Page 26 of Hairpin Curves

“Thanks.” Megan fairly snatched the proffered new key cards from him and led the way back to the new hotel room.

As soon as they were in the room, Megan set her sights on the bed farthest from the door and started piling her stuff on it.

“Wait a minute.” Scarlett put her hands on her hips. “Why do I get the murder bed?”

Megan paused halfway through unzipping her overnight bag. “The what?”

Scarlett patted the floral bedspread. “The murder bed. The bed closest to the door.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No one’s going to murder you.” Megan finished unzipping her bag and started rummaging around in it. “There’s nobody in this town.”

“That’s not much comfort.” Scarlett wasn’t particularly bothered, even if she teased Megan about it. She was too excited to get into an actual bed and sleep.

Megan was more methodical about all of this, and Scarlett stopped to watch. First, she folded her pajamas—folded her pajamas—and set them down on the bureau. Then she put her overnight bag on the floor next to the bureau. Finally, she peeled back the comforter and all the sheets, and she leaned close to inspect the sides of the bed.

Eventually, Scarlett had to ask. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for bedbugs.” Megan straightened. “Don’t you check for bedbugs? The internet recommends it.”

“No.” Now that Megan mentioned it, Scarlett probably should.

“That seems like an oversight.” Megan had that obnoxious, all-knowing expression on her face.

Scarlett really hadn’t gotten enough sleep to have this conversation. “I don’t usually stay in places where there are bedbugs. And what about you? You’ve never stayed in a motel.”

“I’ve stayed in motels.”

“And besides! You already put your bag on the bed.” Scarlett pulled back the covers of her bed and gave it a cursory glance. “There. No bugs. We’re fine.”

Scarlett started stripping off her clothes. It took a minute to notice the silence behind her. Down to just her bra and underwear, she turned. “What?”

Megan was staring at her with wide eyes and color high in her cheeks. “You’re just going to get naked right there?”

“Yes?” What was wrong with that?

“I’ll be in the bathroom.” Still flushed, Megan grabbed her pajamas and went into the bathroom.

Whatever. Scarlett pulled off the rest of her clothes. She was too tired to find pajamas. All she wanted was sleep. She got into bed, pulled up all the covers, and closed her eyes.

Megan wasn’t sure what woke her up at first, or for that matter, where she was. She jolted out of a sound sleep and sat upright, heart racing, surrounded by darkness. Everything came back to her all at once: the drive, the sunrise, the leg of the journey out here to Myrtle Beach. She’d gone to sleep right after they got here, and now it was—she checked the clock—nine at night. All right, so she had slept for like six or seven hours, and now she was still pretty tired but also massively hungry. Her stomach made some unfortunate grumbling noises, followed by something that sounded like...groaning?

No, that part wasn’t her stomach. Megan pushed carefully out of bed and walked across the narrow space between the beds to where Scarlett was sleeping, cuddled all the way under the blankets. She was making a sort of low, moaning sound, like she might be in pain, or...or...not in pain.

That alternative made Megan stumble back in surprise, sitting hard on the bed. Her immediate follow-up was laughter, and she stifled her giggles behind her hand. Scarlett was either having a bad dream or a really good one, and she was making some noises that gave Megan some really inappropriate thoughts. Fucking hell. Leave it to Scarlett to be distracting even when sound asleep. How was Megan supposed to focus on anything else now?

At least she was wide awake now, so she might as well do something about getting food. That would be enough of a distraction for whatever the hell Scarlett was murmuring about.

Megan flipped on the light on the nightstand. Maybe it would wake Scarlett up, which would solve the second problem just as easily. But Scarlett kept right on sleeping, so Megan went through the binder the Pink Sands Inn provided about area food and hotel information. The sheets inside with hotel info were slightly yellowed and a bit crinkly to her touch, like no one had updated them in years, and maybe they hadn’t. Maybe the Pink Sands Inn knew that tourists were going to pay whatever they asked and not care much about other amenities with the ocean right outside their doorstep.

She settled on Domino’s, because they were still open and had an app, so she didn’t actually have to talk to a human being. With a large pizza and cheesy bread en route to their hotel, she decided to go for a walk to the vending machine and to get some ice. The vending machine looked straight out of the ’80s, with the old-fashioned Coca-Cola logo and the large plastic buttons you had to push with your whole hand. The colors were faded, but she could make out the varieties and chose a root beer for herself. The can tumbled out, thunking into the bottom drawer, its metal surface cold against her fingers. She should get one for Scarlett, too, in case Scarlett woke up. What kind of soda did Scarlett drink? She had ordered sweet tea at lunch. At one time, she’d known what Scarlett liked, but maybe those things changed. It had been a number of years. She got a can of Coke and filled the ice bucket.

Scarlett was still asleep when Megan got back to the room, and stayed asleep even when Megan flicked the lights back on. Megan sat back down on her bed to wait and watch the pizza get closer on the app. Scarlett could sleep through anything, but at least she wasn’t making sexy noises anymore. Megan frowned at her former friend. It wasn’t Scarlett’s fault, so Megan knew it was ridiculous to be irritated at her, but she’d been irritated at Scarlett for years and it felt like habit. Of course, she’d been irritated at the thought of Scarlett, not Scarlett herself, and now having the person here complicated all of Megan’s pure memory-based irritation. The in-real-life Scarlett was not the monster Megan had been making her out to be. And now, sleeping in her bed, looking innocent and also beautiful, Scarlett was tangling up all of Megan’s emotions.

The pizza delivery person knocked on the door, and even that didn’t wake Scarlett up, so Megan didn’t feel bad going back to her bed with the entire pizza and cheesy bread and turning on the television. Scarlett could sleep, and Megan could eat.

Megan ate nearly half the pizza on her own and was working her way through the cheesy bread when Scarlett woke up. She came awake slowly, first with a few murmurs, and then some shuffling around, and then she rolled over and blinked at Megan. “Is that a pizza?”

Megan had to smile. “Yeah. You want some?”