The elevator dinged open. We all moved so the people inside could get out, then I beckoned Courtney. “Go ahead.” I had visions of me and Victoria waiting for the next one and tried to stop Victoria when she walked forward. She shot me a look. Not an annoyed glance, but an expression that told me she wanted to see where their room was so we could find a live rodent and shove it under their door later.
A plan I could get behind. Courtney hated anything smaller than a pony.
“Fifteen,” Victoria said.
“Us too.” Courtney smiled.
Great, we had fourteen floors to have an awkward elevator experience and then maybe an even more awkward walk down a long hallway.
“How are you related to the wedding party?” Courtney asked Victoria in a cool voice.
“Kyle, the groom, is my cousin. We’ve always been close.” She went on. “Have you met him yet?”
Courtney shook her head. “We’ve been back east and haven’t seen much of the west coast relatives in a few years.”
Courtney’s intonation of “back east” invoked an image of people playing tennis with hundred-thousand-dollar rackets in the Hamptons, and she put just enough derision in “west coast relatives” to make them sound like the redneck stepchildren of the family.
“Natalie seems nice,” Victoria said.
“She is.”
William nodded in agreement.
Well, that had taken us to the seventh floor. What else should we talk about?
“You look good, Logan,” Courtney said.
“Thanks.” I resisted the urge to scratch my neck. Then I added, “You too.” Not because I cared, but because it was polite.
“Are you still in Alaska?” There was hope in Courtney’s words.
“I am.” Was she wondering if I’d come to my senses and moved to the lower forty-eight? Why did she care? Was she too trying to be polite, or was there more to it?
“You know, I kept your coat for the longest time,” she said.
Why would she bring that up? Also, why would she have done that? Especially when she’d assured me that she didn’t have feelings for me?
I let out a sigh of relief when the elevator slowed. I made a show of repositioning my bag so I could get it out more easily. The ding of arrival was like the flag that started a race. The moment it sounded, I bolted. The door barely got out of my way as I dragged both my bag and Victoria into the hall.
Only then did I realize that I had no idea where her room was. Victoria twisted my hand to the left, so that’s the direction I headed.
“We’re this way too,” William said.
Wonderful.
“We’re at the end of the hall,” Victoria said.
“Same.”
The hotel hadn’t looked this big from the outside, but I swear the corridor was a thousand steps long.
Victoria drew a keycard from a pocket in her jacket and waved it in front of the last door on the right.
William did the same to the room across the hall.
“You two are in a suite?” Courtney asked Victoria. Her disbelief was written all over her pursed lips.
“Yup.” Victoria remained unflustered.