Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
It took Nolan another week to finish the sculpture for the hotel in Bend.
He was happy with how it turned out – which was a big thing for him since usually he didn’t like to really look at the work he completed.
He liked sharing it with other people even less.
A great and terrible irony since, by making and selling art you had to share it with other people.
He just generally didn’t like watching people perceive his work.
For some reason, though, he felt happier with this one.
Getting a large piece prepped to move was always a mission – and this one involved a very large wooden crate built around the enormous fish and getting it onto a flatbed trailer.
When he contacted the hotel to arrange to deliver it, they offered him two free nights, and he took them up on it because the idea of two nights away with Lila was too good to pass up.
Funny how that was the first thing he thought of. It might have been better to spend a couple days alone or something. But no. The trouble was, he didn’t really want that.
He just wanted her. Especially knowing he’d be dealing with his mom’s family in the days after.
Although, how the two of them were going to head out for an overnight with nobody thinking it was odd, he didn’t know, and it was also low on his list of priorities.
Reckless, maybe, but he was feeling kind of reckless.
He was meeting his family in just a couple of days, and that was looming large, so what he wanted was a vacation. Time away, and the only person he wanted time away with was Lila.
He texted her in the morning and asked if she wanted to go away overnight, and she showed up packed and ready to go an hour later.
“What did you tell Cody?”
“Oh, I have the perfect alibi now.”
“What’s that?” he asked, making sure that all the ratchet straps around the statue were in place, along with blankets and other coverings that were meant to keep it safe.
“Well, they know that I’m sleeping with somebody.”
He nearly did a spit take with his coffee. “What?”
“Yeah. I told Addison and Marlowe that I was sleeping with Jason.”
“Did you?” His voice was flat, and so was the feeling in his chest.
He didn’t know why, but the very idea of that guy even being used as an alibi pissed him off. He felt a wave of possessiveness wash through him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said.
“Like what?”
“You look utterly feral.”
“Well, I have to admit, I don’t even really like you saying that as a lie.”
“Why? It’s perfect. It makes a perfect alibi.”
She was right.
“So what? They think that you’re headed off to spend the night with this guy?”
“That is in fact what they think. A little bit of partial honesty.”
“You said that Marlowe and Addison think that.”
“Which for sure means that they told Cody and Walker.”
“What about Cara and Zane?”
“Oh, Cara knows I’m sleeping with you.”
That really did make him do a spit take. “What?”
“She guessed. And I couldn’t dig into the lie that much. It was never going to work, and it wasn’t going to be convincing.”
“God almighty, Lila, this is kind of a mess.”
“I agree, but what is the alternative?”
He did not have an answer to that, so instead, he got into the truck and waited for her to get into the passenger seat.
“This is some nonsense,” he said.
“Well, thank God you live off the property enough that everybody just thinks I already left, and—”
“And they won’t be any the wiser.”
“These are hijinks, and I’m really not a fan of hijinks.”
“A mess. Nonsense. Hijinks. Glad our relationship is now a collection of disaster words for you.”
“Our relationship isn’t,” he said, the word sitting heavy between them. “The situation is.”
“Would you rather we just go talk to my brother?”
“No comment,” he said. Then he paused for a moment. “Not right now, anyway.”
He didn’t know why he said that, and he didn’t elaborate, not to her, not inside of his own self.
But maybe it wasn’t reasonable to think they could keep it a secret forever. And failing that, they would have to end it.
He couldn’t think about any of this stuff until he was finished with the sculpture, with meeting his family, none of it.
He had to shove it all to the side for now, so he did. As ruthlessly as possible.
“Thank you for inviting me.” She sounded subdued now and that made him feel bad.
“Of course. Who else was I going to invite?”
“I don’t know, I guess that’s a good question. As we discussed, we’re not exclusive. Just need a heads-up before we go getting it on with another person.”
“We’re exclusive,” he said, his tone hard.
He didn’t imagine it, she sat up just a little bit straighter in her seat. “Are we?”
“Lila, I don’t want anybody else.” It wasn’t even hard to admit, because it was just so damn true.
