Page 84 of Return to Me Always

As I finished drying my hair, my mom knocked on the door. "Kat, sorry, but we need to get going soon. It's almost check-out time."

"Almost done."

While cleaning up had felt incredible, it had also been exhausting, kind of like taking a shower when you had the flu. My strength had all been zapped.

But I was determined to use all the goodies my mom had brought me, including the razor, tweezers, and body butter. Like a spa day all squeezed into less than an hour.

And even though I was worn out, I felt like a human being again, especially in fresh clothes. When I was done, I hurried to help my mom finish packing everything up, and there was a knock on the adjoining door.

Rolling her eyes, my mom said, "I guess we can finally let them in now that we're all ready."

Ben walked in first, a huge smile on his face. "So we finally get to see how the ladies live." He looked around, nodding. "Looks exactly like our room."

"Yeah, pretty much." I laughed. "That's usually how hotels work."

My heart skipped a beat as Tyler came into the room, his eyes going wide when he spotted me. Yeah, the clothes my mom had bought were a little bit tight and certainly more revealing than the camping gear I'd been wearing forever.

Ben whistled. "Whew, Kit Kat. You clean up nice. Personally, I think we all do. I like—"

"Come on." Tyler elbowed Ben. "Quit your blethering and grab some luggage so we can get out of here."

***

After leaving through the rear of the hotel, just in case, I settled into the back seat of the car, expecting my mom to sit beside me. But Tyler surprised me by sliding in next to me, and I couldn't even hide my smile.

"Sure you want to sit back there, Tyler?" my mom said from the front. "Kat always sleeps in the car, and she'll be drooling all over you in no time."

"Thanks, Mom." To be honest, I was already drooling at the way he smelled, all freshly showered, and God, the sexy way he looked, and thinking of that heart-melting kiss last night, and the heat coming off of him. Oh, my heart, how was I going to endure sitting next to him for this whole car ride without attacking him? "How long is this drive anyway?"

"Ten hours to London, Kit Kat. Sleep away. Tyler won't mind a little drool."

Feeling a little shy around him all the sudden, I glanced at Tyler, his big frame taking up the bulk of the back seat, but he just shook his head at Ben.

"It's my fault really," my mom continued. "The only way she'd nap as a toddler was to take a car ride. And then, she stopped taking naps altogether right before her second birthday. I mean, what kid does that? All my mom friends at the time had kids who napped till four or even five—nice, long afternoon naps—while this one here, she stayed awake all day then half the night. And don't even get me started about how much she ate. I mean, she'd eat an entire box of mac and—"

"Okay, Mom. I'm sure Tyler and Ben really don't want to hear all about my toddler days."

"Wait, I do," Ben said, pulling onto the highway. "Were you going to say Kat used to eat a whole box of mac and cheese all by herself?"

"Oh, yeah. And she used to eat a whole can of spaghettios and wipe it all over her head. Had to throw her in the tub right after."

Everybody laughed while I rolled my eyes. How on earth had we started down this road?

I cleared my throat. "Okay. So I actually have some serious things to talk about now that we're all together and my blinding headache is mostly gone."

"Sure, hon," my mom said, looking back at me. "What's up?"

I felt like a bit of a buzzkill, but now that this had all been settled, there was something weighing heavily on me. "Well, honestly, I'm feeling pretty bad about some things. I mean, I'd like to know, well, about the poor guy that got murdered. Do we know who he was?"

Everybody sobered up pretty quickly at that question, and there was a pause before anyone answered.

Tyler spoke up first. "They couldn't identify him actually. A man in his sixties, most likely homeless."

Oh, boy, that was sad, and I felt terrible. Tyler's hand found mine, giving me a gentle squeeze, as I wondered if there was anything I could do. I'd definitely have to think about that.

"It's horrible. I know. Please don't blame yourself for that. It was one-hundred percent Malcolm and not you. It wasn't your fault. Okay?" my mom said, turning to give me a pointed look.

With a sigh, I nodded even though I wasn't so sure about that.

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