The elevator dinged and the doors popped open, revealing a lush hallway decorated with gold embossed lanterns. While pushing the cart with one hand, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a key card.
“It’s the Sunflower Suite,” I explained. The doorbeepedand then clicked open, allowing us entry. “I think you’ll like it here. It has a very…” I bit my lower lip while setting the cart next to a breakfast nook. “I mean, it just seems likeyouin here.”
“Is that sandalwood soap? Eucalyptus shampoo?” He inspected the basket of complementary items on the bed, tapping them with a smile. “Did you have this all planned out?”
I scrubbed my arm nervously. “No, I just…”
“It’s okay if you did.” His smile grew. “Though I won’t argue with that red flush in your cheeks. It really makes you look like acherry.”
Heat grew in my gut. “Adam, you’re being mean.”
“Sorry, baby. Want me to be nice instead?”
Hesitation gripped me until I nodded.
“Charlotte, will youpleasespend the night with me?”
“What?”
He smirked while smoothing his hand over the cotton sheets. “What, did you really expect to go back to your room without me? Besides, you told me to benice.” He cocked his head to the right. “That’s me being nice.”
“I just…” I bashfully uncovered the plates of food and started setting the table. Adam grabbed the silverware and prepared our places with me. “I didn’t want to assume you’d want me to stay with you. Especially after everything that’s happened.”
His hand roamed my upper back. Just that simple touch brought my feelings to the very edge of my being. They weren’t logical, far from it. They were simply justfeelings. And while I didn’t know what to do with them, it felt okay because he was right beside me.
“That’s why I asked,” he whispered. “I figured you would like that.”
“I do.”
He chuckled. “Hungry?”
“Yeah, I’m hungry.”
“Are you okay, cherry?”
I raised my eyes to his. “With you? Yeah, I’m always okay with you.”
My heart ached again. But this time, it was less of a void and more of a twitching growth. It felt like the smallest stem poking out of a seed, the little leaves drawn to the surface of the soil by the sun and refreshing rain. That was how Adam felt to me. He was what drew me to reality, grounded me in it.
And that was something I desperately didn’t want to lose.
Chapter 13 - Adam
Another morning came without my son with me. Guilt rattled my body as I rolled to my left side to greet the first tendrils of light slipping around the curtains. Joyful chirping erupted on the other side of the window sounding more distant than it might if I were sleeping in my cabin. Though I knew I was at the inn, I felt displaced like I was somewhere I didn’t belong.
A chilly draft swept over my shoulder. Above, the vent spilled cool air into the suite, the soft thrum of it traveling through the vents sneaking beneath the soft snores that sounded to my right. When I turned toward the noise, I smiled uncontrollably, noticing how calm Charlotte looked when she was sleeping.
Her petite body curled toward me, forehead burrowed into the spot where my shoulder had been during the night. Lips as soft as petals parted with each breath, smooth features unbothered by the mattress shifting beneath us. One kiss to her temple and one to her cheek roused her.
But she didn’t wake up.
I forgot how nice this feels, I dared to think.I didn’t know this was something I would miss. I didn’t think that…
I frowned.
Charlotte is helping because she feels bad. Once we get Henry back, she’ll bolt. Why would she bother sticking around?
Logical didn’t help. It didn’tnothelp either. All it did was pose a new series of questions while I stewed in unstable emotions. This wasn’t what I wanted to cook. But it was what was being served.