Page 114 of The Fast Lane

“Right.” I dangled the poor damaged shoe by a finger. “Melanie is going to lose her mind.”

“Over a shoe?”

I laughed a little too loud. “Did you not hear her earlier? She’s been planning this wedding for a year. She has a vision. Any time something doesn’t match up to the vision, it’s a nightmare. Did you know she had a dream about her wedding colors?”

He shook his head.

“Oh, yeah. One morning, a couple of weeks after they got engaged, she sent a group text to all of us in which she described the color pink she saw in her dream as ‘pink but not too pink with a bit of orange but not too much orange and a hint of purple.’ That color does not exist.”

“It is her wedding,” Theo said.

“I swear if I ever get married, I want something simple. Like in the summer, maybe June before it gets too hot, in front of the Legacy Tree on a random Thursday afternoon with just family and a few friends.” I began to picture this scene in my head. It would be small and romantic and perfect. “I don’t even think I want a traditional wedding dress. Something white but simple, knee-length, and a few flowers in my hair. Afterward, we’ll go to the Sit-n-Eat and have a big celebration.”

“If you get married?”

“Someone has to ask me first.” I patted him on the chest.

Theo peered at me, one of those small, secret smiles curving his mouth. For a moment, I got lost in his eyes and reached for him. Until I almost clocked him with the shoe in my hand.

“I’m going to have to see if I can track down another pair in my size.” I stuffed the shoe back inside and put the lid on. “We aren’t going to tell Melanie about this. It will only upset her.”

Theo took the box and wedged it under the backseat. “What shoes? I don’t know about any shoes.”

“I knew I liked you.” I shifted a little closer and walked two of my fingers up his chest.

“Really, really, really liked me?”

“I’d even go so far as to say really, really, really, really.”

A hand landed on my hip and encouraged me to come closer. “I feel like I have to prove I’m worth that extra really.”

My hands slid around his neck. “I think it’s only fair.”

And Theo, who never let me down, went ahead and did that.

Melanie, super-organized wedding diva, blocked two entire floors at a hotel close by for out-of-town wedding guests. In my room, I found a gift basket with water bottles, chocolate, microwave popcorn, hand sanitizer, maps to restaurants close by, local sightseeing opportunities, important phone numbers, and an itinerary of events over the next few days.

I flipped through the schedule, wincing at how every minute seemed to have something planned. Melanie had kindly highlighted the events I was required to attend in yellow, events that she highly suggested I attend in blue, and events I didn’t need to worry about in pink.

Three pages of yellow. It was gonna be a long, long weekend.

With a groan, I stretched out on the bed without changing. I hadn’t been this tired in a long, long time. I’d just lay here a minute and then finish unpacking and change for bed. Yeah, that’s what I would do.

My limbs grew heavy, and my eyelids slid shut and before I realized it, I was asleep.

Until the alarm woke me.

At first, I didn’t realize what it was, that loud, incessant ringing. A red light blinked at me from the ceiling. Someone knocked on my door. I stumbled to answer it.

“Ma’am,” a man said, yelling over the alarm. He had on a vest and nametag that identified him as a hotel employee. “We need to evacuate the building. That’s the fire alarm.”

I blinked, my brain slowly catching up. “Fire alarm?”

“The emergency exit is that way.” He pointed to the left and was gone before I could say another word.

Thankfully, I was still dressed. I yanked on my tennis shoes and had the foresight to grab my backpack. By the time I checked to make sure Mack, Abe, and Hallie (who all had rooms on my floor) didn’t need help and made it down the eight flights of stairs, a large group of guests were huddled together in a far corner of the parking lot. No one knew what had happened but seeing as how it was three in the morning, no one was real happy about it. No signs of smoke billowed in the sky, although there were two fire trucks, an ambulance, and several police cars in the parking lot.

A chill ran through me in the cool night air. Above, the moon played peek-a-boo with the thick gray clouds. I sat on a nearby curb right by a streetlight, put my backpack in my lap, and curled my body around it until I found a comfortable position.

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