My Favorite Souvenir(4)

“Why is that?”

My forehead wrinkled. “Why is what?”

“Why’s it been a long time since you’ve done anything risky? It looks to me like you enjoyed it.”

I blinked a few times, not having expected a question that would tug at my heartstrings, and my smile fell. “I don’t know. I guess I kind of turned into a different person over the last few years.”

Fake Milo’s eyes locked with mine. We’d gone from pulling off a crazy stunt and laughing, to an odd seriousness. His eyes flickered to my lips and back once again. “That’s a shame. You have a great smile.”

Warmth spread through me, and I couldn’t seem to unlock my eyes from the stranger’s—at least until the elevator dinged and the doors opened on the third floor.

“This is us,” he said. “Rooms 320 and 321.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.” I stepped out and followed the signs to our rooms. Since we were, of course, family, they’d put us right next to each other. We stood a few feet apart as we opened our respective doors. As my lock unlatched and I turned the handle to go inside, something dawned on me.

“I almost forgot! I owe you forty dollars for the room.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, don’t be silly. I just didn’t have enough cash and didn’t want to hand the woman a credit card when we weren’t supposed to have ID. I’ll just throw my bag in the room and go downstairs to find an ATM. They must have one somewhere.”

“I thought you couldn’t wait to take a hot bath, or was that part of the act?”

I laughed. “No, it actually wasn’t. I wasn’t lying when I said I spent the entire day at the airport. A hot bath sounds pretty amazing right about now. But I can grab your cash first. It won’t take me long.”

Fake Milo scratched at the stubble on his chin. “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to take a quick shower and then go downstairs to the bar for a drink. Take your bath. You can find me there afterward to give me the money.”

“Okay.”

We looked at each other for a moment.

“Alright, well, enjoy your soak, sis.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Milo. I’ll see you later.”





Chapter 2




* * *



Hazel



“Hey.”

After my bath, I found Milo exactly where he’d said he’d be…at the bar.

He pivoted on his stool and flashed a smile. “What’s up, Hooker?”

“Excuse me?”

He chuckled. “It’s our last name, Madeline.”

I smiled. “Oh. I suppose it is.”

He sipped his beer from the bottle. “I think you look more like a Maddie than a Madeline, though.”

I laughed. “I’m glad you didn’t say I looked like a Hooker.”

Milo pointed his eyes to the empty seat next to him. “Join me for a drink?”

“Oh…no. I, uh, just came to give you the money I owe you.” I dug the cash from my purse and extended it to him.

He waved me off. “Use it to buy the next round.”

I supposed one drink couldn’t hurt. My neck was killing me. I didn’t like to fly, and an entire day of waiting at the airport had made me tense, not to mention the stress of not knowing where I was going to sleep tonight. Maybe a drink would help me loosen the knot.

I nodded. “Sure. Why not.”

Milo motioned to the bartender while I settled into the seat next to him.

“Ed. This is my sister, Maddie. Maddie, this is Ed.”

The bartender reached over to shake my hand. “Nice to meet you, Maddie.”

“You, too.”

“What can I get for you?”

“Umm. I’ll take a vodka and cranberry, with lime, please.”

Ed rapped his knuckles against the bar. “Coming right up.” He looked to my left. “You want another Coors Light, Milo?”

“Sure thing. Thanks, Ed.”

I laughed as the bartender walked away. “Is your name really Milo or are you getting into character?”

He shrugged. “I sort of like Milo better. Thought maybe I’d change mine. So I’m trying it on for size.”

I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. “Whatever you say.”

“So, Mads, what’s your excuse for not having a hotel room tonight?”

I sighed. “It’s a long story.”

He lifted his shirt sleeve and twisted his arm to look at his watch. “Just what I thought.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “I have plenty of time for a long story.”

I chuckled. “Well, to keep from boring you to death, I’ll give you the abbreviated version anyway.” I paused to think about how to explain and decided not to sugarcoat things. “I’m here on what was supposed to be my destination wedding and honeymoon. My ex-fiancé called off the wedding a couple of months ago. Our tickets and hotel were non-refundable, so I opted to make use of them and get out of town for a few days. Lately he’s started making contact with me again, telling me he’s missed me. So I figured it would be a perfect time to come do some soul searching. But two days into my ten-day trip, I realized it was a bad idea and decided to go home. Only I didn’t check the weather before I checked out this morning. So I wound up sitting in the airport all day, and by the time they canceled my flight and I realized everything in the area was sold out, my hotel had already given my room to someone else.”