Chapter Eight
Lula
“Really? Already?” I asked when Raff told me we were heading to a hotel.
“Why do ten hours on the road when we can do five, have a nice dinner, and maybe see the sights before bed?”
I couldn’t argue with his logic. Even with the gel seat cushion and several stops to stretch our legs, my butt was starting to hurt.
“So, should we try to find a motel to book?” I asked, reaching for my phone on the charger.
“No need. The whole trip is booked already.”
“Wait. What?”
“Yep. All settled. Nothing to stress about.”
“You… don’t strike me as a planner.”
“I’m evolving as a person,” he said. “How about a quick side quest before we check in? I think we’re a little early.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Ever seen the Joshua Trees?”
“I know my grandparents took me as a little kid, but I don’t remember it.”
“Let’s make some new memories then.”
He really was prepared, too.
There was a cooler in the back loaded down with ice and bottles of water. Like he intended all along for us to trek through the Joshua Tree National Park. To check out the cool rock formations and the ancient trees.
“Go on up there. Let me get a picture,” he demanded when we made it to the arch—a sandy formation the sun set behind if you made it there at the right time.
The sky was still a bright, cloudless blue as I climbed into the gap of the arch so Raff could take my picture.
And this man, he didn’t just snap a picture at the most unflattering angle possible.
Nope. He moved around me, getting me from above and below, even dropping down on his belly on a rock at one point.
“Is amateur photography a hobby of yours?” I asked as I flipped through the pictures. Aside from one that made me look like I had a double chin, they were all good.
“I’ve got a collection,” he said, shrugging it off. “It’s easy when the material is gorgeous.”
“It really is pretty, isn’t it?” I asked, looking back at the arch.
“Baby, I wasn’t talking about the arch,” he said as he walked ahead of me, leaving me to follow behind, pretending not to notice the way my heart was fluttering.
I couldn’t think about anything else the whole way back to the car, then the drive to the fancy little boutique hotel.
“Wait… I think I’ve seen pictures of this place online,” I said as Raff walked me to my room.
“Yeah, it’s popular among influencers.”
“Why?” I asked as he unlocked my door.
“The accommodations are decent,” he told me, waving around the room.
Decent was right.
It wasn’t necessarily in the top ten hotel rooms I’d ever seen. It was small, stucco-walled and cement-floored, colored in bright reds and deep browns, with all-white linen bedding. The attached bathroom wasn’t overly fancy either. It was modern and clean, at least.
Certainly not something I could see influencers lining up to book.
Until Raff pushed open the door to a little courtyard.
Then I got it.
Three sides were encased in some sort of rusty metal fencing. Everywhere. Except for a long, narrow window overlooking the desert.
Right in front of that window?
A bathtub.
You could bathe outside in the desert.
“Oh, wow.”
“And, of course, the stargazing bed,” Raff said, gesturing toward the bed set up a few feet from the tub.
“This is… incredible.”
“Thought you might get a kick out of it. And in case you aren’t fond of bathing naked outdoors, I got you this,” he said, unzipping his duffle bag and producing a white one-piece bathing suit.
The crazy part? It was exactly the kind I would have chosen for myself.
“And, as always, I am available for my photography services. Clothed. Or naked,” he told me with a smirk.
I shook my head at him.
“So, what do we do about food? I didn’t see any staff.”
“There is no staff. I mean, I’m sure they’ll be around, and they do housekeeping. But this is more of a glorified guest house.”
That was why he’d had a code to open the front door.
“You called it a hotel.”
“An… embellishment.”
“And said we had to go to Joshua Tree to delay check-in.”
“A fib.”
“Have you told me anything true today?” I asked, smiling.
“You are the prettiest thing in this whole fucking place. Now I’m gonna go check out my room, then we’ll talk ordering food.”
“Wait,” I called, rushing out into the hall. “Are there other guests?”
“Two rooms. Just the two of us for the night.”
There was no good reason that sent a thrill through me.
While Raff was gone, I went ahead and freshened up, slipping into the bathing suit but putting my clothes back on over it.
“Alright, small snag on the food plans,” Raff said when I met him in the common area. “No one will deliver out here. So I’m gonna venture out to pick it up. Can you think of anything else we’re gonna need?”
“Drinks.”
“Diet soda, water, and cran-apple-raspberry.”
“How do you even know that?”
“I notice things.”
“Maybe too many things.”
“About you? No such thing. Okay. I’ll be back in… half an hour. I hope. I did a sweep of the place, so you’re alone.”
