Page 344 of The Maxwell Brothers
“My assistant booked me a B&B.” Looking at Liz, I asked, “Want to come with me?”
Liz nodded. “Yeah. Mom, Dad, no offense.”
“None was taken, sweetheart,” Danielle said, looking absolutely thrilled.
The family lingered a few more minutes in the waiting room until Rose practically shoved us out.
Danielle and Jake rode in one car. Mark drove Liz and me to the B&B. Liz felt soft in my arms. I suspected she was going to crash when we arrived. Right now, she was a chatterbox, but I had the distinct impression she was only talking for Mark’s benefit. He was keeping his answers short.
“And this is you,” he said as he stopped the car. “Best B&B in town. Liz, thanks for coming over today. You were a lot of help to your folks and Rose. And me. I was kind of… lost there.”
“Mark, that’s normal,” Liz said softly.
He shook his head. “No one tells you before you’re having a baby that their health will make you spiral out every month.”
“It gets better,” I said. “I have a niece. She’s ten. Gave us a lot of scares over the years.”
Liz widened her eyes. “How is this supposed to help him?”
“Just giving my honest opinion,” I replied.
Mark chuckled. “Thanks, dude. See you both tomorrow.”
“I can't even feel my body anymore,” Liz murmured when we got out of the car. She yawned. As we stepped into the B&B, I eyed an armchair.
“Come on, pretty girl. Sit down there while I check us in.”
“Okay.”
She sat down, yawning again. I knew she'd fall asleep the second she lay down in bed. Good. She needed to rest.
“Hi,” I greeted the woman behind the reception desk. “I'm Declan Maxwell.”
“I spoke to your assistant earlier. We’re all done. I need your credit card.”
“Here you go.” Taking it out of my wallet, I handed it to her. She tapped at her keyboard, returning the card along with the key.
“It's on the second floor. Do you have any luggage?”
“No. Nothing.”
“All right, call if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” I went straight to Liz.
She held up one hand. “Please help me up. I feel like a giant marshmallow.”
I pulled her up by her hand and then put an arm around her back as we went up the staircase. The room was the first on the left. I unlocked it using the huge, bulky key. I was used to swiping cards, but it worked just fine.
The room was big, with a small dresser, but the bed was unexpectedly large. Liz went straight to it, sitting down on the edge of the mattress. She yawned yet again.
“I'm so tired. What time is it?”
“Four o’clock.”
“Hmm… maybe I can take a nap, and then I’ll be fresh. I don’t understand how I can be so tired.”
“You rode the bus for hours and were worried sick. That’s going to drain your energy.”
