Page 98 of The Hotel Room

“I know,” he said softly, his own voice breaking. “Take all the time you need. I’ll wait. I’ll wait forever.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kate

Kate stood in the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she glanced out the window at the three figures in the backyard. Noah, tall and gangly in the way sixteen-year-old boys often were, was bent over, tying a blindfold over Lily’s eyes.

Lily, her golden hair glowing in the sunlight, was giggling uncontrollably, her arms flailing as she tried to push him away without much force.

Emily stood off to the side, holding a paper bag she’d clearly turned into some kind of game prop. She was smiling, her bright eyes darting between Noah and Lily, her own laugh ringing out when Lily managed to snag the edge of the blindfold and shove it crooked.

Kate leaned against the counter, her chest tightening with a mix of emotions.

It was sweet—seeing them like this. Seeing Noah relaxed and happy, Lily basking in the rare attention her big brother and his girlfriend were lavishing on her.

Emily was good for Noah.

Kate could see it.

She’d been nervous at first when Noah started talking about Emily like she hung the moon—his first serious girlfriend. But Emily was kind, grounded. The kind of girl who brought out the best in Noah.

And now, watching the three of them together, Kate felt a pang of something almost bittersweet.

Noah had been so angry at her lately. So distant, so full of teenage frustration he didn’t seem to know what to do with.

But now, here he was, teasing Lily, joking with Emily, his whole face lit up in a way she hadn’t seen in weeks.

The way he looked at Emily, soft and a little awestruck, sent Kate’s mind drifting to another time.

She had been Emily once.

She and James, sitting on the bleachers after his basketball practice, laughing about something stupid, leaning into each other like they were the only two people in the world.

They had been kids then, no older than Noah was now.

Just kids.

Children who thought they were invincible, who believed their love could conquer anything.

And then, at 19, they’d had a baby.

Their lives had changed so quickly, spinning faster than either of them had been ready for. But they’d grown up together,side by side, navigating the chaos and the joy, figuring it out one step at a time.

James had been her constant through it all—the love of her life, her anchor, her partner.

Even now, with everything they’d been through, with all the hurt and the brokenness between them, that truth remained.

He was her first love.

Her only love.

And as she watched Noah and Emily together, she couldn’t help but wonder if Noah saw the same kind of forever in Emily that she had once seen in James.

The thought filled her chest with equal parts hope and sorrow, a strange, aching mix that was hard to hold. Kate let out a soft breath, setting the dish towel aside and moving to the back door.

She stepped outside, the warm air wrapping around her as she crossed the patio to lean against the railing.

Noah noticed her first, pausing just long enough to call out, “We’re teaching Lily how to play pin the tail on the donkey. Emily made the tail out of paper towels.”

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