With that, he gave me the code in case I wanted to wander around and get back inside, then was gone.
Alone, I took a leisurely tour of the facilities, including Raff’s room. He clearly gave me the good one because he didn’t have the bathtub or stargazing bed.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a one-off thing, or if everywhere we had to stay was going to be fun and unique.
I knew it was wrong since I wasn’t contributing financially, but I really hoped that was the case—that this little mission could, in fact, feel like the vacation I told my boss I was taking. The vacation I’d more than earned. The one I would never take in any other circumstance.
I circled back to my room eventually, heading outside and stripping down to my bathing suit, ready to fill the bath with some lukewarm water to cool down.
Then something skittered around the ground right by my feet.
I jumped up into the tub, a squeal escaping me.
“Raff!” I shrieked when I heard the front door close.
He didn’t answer, but I heard his footsteps on the stone floor. Then he flew through the patio door with a gun drawn, his posture stiff, ready to throw down for me.
There was that lower belly pressure again.
“Lu?” he asked after scanning around and seeing no obvious threat.
I pointed toward the corner of the patio and watched as his gaze followed.
His arm fell and a deep laugh escaped him.
“Really? You’re afraid of a lizard?”
“That is not a lizard. It looks like a dragon.”
He tucked his gun away and moved over toward the corner, crouching down to grab the lizard before it could scamper away.
“Don’t let it bite you.”
“Do you think it’s going to turn me into a giant lizard or something?” he asked, smiling.
“Thanks for the nightmare fuel. No! No. Why are you bringing it to me?”
“This is a chuckwalla,” he explained, showing me the baggy-skinned black and orange lizard that took up his whole hand.
“They call them ‘pot-bellied potatoes.’ They’re calm and docile.
He doesn’t want to hurt you. He probably fell in here and couldn’t get back out.
And before you ask, he’s a plant eater. Your limbs are safe. Go on. Pet him.”
“Pet the scaly lizard?”
“Why not? One good way to try to overcome the fear.” The water was still running, overflowing the tub and soaking his feet, but he didn’t react at all.
“If I touch it, will you take it away?”
“Yep.”
“Okay.”
I sucked in a deep breath, stuck out the tip of my finger, and rubbed it down the lizard’s back. “Oh, that feels different than I thought. Papery but hard, if that makes sense. Do you do this?” I asked, running my hand up toward the chuckwalla’s head.
“Do what?”
“Just grab random wildlife and pet it?”
“Most wildlife wouldn’t let me catch it. But on occasion.” He watched me run my finger down the lizard’s tail. “Proud of you,” he said, making my heart flutter. “Now I’ll go set him back in the desert. Wanna meet me on the patio for dinner?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, watching him turn and head back toward my room.
“Hey, Lula.”
“Yeah?”
He half-turned back, eyes hooded.
“Bathing suit looks great.”
It was a throwaway compliment, but I felt a warm feeling move across my chest as I finally turned off the water and climbed out, saving the water for a cool bath later.
By the time I slipped on a pair of shorts and made it to the patio, Raff already had the food and drinks spread out.
I paused as a breeze passed by, the air perfumed with the intoxicating mix of cedar and sagebrush.
“They could bottle and sell that scent,” I told Raff when he looked over.
“Lizard aside, you seem to be enjoying the accommodations.”
“It’s beautiful. I’ve never stayed somewhere like this.”
“No short-term rentals?”
“They creep me out,” I admitted. “I’ve heard so many horror stories about the owners watching you on the cameras or people showing up. And I’ve only ever traveled alone. So, no thanks. I’ll take a hotel any day over that.”
“That makes sense. I usually stick to hotels and motels just for the convenience. I’m a big fan of being able to get food from my room. Or from a nearby vending machine. This is the kind of place you don’t want to be in alone. Would be too boring.”
“You don’t want to bathe naked under the stars, looking out at the desert alone?”
“That I could maybe handle. But who wants to swing alone?” he asked, gesturing with his fork.
Turning, I saw a set of wooden slat swings with the endless desert behind them.
“What are we, eight?”
“Well, now that settles it. We have to swing. Come on. There’s no getting out of this.” He grabbed my hand as he passed, tugging me toward the swings. “You gotta let that inner child out here and there,” he told me as he dropped onto his swing.
“I’d barely been a child when I was a child,” I admitted as I sat, rocking a little but not swinging.
“Why’s that?”
“My mom was… too young to be a mom. She was more like a big sister. And that meant that, well, someone had to be more of a mom.”
“So that’s what you did.”