Page 91 of Is This for Real?
“Rory, I put you in a bedroom in the house, and Penelope, I put you in a bedroom in our guesthouse. I’m afraid we’ve run out of double beds.” Myrtle smiles and then puts her arm through Rory’s.
Our glances meet in surprise. So much for any hope of a romantic interlude in the midst of our weekend.
“I’ll take you to your bedroom now,” Myrtle says. “Bernie will be out in a minute to escort you to your room, Penelope. There wasn’t room in the main house; I put all of Bernie’s business colleagues in there. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I say with a straight face. “I can also just go there myself if you point me in the right direction.”
“Why don’t we go there first so I can drop off Penelope’s bag?” Rory asks.
Myrtle makes a face of annoyance.
I say, “It’s okay” as she says, “Fine.”
Rory pulls away from Myrtle and picks up my bag. We walk on a gravel path around the house through the trees, down some stone steps, across a little, wooden bridge forking over a bubbling stream, and there, in the distance, is a small, stone cottage. It looks quite picturesque, even if remote from the big house.
“This was the original house, and then we built our own more modern and much larger house that you saw, but we decided to leave this one for guests,” Myrtle says.
“It’s charming,” I say. I don’t generally call things charming, but it is, and it seems to be the right thing to say as Myrtle smiles at me.
The key—and a spider—are under a flowerpot on the porch. She pushes open the heavy, wooden door and we enter the house. It’s chilly, although it doesn’t look quite as rustic when Myrtle turns the lights on.
“Are other people staying here as well?” Rory asks as he looks around.
“Yes, Anne and her boyfriend, Tom, Jack and his girlfriend, Nia, and Aaron and his boyfriend, Dan.”
So, basically, we’re the only couple that has been separated, and Rory is the only younger person staying at the big house. Somehow, I think the guesthouse is going to be the party house, provided we can warm this place up.
We follow Myrtle up the wooden stairs to my bedroom, which is the first on the left. It’s clean, and the single bed looks comfortable. Rory sets down my bag and sits on the bed, bouncing slightly.
“No naughty thoughts,” Myrtle says. Rory looks surprised, but winks at me. I feel myself blush.
“So, why don’t you meet us back at the main house in about twenty minutes?” Myrtle asks, pointing at a map on the desk, showing us the walking route planned for the afternoon. “Dress in hiking clothes.”
“I’m already dressed in hiking clothes.” I point to my jeans and sturdy boots. Given that Myrtle sent out an itinerary for the weekend, which noted hiking for this afternoon, I’m not sure what she expected me to be dressed in.
“Oh, of course,” she says, but looks annoyed that she won’t have Rory to herself.
We trail Myrtle out of the cottage and back to the main house. Rory picks up his bag from the car trunk. The big house is heated and very modern. Myrtle shows us his room. It’s a single bed as well.
“There’s a connecting door to my study right here,” Myrtle says.
Rory gives me a concerned look.
“Does it lock?” I ask.
“I lost the key,” Myrtle says.
“We’ve slept together in a single bed before,” I say to tease Myrtle.
Myrtle clears her throat. “Well, you definitely want to be well-rested for a weekend with your boss and your client.”
“Yes, it’s good that you separated us,” I say to Myrtle.
She sniffs and excuses herself to see how the lunch is going.
“I think you’re going to need to sleep with me in the single bed. Just for warmth alone,” I say.
“I should get some sleep,” Rory says.
