‘Ah.’ Jake hadn’t thought to ask. He looked at Marcus’s pleading eyes. He’d just have to take a separate room. Unless … ‘Is there a couch?’
‘Yes.’
‘Great.’
Gayle looked at them both. ‘Well, if you’re sure …’
‘Yes, absolutely.’
‘This room is the most expensive one, I’m afraid.’
‘Of course it is,’ Marcus commented under his breath.
Jake turned around and glared at Marcus. ‘Ignore him. Marcus is a little out of sorts,’ he began, biting his tongue to prevent himself from saying,Marcus is an idiot. If he carried on, he was going to get them thrown out of this nice lady’s establishment. ‘He’s feeling a bit under the weather, so I wanted to keep an eye on him tonight.’ He added as an afterthought, ‘You know how it is.’ He wasn’t sure what he meant by that last comment, but Gayle’s mother’s strange behaviour came to mind.
Gayle’s gaze drifted to Marcus. She leaned in, peering at him.
Marcus took a step back. ‘What are you looking at?’
‘Marcus!’ Jake berated him. ‘For god’s sake, don’t be so rude.’ Jake swiftly turned to Gayle. ‘Sorry. He had a rough night last night.’ Jake would rather not get into where Marcus had been.
‘Yeah – and whose fault was that?’
Jake ignored him. He looked at Gayle. She was an ex-nurse. He wondered what she made of Marcus. Whatever she was thinking, she didn’t say. Jake wondered whether he should ask her to check Marcus over. He decided to hang on until the morning – maybe Marcus would be feeling better by then.
Gayle put her hand on the doorknob, but she didn’t open the door immediately.
‘I want you to know that I don’t normally make this room available to paying guests. It’s usually reserved for friends only,but I’m going to make an exception just this once.’
‘Thank you,’ said Jake sincerely. ‘That’s most kind.’ He glanced at Marcus, hoping he kept his big mouth shut and didn’t come out with some sarcastic comment.
‘This room was re-decorated as a surprise gift from a special friend,’ Gayle continued, ‘so I would ask that you to treat it respectfully, please.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Jake said earnestly.
Gayle looked at Marcus. So did Jake.
Marcus, who had been staring off in another direction, realised that everything had suddenly gone quiet. He looked first at Gayle, then at Jake.
There was a moment’s uncomfortable silence in which Jake, who a moment earlier had wanted Marcus just to keep his trap shut, was now wishing for exactly the opposite.
Gayle stood there, one hand on her hip, the other resting on the doorknob, keeping the door to the room firmly shut.
Jake rolled his eyes. Marcus hadn’t heard a single word she had said.
‘Be assured we’ll treat the place as if it were our own,’ mumbled Marcus.
Jake stared at Marcus, dumbfounded that he had even been listening.
Satisfied with Marcus’s response, Gayel unlocked the door and walked in, depositing Jake’s bag on the floor by the couch. She turned around a full three hundred and sixty degrees, taking in the room as if for the first time, smiling approvingly at the old-fashioned deep red and gold wallpaper and the large oak fireplace with its cast iron grate, its brick hearth, and its basket of wood and kindling.
Marcus shuffled into the room.
Jake stood in the doorway, eyeing the double bed. He decided the situation was ridiculous. He needed another room.
‘You’re sure you don’t want another room?’ Gayle read his mind.
But instead of saying yes, Jake found himself saying no. ‘The couch will be fine.’ He trundled Marcus’s suitcase over to the bed before picking up his own bag and slinging it on the couch opposite the bed.
