Page 61 of Play With Me
Nora pinches her lips between her teeth and looks down. So at least she’s not so upset she can’t laugh.
Gunther lays both sets of key cards on the table and props the dividing door open between our rooms before leaving. At the door I hand him a folded bill.
“Can you please get someone to check in on the other room in a while to see if they need anything?”
“Yes, sir!” Gunther says, practically saluting me when he sees the size of the euro note I’ve handed him.
Then he’s gone.
“I’ll take the other room,” I say, pulling my suitcase through the open interior door into the adjoining suite.
Nora won’t look at me; she just stands in the doorway across from me and pushes her glasses up her nose. “That’s fine. Great.”
“Nora, can we talk about—”
“Jude, I’ve had enough humiliation for one night, okay?” she snaps, surprising me. Then she twists her hands in front of her, not meeting my eye. “I’m just…tired, okay? And still thinking it’s ludicrous that I came along with you guys.”
“Don’t think that, please. We all want you here.”
When she looks up, her eyes look pained.
“We’ll do some ghost hunting tomorrow, yeah?”
She nods. “If that’s okay with Cap.”
“Of course.” I hesitate. “Nora, can we just forget what happened on the train?”
Her cheeks flush, and she looks almost stricken. Was that the wrong thing to say?
“Sure,” she squeaks.
Before I can say anything else, she hands me a key from the table and shuts the door between us.
I clench my jaw. God, how had I managed to screw this up so badly?
I toss my suitcase on the bed, running my hand through my loose hair. What I should do is go to sleep. It’s only nine, but it’s been a long day.
I don’t like myself this way. It’s not my natural state to be grumpy as shit. My brother Eli’s the grumpy one. He takes everything too seriously and doesn’t know how to have a good time.
Except, now that he’s hooked up with the love of his life, he does.
The realization that I, Jude Kelly, the happy-go-fucking-lucky one of my five siblings, is probably the grumpiest out of the bunch at this moment in time, has me in a sudden panic.
I pull out my phone and send a text to my only other single brother, Griffin.
JUDE: I’m in Switzerland. Got any sightseeing tips?
It’s a moment before he texts back. I’m surprised, actually, that he didn’t just ignore me.
GRIFF: Are you in trouble?
I consider answering yes, but Griff might send me a fucking chopper out of nowhere knowing what he considers trouble, so I write back:
JUDE: No. Just ghost-hunting.
GRIFF: Seriously?
JUDE: Sort of. Awkward co-parenting situation with me and Farrah and Cap. And Nora.
