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“I’ll be all right,” Grace reassured me, waving her hand.
“I’m sorry, Grace, but I absolutely refuse to allow you to sleep on the couch,” I continued. “We’re not getting out of here tomorrow, so I don’t need to be well-rested. One night of bad sleep isn’t going to do much to upset my schedule if it’s only temporary.”
Grace bit her lip.
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m positive, Grace.”
“Thank you, Gabe. That’s very sweet of you,” she finally said. “What time is it, anyway?”
Our stomachs both growled at this. I looked at my watch. It was far past dinner time.
“It’s late. Let’s see if we can get anything here, or if we’ll have to trek to a grocery store for something that’ll keep without power or in the minifridge in my room.” I stood up to go do just that when the front desk employee returned.
“Are you two hungry?” he called to us. “We have some food that’ll spoil without a fridge, and I’d rather see it get eaten than go to waste. Eat as much as you want.”
There was a good-sized box of food in his hands. I took it from him and set it on the floor. Grace immediately went for some fresh strawberries and washed them in the lobby’s bathroom sink. I found myself drawn to the yogurt. Some plastic spoons were in the bottom of the box which I was happy about. Yogurt was always a good choice.
Dinner went quietly, and Grace stole off to my room with my key card. I made sure she could get in first before going back to the front desk.
“I need a blanket,” I said. “My travel companion is going to sleep in my room since she’s locked out of hers until the power comes back on.”
“Of course! There are extra blankets in the closet in your room,” the young man said, smiling.
I frowned. “No, I need a blanket because I’m sleeping out here. On the couch.”
“Oh,” he hesitated. “I see. Well, I guess we can arrange that. We don’t have any available rooms, but if the power stays out tomorrow I can see if I can contact one of our maintenance people to open up a room for you so you at least have a mattress of your own.”
“Thanks. For now, this’ll be alright.”
He nodded slowly. The snow was starting to get high enough I worried we’d get literally snowed into the inn tomorrow if it didn’t stop.
He returned with a thick off-white coverlet. I took it quietly and went to the couch in the lobby, which sat off to the side and faced the heater. I couldn’t feel a lot of heat blowing from it, but that was fine.
I kicked off my shoes and curled up under the quilted blanket before pulling the sleep mask over my eyes. That was a good idea for them to give me. There were too many windows in the lobby for it to make much sense to sleep out here otherwise. I liked to think that the clerk had figured someone would end up sleeping in the lobby and that’s why he added them to the bags, but I knew that was unlikely.
As sleep started to steal over me, I relaxed into the couch. This wasn’t going to be a permanent change, but I was glad that, at the very least, Grace would get a good night’s rest. She deserved it after the panic she had faced today.
I was almost asleep when someone touched my shoulder. I pulled the sleep mask up, only to find Grace standing there. I glanced to where the front desk clerk had been flipping through his magazine before I closed my eyes. Now, the lobby’s lights were dimmed, and the desk was empty. Instead of the clerk, there was only a small sign saying the staff would be back soon with a number to call in case of emergencies.
“I-I… I can’t sleep in that room alone,” Grace whispered in the dim light. “There are too many windows.” Her voice was soft as if she were afraid to admit this.
I raised an eyebrow. It was odd, but I’d heard worse.
“Would you like me to sleep on the floor in there instead of out here?”
“If you’d be okay with that,” Grace replied.
Chapter ten
Grace
I felt incredibly stupid admitting to Gabe that there were too many windows in the room for me to sleep, but I didn’t know what else to do. Realizing that there were just as many windows in the lobby hadn’t helped either. I’d need someone to be in the room with me so that I didn’t freak out. There was something odd about the way this all worked, but I couldn’t quite pin it down.
Gabe and I entered the room together, and he moved his suitcase so that he could sleep away from the windows. He didn’t get far, however, before he looked at me. I had gotten back on the bed by now.
“Why can’t you sleep with two windows in the room?” He raised his eyebrow again, tilting his head. “I’m honestly baffled. How many windows does your room have?”
