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bit uppity but he had dealt
with plenty of people like that in the tourism industry.  Being able to
deal with people like that was almost a prerequisite of the job.  And it
wasn’t like she didn’t have reason to feel that way.  She had come to his
place as a guest for a getaway and was running into problems left, right and
center.  She had every right to be a little bit less than cordial to him.
 

 
    She had just gotten
under his skin at the wrong time.  Either way, he needed to fix what he’d
done because in spite of what he told her, he didn’t want her to go to the
chain down the street.  A two week stay by anyone was worth accepting a
little bit of humiliation, especially considering the fact that it was his roof
leak that damaged her clothes.  If he lost her tab and had to pay
for her clothes, he’d be in the negative bad.  If he was right about her
in any way, the stuff in her suitcase had the potential to run him a couple
grand.  

 
    He wanted to let it wait
until the morning but he knew he didn’t have the time for that.  She could
be packing right now for all he knew.  

 
    He turned around and walked
back to her door, knocking.  She opened the door up a few seconds later
with a cautious expression on her face.

 
    “Yes?  Are you here
to tell me more that you’ve discovered about me.”

 
    “No.  I came to ask
you to stay the rest of your trip.”

 
    “Really?”

 
    “Well the truth is that
we don’t have the money to cover the cost of replacing your clothes so I was
hoping we could just let you stay for free and we could call it even.”

 
    “What?!  So you
can’t cover the cost of my clothes and that’s why you’re not so high and mighty
anymore.  I’ll have you know that my clothes were not cheap at all.
 I don’t know if it’s even worth it.”

 
    “At least consider it,
please.”

 
    “Okay.”

 
    “Thank you, and you’ll
find that whatever it is you came here for, Stanton Falls is just the place to
find it.  Either way, I don’t want to bother you anymore tonight.
 Just let whoever is at the front desk in the morning know your decision.”

 
    He turned to walk away
when she stopped him.

 
    “Hold on.  You know
what?  I did come here for a reason and I’m going to stay but . . .”
 

 
    He watched as she turned
back into her room. “You are not leaving here a second time tonight without
these.”

 
    She handed him a bag.

 
    “Your soaked clothes.
 Right.  I’ll make sure they are ready for you as soon as possible.”

 
    “Good.  Thanks.”

 
    Moments later she had
shut the door and he was heading downstairs again.  He did a lot of things
here, but laundry was not one of them.   Ms. Celia or Libby would
take care of this.  

 
    As he reached the lobby
area, he was surprised.  He didn’t know why he was so rude to her earlier.
 She really wasn’t all that bad.  Not his cup of tea, of course.
 That didn’t matter though.  He didn’t need to like her or hang out
with her.  He just needed to tolerate her while she was there.  

 
    Just two weeks.

Chapter Five

 
 
    Tessa flicked the
television off and lay down with her eyes closed.  A minute later she
rolled over onto her back before sitting up on the bed and looking at the alarm
clock beside her bed.  

 
    Twelve thirty-seven a.m.
 No way I’m gonna make it until morning.  

 
    Tessa got up angry with
herself.  She knew she should have at least grabbed a sandwich last night
before it got too late but she was caught up talking to her dad about the crazy
series of events that had happened so far that day.  Now she was bone
tired and only wanted to rest.  If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have.
 But she knew her body and she knew that she wouldn’t get much sleep with
her stomach in need of food.  She got up and headed to the kitchen
downstairs.  

 
    That’s the problem with
staying in small towns.  No one down