Page 79 of I Can't Help It

Once I make it to the front desk, I wait patiently (but impatiently) for Shy to finish on the phone.

“Yes, ma’am, we are a pet-friendly lodge. All I said was that we’ve never had a guest with a bearded dragon before, so I’m not sure what the protocol will be.” Shy’s tone is light and professional, but I can see him repeatedly clicking the pen in his hand, which only adds to my anxiousness.

“If it’s okay for me to put you on hold, I’ll have a manager pick up the call for you, would that be all right? Yes? Okay. One moment, please.” He puts the call on hold and then presses a button to speak on his radio. “Hey, line two is for a manager. We have a guest who wants to bring her bearded dragon on a future vacation. Yeah, I know. Thank you.”

Shy lets out a deep breath, and then greets me with a warm smile. “Good morning. I’m so sorry about that, what can I help you with?”

“Um, do you have a heating pad? My coworker is dealing with some leg cramps from the cycling class we just took.” I offer a little laugh to ease my nerves. “It was his first time. So…yeah.”

His hazel eyes become worried. “Does he need a doctor? Do you need to speak with a manager?”

“No, it’s okay,” I quickly assure him, “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’m sure the heating pad will be fine.”

He relaxes a little bit and then sets his pen aside. “Let me grab one for you.”

“Thank you!” I call after him as he disappears into a separate room behind the counter. “You’re the best!”

“Ava?”

I turn around at the sound of my name, and a familiar lazy grin is what I notice first.

Wyatt.

“Dang, it is you.” He laughs before glancing me over. “You look great! Are you on vacay? Or do you have a work thing going on?”

Wait, did Luke not tell him that we’re doing an on-site visit here? Together?

“Work,” I manage to reply, resting my back against the counter. “What are you doing here, Wy?”

“Maren planned a little two-day getaway.” He runs a hand through his messy brown hair. “I guess they have some kind of fall festival happening this week? She thought it’d be fun for Carter.”

I nod to show that I heard what he said, but I’m also thinking about how awkward this is.

Luke and I were literally just making out a few minutes ago, and now Wyatt is standing in front of me.

“Ma’am? I have that heating pad for you,” Shy tells me, pulling my attention away from Wyatt. “Did you need anything else?”

“No, I’m good.” I grab the heating pad off the counter. “Thank you so much.”

Wyatt looks curious about the heating pad, but he doesn’t have the chance to say anything because another voice joins the conversation.

“Hey, Pierce! Your sister wants to know if you checked us in yet or not,” Trista says, looking down at her phone. “I told her that you probably hadn’t but—”

“Tris,” Wyatt cuts her short,” you remember Ava, right? She’s here on a work trip, isn’t that crazy?”

Trista’s blue eyes flicker with recognition as she takes me in. “Of course. Ava, how are you?”

When Wyatt and I were dating, I was only around Trista a few times since she’s best friends with his sister (Maren) and they all grew up together. Despite the constant animosity between Trista and Wyatt, I always thought she seemed nice. A little closed-off, but nice.

“I’m doing well, thanks.” I force a tight smile. “How are you?”

I don’t want to be rude, but I really need to get OUT of this conversation so I can go check on Luke. What if he passed out or something?

Trista offers a dry laugh. “Well, someone didn’t wake up on time, so we got here later than planned. But otherwise, I’m fine, thank you.”

“Because, God forbid, we deviate from your precious planning,” Wyatt tells her with a scowl. “I’m surprised you didn’t schedule specific bathroom breaks for us too.”

“You would’ve just ignored them, so it’s a good thing I didn’t bother wasting my time!” she retorts, her grip tightening on the handle of her decent-sized suitcase. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to get us checked in so we can move on with our lives.”

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