My Favorite Souvenir(43)

He reached over and took my hand. “I’m sorry. That sucks. But she’s going to be okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It definitely could have been worse.”

Milo nodded. “You mentioned her the other day. Is she a good friend?”

“We’re pretty close. We met in an underwater photography class, actually. She’s a photographer, too. She sometimes covers for me in my school portrait business when I’m in a pinch or need to take some time off.”

“You do underwater photography?”

I smiled. “I took a class with hopes to. But I’ve never gotten around to it.”

Milo frowned and nodded. “Well, I’m glad your friend is okay.”

I’d been so concerned about Felicity’s accident that I hadn’t fully realized what her being out of commission meant for me. My stomach suddenly dropped, and it felt like someone reached into my chest and squeezed my heart. “This…sort of puts a wrench in our plans.”

Milo’s eyes caught with mine. “You need to head home?”

I nodded. “She was the one covering for me while I’ve been gone and was supposed to do all my school shoots next week, too. Now she can’t, obviously.”

His eyes looked as panicked as I felt. “When do you need to be home?”

“Monday. Which means I’m going to have to fly home from Atlanta tomorrow.”

? ? ?

When we got to Atlanta, Milo navigated through the city and pulled up in front of the Four Seasons. We hadn’t yet discussed where we were staying. Just like every other city we’d been to, I’d thought we were going with the flow.

I looked out the passenger window. “Wow. This place is beautiful.”

“I researched the nicest hotels in the area while you were driving. Since it’s our last night together, I figured we deserved something special.”

Just hearing him say last night made my chest tighten again.

The valet came around and opened my door while Milo took our bags out of the trunk. The attendant handed him a ticket.

“Hang onto it for a few minutes,” Milo told the valet. “We don’t have reservations, so we might be leaving if they have no rooms.”

The guy bowed. “No problem, sir.”

Milo and I walked into the opulent lobby. It was, by far, the nicest hotel we’d been in. The lobby had sky-high ceilings, a massive crystal chandelier, and sun streaming in from floor-to-ceiling windows on two of the four walls. The room literally sparkled. I was pretty sure the marble floor was clean enough to eat off of, too.

“This is so fancy,” I said. “I sort of feel like a movie star coming in here.”

Milo linked his hand with mine. “These rooms are on me.”

“I can’t let you do that. They’ll be a fortune.”

“I insist.”

We walked up to the front desk, which had no line.

“May I help you?”

“Hi, yes,” Milo said. “We don’t have a reservation. Would you happen to have any rooms available?”

The woman nodded and smiled. “We do. What kind of rooms were you looking for?” She punched a few keys into her computer and said, “Our regular rooms are four hundred seventy-five dollars a night, or we have a suite for five hundred ninety-five a night.”

Milo looked over at me and winked. “Two suites, please.”

“Okay. And how many nights will you be staying?”

Again my heart sank. Milo’s face was glum when he answered, “Just one.”

“Very well. I’ll need a license and a credit card.”

As the clerk clicked away, the reality of this as our last night sank in. If we had less than twenty-four hours left, I wanted to spend every last moment next to Milo. He handed the woman his credit card and license and strummed his fingers on the counter.

“Actually, ma’am,” I said. “Could we change our reservation?”

The woman’s brows knitted, and she looked up. “You want to stay more than one night?”

“No. But we only need one suite.” I turned to the man standing next to me and lowered my voice. “Would that be okay with you?”

Milo’s eyes washed over my face, and he looked into my eyes for a few, very long seconds. He nodded. “Yeah. Definitely.”

Linking our fingers together on the counter, I smiled at the clerk. “One suite instead of two, please.”

The woman looked amused. “No problem.”

After she finished checking us in, she put two plastic key cards into a small holder and looked around the lobby. Leaning in, she said, “I ordered a bottle of champagne and some chocolate-covered strawberries to your room. If the manager happens to ask, your bathroom wasn’t working, so I sent it as an apology for the inconvenience. It’s also why you’ve been upgraded to our deluxe suite.”

Milo took the keys with a giant smile. “You’re the best.”

She looked at us with a coy smirk. “Enjoy your evening.”

? ? ?

Our suite was gorgeous. We had a view of downtown Atlanta, a separate living room and bedroom, and a bathroom that was bigger than most decent-sized hotel rooms. After I went online and made my flight arrangements, I decided the big bathtub was too irresistible to ignore. Plus, the hotel had a bevy of spa products lined up on a glass shelf in the bathroom that I couldn’t wait to try, including a coconut and sea salt bath bomb.