The truest damn thing, and even if he couldn’t explain it, couldn’t move it into a reasonable place in his life, couldn’t figure out what that meant for the future, it was true.
“All right then,” she said, looking pleased.
She played the radio too loud for half the drive, and then they fought playfully over which songs they should put on, and then spent the last fifteen minutes of the drive arguing over whose football team was going to do better this season.
He had always suspected that Lila chose a division rival of his team just to irritate him, and maybe someday he would force her to admit it, but for now, he kind of enjoyed an echo of their old rivalry in this.
They got along so well now generally, it was nice to spar with her at least a little bit.
The hotel itself was way outside of town, down by the river, nestled back in the trees.
Not unlike the Painted Ridge Resort. This was more rustic, old and stately, having been there since the nineteen forties.
Though it had been significantly upgraded and expanded since then.
Part of their claim to fame was that Clark Gable had enjoyed fishing there, as had Zane Grey.
It was more well known that they fished the Rogue River to the west, but they had also sought solace in this more remote enclave.
It took lifts and dollies to get the sculpture moved into position, and then he began to take off the protective covering, leaving it standing there in the spot that had been created for it in the lobby.
He got a strange rush of adrenaline when it was finally situated.
It was perfect here. Striking against the backdrop of the dark wood details and the gray slate floor. The chandelier that hung overhead, which was both rustic and elegant, nearly reached down to touch the top of the fish, which looked like it was wiggling away from an angler.
But it was Lila’s reaction, not even the reaction of the people at the hotel, that really got him.
She grabbed his arm and squeezed him, hugging him. She had done that before. There was something about it. That simple gesture. Just a hug.
The kind of casual affection he had never had in his life from anybody.
And he suspected she hadn’t either. So he wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her, just once.
“This is so gorgeous,” she said, looking at him like he might be something special. “You are so talented.”
The feeling that washed over him was different to anything he’d ever felt in his life. A deep contentment and a fierce, overwhelming longing. To just bathe in her adoration for the rest of his life. To be with her for the rest of his life.
It was a scary thought, a terrifying one, because there had never been a single part of him that had ever imagined that something like this could go on. That it could be permanent. But he had never imagined that it could be Lila.
And there was something about that. Which made it feel different. Different than any imagined relationship might. Different than anything else might.
He didn’t know what to do with that thought, didn’t know how to process it, so he simply didn’t.
“Vouchers,” the receptionist said, sliding them toward him along with the key to their room. “For the restaurant. As a thank you for this. It really is beautiful. A job very well done.”
But her praise paled in comparison to Lila’s, and that actually made it all the better.
And nobody here knew who they were either, so he held her hand as they walked through the lobby, and as they got into the elevator to take it up to their room.
Lila was hauling her little bag, holding it extra close, and every so often she would look down at it and smile, and he had follow-up questions. But he assumed they would be answered quickly enough.
He had been to a lot of fancy places, and hell, worked at one now, but this place was pretty spectacular, with views of the river, a large bathtub right there in the bedroom, and a massive king-sized bed with an excess of pillows.
“I’m just going to go to the bathroom,” Lila said, stealing off into the next room and closing the door.
He walked through the space, looking at some of the notes and plaques by the lamp, and on the wall. The wood paneling was original, and it was real. The lamps were also from the original era of the hotel, the stained glass on the shades, absolutely beautiful. Art even.
He heard the door open behind him, and he turned.
Art.
That was all he could think.
Because there was Lila, standing in the doorway, wearing the most scandalous fucking piece of lingerie he had ever seen in his life.
His Lila who loved her farm-and-garden-sourced jeans and t-shirts. His Lila had bought this for him.
And she looked...
He loved the way she looked. All the time.
Sweaty from a day’s work, wearing dusty old boots and jeans.
Wearing white cotton underwear that were about as basic as you could get.
But this, knowing she had bought this for him.
For him to see her in, for him to take off, everything felt like it slowed down. Everything felt new.
Different.
It was different. Different than anything he had imagined. Whenever he had thought about a relationship that he might want to have last, whenever he had thought about making a family, there had been no woman in that spot.
And now that it was Lila...