Once again, he prepared everything without me noticing. It makes me rather nervous like I might miss something one day because he thinks, plans, and acts faster than I do. “And what are we going to do with Grey?” Let’s see if he has a solution for that too because we can’t leave him in the RV in this heat.
“He can stay with us in the suite, I made sure.”
I doubt wolves are welcome guests in a luxury hotel. Did he say suite? “How much did this privilege cost you?”
He just snorts without replying. It was probably a lot, maybe five hundred, like his girlfriends! Great!
When we step into the Seattle Plaza lobby, it takes my breath away.
“Jesus Christ almighty!” I blurt out unintentionally. The foyer is so grand I have to stop myself from calling out to see if I hear an echo. A plane could easily land here and a long-haul one at that. The tiles in the foyer are white marble, through which golden branches run like fine veins. Lush chandeliers hang from the sky-high ceiling, their clear crystals shimmering with a thousand colored lights. Each chandelier appears heavy enough to easily kill an elephant, no question.
I shake my head as I walk next to Bren to the front desk.
Unreal. Me here with him. This can’t be real.
“You’re going to blow all of your money in one night,” I whisper to Bren, my voice sounding way too loud.
“I booked a week. For now. And I’m not wasting my money when I’m on the road with you.”
My jaw drops and I stare at a man whose leather suitcase alone must be worth more than all of my belongings, including Ethan’s real silver cross. Suddenly, I feel shabby in my shorts, sweaty top, and flip-flops. I look around unobtrusively to see if our shoes are leaving marks on the bright white floor, fortunately, however, there are no track marks.
“Bren, we can’t…”
“I can.” He pauses at the ebony reception desk with a stoic expression on his face. Immediately, a receptionist approaches and asks for his name.
I give the stylish lady credit for not losing her artificial smile even when her gaze wanders over my simple top and unkempt hair. She probably believes Bren is a spoiled trust-fund boy who is on a hippy trip and now, after weeks in the outback, is longing for the big city. Ha, if only she knew!
For some reason, I don’t like her, probably because her eyes repeatedly check out Bren. She is too pretty with her double layer of makeup and patented permanent smile. And she’s blonde! Maybe she believes that trust-fund thing and is interested in Bren…who knows?
I look from her to Bren, but he’s just calmly filling out the paperwork…occasionally glancing in my direction. I suppress a smile. It probably doesn’t even register with him that she’s a woman!
Bren pays upfront with a credit card. A porter approaches and tries to carry Brendan’s bag to the elevators, but Bren politely yet firmly lets him know not to make a second attempt. Still, he doesn’t give up—I suspect he expects a three-digit tip just for being there. The bellboy ushers us to the separate elevator area and I let out a “Wow!” which earns me a punitive sideways glance from an elderly lady in a diamond necklace. The hall is completely golden, even the floor! The silvery elevator doors shimmer in the dim lighting. Classical violin music trickles out of hidden speakers accompanied by an angelic soprano voice. The voice seems to draw white circles inside me. All this splendor is making me dizzy.
The futuristic penthouse suite surpasses everything I could have ever imagined in terms of luxury. All the surfaces are polished to a high gloss which makes them shine and sparkle. I can no longer close my mouth. The suite probably takes up half the floor and the living room alone is five times the size of our house in Ash Springs. The entire inventory is dark blue, black, and silver and shines so elegantly that I’m afraid to touch anything.
While Bren is talking to the bellboy and giving him a tip, I walk in a daze through the three bedrooms with velvet-covered king-size beds, the three marble bathrooms, two of which even have a jacuzzi, and a sparkling designer kitchen. With the exception of the kitchen and the bathrooms, there is midnight-blue carpeting everywhere and the furnishings in the living room remind me a bit of a science fiction film. Gleaming stainless steel, lamps, and lights like distant floating galaxies and a desk in the shape of a spaceship’s gigantic control panel.
“Bren, this is…” I step to the floor-to-ceiling picture windows that offer a breathtaking view of Seattle and the indigo-blue ocean. “Have you ever been to a hotel like this?” I glance at him over my shoulder.
It is hard to tell if any of this impresses him. Oh, yes, Bren is a minimalist when it comes to facial expressions.
He approaches me. “In the past, occasionally, back in my fighting days.”
Of course!
“Not what you’re thinking! We took care of that right then and there in the dingy basements.” He winks at me without smiling. I blush. I know what’s going to happen in this suite and it’s making me nervous.
As if he senses it, Bren wraps his arms around me from behind and we gaze out over a sea of roofs and iridescent glass fronts together. The tall hotel buildings around us are glittering giants in a dwarf world; the Space Needle, the famous tower, looks like the sublime king of a chess set. Everything on the ground is minuscule, even the white Ferris wheel on the pier seems to be part of an ant nation. The world lies beneath us as if Bren wanted to lay it at my feet.
Eventually, Bren breaks away and grabs two champagne-filled flutes. “Strictly speaking, you’re still too young for champagne from the hotel bar,” he says.
“I’m also too young to elope with you, Bren.” I look at him, still unable to comprehend all this. “You know everything works differently here. With everything we’ve been through, normal rules don’t apply to us. That’s why there are times when we disregard the laws, right?”
He doesn’t answer, but I sense he’s thinking about what I said.
We sit on the floor in front of the panoramic windows with our glasses and discover a Starbucks and a McDonald’s in the streets below us. I teach Bren I Spy, which we play with familiar logos and end up finding also a Burger King and a Wendy’s.
We watch as the sun sinks lower and lower, painting the sky a rich golden orange. Violet cloud banks form on the horizon over the evening blue ocean and the glass fronts of the hotels flicker in the evening light as if on fire. Bren generously refills our glasses.
