“Did the paramedics check him?” Summer asks.
“Yes, and they confirmed he’s in good shape. He just needs to rest.”
“Is there any way we can get to him?” I add.
“No, as I said, the park is closed. You’ll see him tomorrow.”
With no other choice, we head back to the hotel, right after Nate returns my phone and I call everyone in the family to share the good news.
Chapter Fourteen
Nate
Once we enter the hotel, I bring up the subject of dinner, but all three of them shake their heads, insisting they just want to sleep. Alice’s phone beeps again. I tell Summer and Blake that they can go to their rooms, and I’ll wait for Alice. I pace the lobby while she talks in a low and soothing voice. I catch a few sentences, enough to learn she’s talking to Jenna.
“Everything okay?” I ask once she hangs up.
“Yeah. Mom was just checking in again.”
“Let’s go upstairs, then. Both our rooms are on the fourth floor.”
“Elevator’s this way.” She throws her thumb over her shoulder.
“After you.”
Turning around, she walks in front of me. Without heels on, Alice is tiny. But it’s not just her height that has my protective instincts on high alert. It’s the way she hunches her shoulders. When Alice is hurt or afraid, she has a way of curling up, like she’s trying to shrink inside of herself. She rarely allows her hurt to show. This is one of those times. The other one I remember vividly was when Pippa’s first husband turned out to be a complete douche, and Pippa was devastated. That time Alice’s hurt was short-lived, quickly replaced by anger. Now she’s just exhausted from so much worrying, and I don’t want to leave her alone because I know her. She’ll worry herself sick right until the morning.
When we reach our floor, she leads the way again, sashaying down the narrow corridor before coming to a halt in front her door.
“This is me,” she announces, jingling her key between her fingers. She’s not ready to say good night either. I step right behind her, swiping her hair to one side, bringing my mouth to her ear. “Some schools of seduction consider playing with keys as a sign that you want to be kissed.”
I exhale sharply as goose bumps form on the skin of her arms instantly.
“The Nate Becker school of seduction?”
“Nah.” I run my fingers up and down her exposed forearm. “It’s a thoroughly researched theory.”
“I don’t want to say good night yet.”
“I can come in with you and keep you company for a while.”
Wordlessly, she unlocks her door, pushes it open, and steps inside.
“Sit down.” I point to the couch in the center of the room. “I’ll make you some tea. Was your mother still worried on the phone?” At the four corners of the room are lamps, casting a yellow glow in their corner, yet leaving the center where we are in a pleasant dimness, which is both smooth and inviting.
“Yes. She’ll only really believe he’s okay when she sees him.”
“That’s true for you as well, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
When I hand her the tea minutes later, she’s reading something on her phone, a look of intense concentration—and worry—on her face.
“What are you doing?”
“Just reading through my e-mails.”
I snatch her phone.