Page 79 of Level With Me
Or I would be.
By the time Monday rolled around, I was actually looking forward to meeting with Lila for the construction walk-through. It had been awhile since I’d been into the east wing. I stayed away because normally, it depressed me. It was a public representation of what George had done to our resort. I didn’t resent him for it—he’d been trying to save the hotel. He’d just colossally screwed up.
I could relate to that.
A sheet of polyvinyl covered the lobby entrance to the east wing, and when I stepped through, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. The space was dark—the only light that came in was filtered through the plastic from the lobby behind me, and from a few of the room doors that had been propped open. Those rooms were ones where construction had started on and were stripped down to the studs, I knew. The place smelled stale, with undercurrents of sawdust and oil from whatever machinery or tools had been in here last year.
But as I walked, I found my eyes drawn to a space far down at the end of the hall. A space where two doors had a longer stretch of wall between them.
That was where Mom had boarded up Room 114.
For a moment, the air seemed to crackle around me, and the hairs on the backs of my arms stood up.
Behind me, the sounds of the lobby—the click of high heels and ring of laughter and conversation—seemed to grow muted.
What if Dad was right? What if Eleanor Cleary was real?
Okay, no. There was no way. But maybe he was right about the actual history. Maybe she’d been murdered here by her husband and—
The plastic crinkled behind me and I nearly jumped out of my sensible heels.
“Whoa!” Blake exclaimed, his hands up.
I couldn’t help it, I shrieked. “Ship swell mother bells!” I yelled.
Blake’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry,what?”
My heart was pounding too hard to respond. I leaned forward, hands on my legs, catching my breath.
Finally, I stood up straight and allowed myself to register that Blake was standing before me.
Trying to hold in a laugh. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s just a little… creepy in here.”
“What exactly did you say back there?”
I grimaced. “Ship swell mother bells. My dad used to say that when he couldn’t swear around us.”
Blake frowned, nodding. “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
Then my heart finally caught up to me, squeezing in my chest. This was Blake. The Blake I’d been with in carnal ways last week. The one who knew how I took my coffee and that I used too-elaborate ‘shortcuts’ on my spreadsheets.
The one who was staying in his fake marriage to protect a friend and their business and because he didn’t want to be with anyone in the long term, anyway.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” I said. Was my voice stiff? I tried to relax. But now that I was over the shock of having the living daylights scared out of me, my heart felt like it was cracking right in two.
I knew I could have run into him anywhere in the building. But somehow, I still thought I’d have more time to prepare for his effect on me.
“I asked Lila if I could take this meeting,” he said.
I swallowed. “Why?”
“Because I spent a whole week away from you, and it nearly killed me. In two weeks, Lila and I will be home in New York, preparing for our next project.”
While my heart squeezed at the first part, the way he finished was like he was reminding me of the cold, hard facts.
“And I’ll just be a distant memory.” I was unable to keep the wobble out of my voice.
