Chapter Eleven #2
Riley asked, “Is Tia here?”
Joe shook his head. “She had something going on with her friends up in Sheridan, so I took Cammy for the weekend.”
“Dillon!” called Ana as she and Shane came running up. “There you are!”
“We’ve been waiting for you,” said Shane.
“We’re having a scavenger hunt,” Ana explained.
“What’s that?” asked Dillon.
“I will explain it,” said Ana in that all-knowing tone she took with the boys. “But right now, just come on.”
Dillon looked up at Riley. “I’m going to go, okay?”
“You bet,” Riley said. “Have fun.”
Joe reminded Ana, “You’ll keep an eye on the boys?”
“’Course, Dad. You know I always do.”
He grinned at her. “Oh yes, you do.”
“Come on you guys,” Ana announced. “Let’s play!” And off they went.
“Welcome to the Rising Sun,” Josh said as he opened a folding chair in the empty space to her left.
She met his eyes and her heart…
Well, never mind about her silly heart. It could pound away as hard as it wanted to.
He took her hand.
She made no objection. Why should she? He was her very good friend and the father of her coming baby. A baby that was no secret. Not anymore, not now that she was as big as a—well, not a house. But definitely a good-size shed.
About then, Macy returned with Riley’s ginger ale.
Riley accepted the cold can and took a drink. “Thanks. Just what I needed.”
For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, Josh stayed close to Riley’s side. She caught more than one of his relatives looking at them a little longer than usual, probably putting things together.
Riley didn’t mind. It was what it was. They lived in a small town surrounded by people who’d known them both since they were born. And with Josh hovering close, looking at her so…intimately, well, most people could figure out that one and one equaled two. Or in this case, three.
By nine, the sky was orange and deep blue over the mountains. She was growing tired. And she had to work tomorrow.
Josh said, “You’re ready to go, huh?”
She covered a yawn with the back of her hand. “It is getting kind of late.”
He went with her to track down Annette.
“Sweetheart.” Annette put an arm around Riley. “Miles and I thought we might stay awhile…”
Riley hugged her goodbye and turned to Josh. “I need to say goodbye to Zach and Tess.”
He led her to the table where their host and hostess sat. After thanking them for the great party, Riley and Josh went hunting for Dillon. They found him lying on a blanket with Ana, Shane and Joe. Joe was telling them a story about Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Hole-in-the-Wall gang.
Dillon wanted to stay. “Can we please, Mom? Just for a little while…”
“Fifteen minutes.” She and Josh joined the kids and Joe on the blanket and Joe continued his exciting tale of Butch and Sundance’s adventures in Bolivia.
At eight thirty, Riley belted her son into his booster seat, then circled around her Tahoe and climbed up behind the wheel. Josh kissed her goodbye through the open window. It wasn’t a deep kiss.
But oh my. It was sweet.
She waited for Dillon to make some remark about her kissing Josh. But when she glanced in the rearview mirror, his eyes were already shut, his head drooping to the side.
“He’s out,” whispered Josh. “You tired?”
“A little.”
“Let me get Shane. We’ll follow you home…”
“You’re the best. But I’m wide awake. I promise to drive carefully.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, Josh. I’m fine.”
Gently, he tapped his knuckles on the door and stepped back. “Drive safe.”
“I will.”
As she drove away, she kept glancing at him in her side mirror, drinking in the sight of him watching after her.
Not much later, she pulled to a stop inside her garage. Dillon didn’t wake up. She was tempted to try to carry him inside the way she used to do when he was little.
But no. That wouldn’t be wise, what with the baby and all.
“Aw, Mom. Not now,” he grumbled when she unhooked him from his booster seat.
“Sorry, sweetheart. But yeah. We’re home, and you have to wake up and come inside with me.”
He grumbled some more, but he got out of the seat and down from the vehicle.
In the house, she coaxed him up the stairs and stuck around to help him out of his clothes and into his PJ’s. After that, she supervised him as he brushed his teeth.
Finally, he climbed into his bottom bunk. He was out before she got the covers tucked in around him.
* * *
In the morning, Dillon woke up raring to go.
Not Riley. She could have slept till noon, at least. She’d gone to bed exhausted and then ended up lying there wide awake thinking about the baby and Josh and how everything was changing.
Each new day made her more acutely aware that she had a lot on her plate.
She probably needed to cut back at the hotel.
Maybe they should think about hiring someone. They had two competent weekend managers. She needed to get with Annette about possibly promoting one of them to full-time.
As of today, though, she had a hotel to run. She showered, got ready for work and fixed a hot breakfast for Dillon and herself. As she shoveled in her eggs and toast, she checked email and scanned the night shift report in order to be forewarned of pressing issues to deal with first thing.
At seven thirty, she dropped Dillon off at Bright Beginnings and made it to the hotel well before eight. First off, she began her daily review, the physical walk-through during which she made sure that all areas of the Statesman were up to standard.
During the review, she climbed and descended a lot of stairs.
After all, the Statesman had been built in the 1880s.
It had a wide set of stairs between the basement and the first floor, a sweeping curved staircase that soared upward from the lobby and one other switchback staircase at the rear of the building.
The single elevator nestled in the curve of the main staircase had been added in the 1920s.
Guests tended to monopolize it in order to avoid all the stairs.
Riley often reminded herself that running up and down stairs was good exercise. But today, she outright longed for a staff elevator.
Still, she made it through her review, ran back down to her office to grab her phone, which she’d absent-mindedly left on the corner of her desk, and then hustled up to the lobby via the basement stairs to check in with Annette before the morning meeting.
She was halfway up when she somehow set her left foot down wrong. The heel of her shoe wobbled and then her ankle rolled. It hurt a lot. A cry of pain escaped her as she lost her balance completely.
Now she was falling backward. Her head bounced against a lower stair. She saw stars.
And then everything went black.