Page 78 of Stirring Up Love
The tow truck driver flipped up the hood of her yellow raincoat and shoved her hands into the pockets, eyeing them askance. “Who puts the top down in winter?”
Finn raised his brows at Simone, but she grinned, mischievous. “Right? My question exactly.” The little traitor. She’d pay for that later. If her good mood held, that is. She was taking this latest delay remarkably well. Her laid-back attitude was mildly terrifying.
“Anyway, I’ll take the car to Rick’s, and he’ll get to work on it in the morning, but until then, is there somewhere I can take you?”
“Chicago?” Finn asked hopefully, and the driver laughed.
They didn’t join in, and her laugh cut short. “Oh, you’re not joking?”
Illuminated by the flashing orange panel of lights, Simone shook her head. “He’s not. My sister’s bachelorette party is tomorrow.”
“Well, if it’s just the roof, Rick should have you on the road bright and early.”
“Bright and early gets us back tomorrow night. The spa day starts at ten, and then we have a whole afternoon of activities. Is there anywhere to rent a car?”
Rent a car in the middle of nowhere at going on midnight? The tow truck driver’s answer confirmed what they already knew. “I’d call your sister and tell her to go ahead without you.”
Simone opened her mouth, and he guessed she was about to tell the woman where she could stick her unsolicited advice, so he jumped in. “Could you drop us off at a motel?”
“Sure, or I can do you one better. My cousin Eunice owns a B and B down by the interstate. Doesn’t get much business this time of year, and I bet she’d let you have it half price for the night. Only a few blocks down from Rick’s too. Save you the trouble of calling for a ride in the morning.”
She ushered them over to the passenger side. “I’ll give you two a moment to talk it over.”
Once they were settled in the warm cab of the tow truck, Simone hissed, “A B and B by theinterstate? First of all, those words should never be uttered in the same sentence.”
“Agreed.” Finn looked over her shoulder into the night. Five hundred miles of darkness lay between them and their destination. “But the other choice is, what, Uber across three states?”
She paused like she was actually considering it, then looked away, but not before he’d caught sight of the defeat in her eyes. “You’re right. There’s no way we’re making it back in time.”
If he hadn’t put the top down, hadn’t pushed her to explore ... scratch that—if he hadn’t begged her to come along on this road trip in the first place, then she’d be home already with her sister. But no giving in to regrets. Not tonight. He wouldn’t spoil what she’d sacrificed to take him to the Grand Canyon by wallowing.
They were stuck; that much was inescapable. But staying the night at a bed-and-breakfast, even one by the interstate, couldn’t be that bad, right?
CHAPTER 27
SIMONE
A bucketful of rainwater sat in the floral-carpeted hall of the bed-and-breakfast, catching drips from a crumbling ceiling. A hard hat would’ve been appropriate, or at least an umbrella. Simone and Finn trailed the innkeeper-slash-tow-truck-driver’s-cousin, Eunice, down a hallway, under the watchful gaze of the staring eyes in the sepia portraits.
They’d passed nine heavy, mahogany doors—she’d counted, in case this was an escape room in disguise—and now the woman stopped at the last door on the left and fished a key out of the pocket of her puffer coat.
“I’m sure my cousin told you, it’s the off-season for ghost hunting, so you’ve got the place to yourselves.”
Um, no. The tow truck driver had failed to mention that the B and B by the interstate was actually ahauntedB and B by the interstate. “Excuse me, ghost hunters?” Hard pass.
Simone backed up and nearly passed out from fright when she collided with something solid and breathing and ...laughing. Finn. The reason she was going to be spending the night in this death trap of a mansion, waking up to another full day of traveling instead of keeping her promise to her sister.
The enormity of the delay had sunk in as the tow truck chugged away with their only ride home, and now she’d gone from chill to pissed. And tired. And full of regrets for embracing Finn’s nonsense c’est la vie attitude. Maintaining her calm had become a serious undertaking.
She crossed her arms and stepped forward, away from the enticing warmth of his chest. A quicksand of distraction is what he was.
The gray-haired woman smiled up at them, key in the lock. “Forgot for a second that you didn’t book us through the website. But yep. We’re the premier spot for poltergeist activity in the whole state. Legend has it my great-great-grandaunt and her bridegroom haunt the place. Lovers’ quarrel gone bad.” She returned her attention to the doorknob. “Poison. Sort of a reverse Romeo and Juliet. Anyway, there have been a lot of mysterious occurrences reported on the premises.”
Nope.
Nope, nope, nope. Not cool.
Finn spoke up. “But, of course, none of that’s real.”
