Page 46 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

Miles kissed me on the cheek. “Why don’t you go lie down?”

“I’ve gotta watch the front desk.” I felt tears burning behind my eyes. I hated this feeling, and I hated that I was feeling it more and more.

“I’ll watch the front desk,” he volunteered.

“But Miles, no.”

“If anyone tries to check in, I will let them know you’re resting. I can figure out which keys are available and get them in a room. I can have them sign that old registry of yours, and then I’ll tell you if anybody’s here. You can do the official computer check-in for them later.”

I really was about to cry. I was so tired. “Really?”

“Yes. Are you expecting any guests to try to check in or out this afternoon?”

I shook my head. “I don’t have any reservations booked, but I usually get one or two people coming through. Fall in the mountains. You know…”

He shook his head. “You go lie down. I’ll man the front desk, and I won’t let anybody get a free room. I promise. When’s the next time Mrs. Griffin is scheduled?”

“She comes in tomorrow,” I admitted.

“When she gets here, you and I are leaving. You don’t need to do any housekeeping or cleaning or anything. Tomorrow afternoon,you and I have a date to go pick out paint colors and look at baby furniture.”

My heart swelled with emotion. I loved that he wanted to take me away from my responsibilities and do something he knew that I was looking forward to doing.

I slowly nodded my head. “Thank you.”

He took my hand and led me back to my bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed, and he took my shoes off and helped me to get my legs on the bed before tucking a blanket around me.

“Take a nap,” he said quietly before kissing me on the top of my head and leaving me to sleep.

When I woke up hours later, I wandered out into the lobby. Miles sat on the couch reading something on his laptop, much the way I would sit and read a book while I was waiting for any last-minute check-ins.

“Hey,” I said groggily. “Did anybody check in?”

“Hey, Sleepyhead, are you feeling better?” He closed his laptop and crossed the lobby to me. “I have one couple who checked in. They’re in room twenty-five. I have their information in your handwritten ledger book, and I’ve got their credit card right here so that you can put them into the system. And once that’s done, I told them I would run their credit card back up to them.”

“You are efficient,” I said.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“A little bit.”

“I have pizza in the kitchen,” he announced. “Why don’t I go get you a couple of pieces while you finish putting your new guests into the computer system?”

“That sounds good,” I said.

I was surprised to see how late it was as I logged onto the computer. I slept for several hours.

A middle-aged couple came downstairs as I finished entering the credit card into the system.

The woman approached the desk. “Are you Lydia?” she asked.

“I am. How can I help you?”

“We were told you were taking a nap, and we wanted to see if you had managed to finish getting us checked in.” She gave me her name. It matched the one on the credit card in front of me.

“I actually just finished getting you into the system. Thank you,” I said as I handed her back her credit card. “You’re probably going to want this to go find dinner.”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing. Thank you.”

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