couldn’t control them at all.
“Stop it, Margot,” I mumbled. “He’s doing you a favor. And it’s not the first one.”
“You talking to yourself?” he called.
How had he heard? “Yes,” I said.
He poked his head into my room. I peered out of the bathroom, a toothbrush hanging from my mouth.
“What are you telling yourself?” he asked.
“That I hope this place has good food,” I said.
“Me too,” he agreed.
I smiled, then picked up his toothpaste and handed it back to him. “Thanks,” I said around the toothbrush still in my mouth. “I’ll be ready in twenty.”
He shut the door between us. I went back into the bathroom, spit out the toothpaste, and rinsed out my mouth. If I didn’t wash my hair, twenty minutes was plenty of time for a cold shower.