Chapter 32
There is a ball of guilt that weighs heavy in my stomach as Noah and I drive toward Estes Park.
I should be enjoying the look he has in his eyes as we drive over the tight mountain roads. He looks like a child seeing nature for the first time.
He’s mesmerized by the winding road, the mass of trees, the view when we come to a valley. Nature in Colorado is much different than any nature he gets in the city, I’m sure.
Instead, I’m worrying about Lily, Julia, and Katie. They were all willing help take care of the store for the next two days, but they’re not happy about it. Happy for me; yes. Happy to have me gone; not at all.
“How often do you make this trip?” Noah asks, his head craned to look out the window, much as it had been the first time I took him home with me.
“I don’t,” I say.
He sits back in his seat to look at me. “You’re kidding? You do realize just where you live, right? I mean, you know all of this is out there and you don’t make this drive often?”
The ball of guilt is still heavy, but a smile settles on my lips. “When was the last time you went to Times Square and just looked around? When did you last take in a Broadway show?”
His smile turns into a cocky grin. “My agent’s office is one block from Times Square. I was there two weeks ago. And I saw Wicked a month ago.”
“Oh,” I say having been put in my place, but all I want to ask is who he went to Wicked with.
He reaches across the car and touches my cheek and I shift him a quick glance before I turn my attention back to the road. “But, in reality, I never go to Times Square and it was a fluke invitation that took me to Broadway.”
I raise a brow.
“When you come out, we’ll visit those places together,” he says, resting his hand on my thigh. “I look forward to sharing them with you. Maybe in the fall you and I can drive and see the colors too. Though I’m sure this is equally amazing in the fall.”
I shift a smile toward him and breathe in the moment. We have future plans.
As I descend from the mountains into the town of Estes Park, Noah is again on the edge of his seat taking it all in. And that’s when he sees it. The most notorious landmark in the entire town.
“Oh, my god!” he shouts, moving closer to the windshield.
His eyes are wide and he looks like a small child. When his palms come to the dashboard, I actually snort out a laugh.
“Are you serious? Did you forget that was here? I thought that’s why you wanted to come here,” I say, watching his awe blossom as the glory of the Stanley Hotel comes into view.
“Are you kidding me? I was so focused on the cabin website for a sex-cation, that I forgot to look at the town itself. I didn’t even put two and two together.”
“Did you just really call this a sex-cation?” I challenge.
His wide eyes shift to me now. “No. Lily did,” he says, ratting out my best friend. “But, c’mon.”
I can feel my whole body heat. I’m humored, horrified, mad, and freaking excited by the mention of it, but all the same, I can’t believe Lily said that to him. On second thought, yes I can.
Noah turns fully in his seat to look at me now. “Can we go up there?”
The smile that tugs at my face is so natural, I could never tell him no.
“You’re fanboying, you know that?” I ask.
“The Shining, Emma. The fucking Shining!”
Laughter rolls from me now. “This is the Stanley Hotel, not the Overlook,” I try to deadpan, but it’s worthless.
“You’re not going to deny me this, are you?”
“That will take hours out of your sex-cation,” I remind him with a mocking tone.
“Stephen King, Emma,” he says with as much emphasis as he had about the hotel. “My idol! My fucking idol!” he shouts and I actually jump.
“And you wonder why I worried you were going to throw me off the deck in the dark. Your horror brain is in full gear.”
I can feel the laser focus of his stare on me. “You do realize that this romantic man that I’ve become is new, right? I’m all horror all the time. I can quote the movie to you. I could watch the movie with my eyes closed and know what’s going on.”
“I’ve never even seen the movie,” I admit.
“I don’t think this relationship is going to work,” he says easing back in his seat. “We have nothing in common, but sex.”
I laugh again. “We have a private ghost tour at two o’clock,” I say softly and manage to catch his priceless expression.
Those wide eyes are on me again. “Are you kidding me?”
“Why would I kid about something like that?”
His hand is back on my thigh and there is a firmness to it. “How did you do that?”
“It just so happens that one of the tour guides is a resident of Pine Haven and a huge fan of yours. They preorder all of your books, and I’ve been hiding you from them for a week. So expect to sign a few books for payment, take a few photos, and have the best tour possible.”
He lets out a long breath. “You are the best fucking girlfriend in the world,” he says as he eases in his seat again, a permagrin on his face.
That ball of guilt in my stomach has just hardened again, but in a whole different way. Girlfriend. I never thought someone would use that word to describe me again—ever.