The woman behind the desk looks unamused at the sudden influx of customers and is moving slowly. The door opens, making a little bell chime, and I turn, feeling drawn to her right away.
“Seriously?” Josie grumbles when she sees me. She closes her umbrella and props it up by the door so she won’t track water inside.
“Who’s stalking who now?” I ask, lips curving into a smirk.
“I did sit out in the parking lot for a while talking to Everly on the phone, so you could have followed me and then rushed in right before me to make it look like you weren’t stalking me.”
I blink, staring at her, and then we both laugh.
“Fine.” She pushes her wet hair back. “I totally followed you this time.” She steps in close behind me. “Though, I should have thought twice. This looks like a place Sam and Dean Winchester would stay,” she says quietly.
“Nah, it’s not that bad.” I wave my hand in the air. “It’s, uh, very Rosebud-chic.”
“You’ve watched Schitt’s Creek?”
“Well, Ted is a sexy veterinarian, and I can identify.”
Josie laughs, eyes brightening. “Ev and I were so sad when it ended. I rewatch it every once in a while.”
“I do too. And I still laugh.”
The person at the front of the line gets keys and goes back out into the rain. Josie and I inch forward.
“You didn’t want to trailer horses three hours in a severe thunderstorm either?” I ask her.
“I don’t want to trailer them in rain,” she says and then looks like she wants to take it back. Have I come off as that judgmental? Part of it really was my concern, but I know a big part was giving myself a reason not to like Josie on a personal level.
“When was the last time you trailered a horse?”
“It’s been a while.”
“You can follow behind me and if you have any issues, I’ll be right there.”
Relief shows on her face. “Thanks. Did you get the ponies? I saw them in a pen inside together.”
“I did. And you got the thoroughbred and the old mare?”
She smiles and nods. “Yes, and I know I now have eleven horses in my possession but only ten stalls. Poppy wants Thor to use as a lesson horse eventually, and the mare was used to living in a pasture before, I found out. She’ll have access to the run-in shelter.”
“It’s nice weather now to live in the pasture, and I personally like seeing horses out more than in.”
“Me too.”
“Poppy wants Thor?” I ask incredulously, unable to help myself.
“Yeah. She wants to train him herself and then use him for lessons. He’s kind of a little shit, but I know he secretly loves attention and will eat up having little girls gush all over him.”
I chuckle. “I can see that. He’ll never let you know he likes it, though.”
“Right? I’m excited to see how he is in like six months from now, once he’s been in training for a while.”
The couple in front of us get their keys and exit the little office. Josie and I step up to the desk together.
“Hi, how can I help you two?” the clerk asks.
“I need a room.”
“Same,” Josie says.
“All right…just fill this out.” She slides a clipboard in front of Josie and takes my credit card, running it through the machine before handing it back along with a key. “Room two-oh-three. Second floor, third on your left after the stairs. You got lucky. That’s our last one. Enjoy and have a nice night,” the clerk says with no emotion in her voice.
“Wait.” Josie stops filling out the paper. “The last room? We’re not—” She shakes her head.
“You two didn’t want a room together?” the clerk asks slowly.
“No. We don’t.” Josie’s eyes go wide.
“Oh, my bad. You seemed…together.”
“We’re not,” Josie and I say at the same time, and her panic becomes palpable.
“Take the room,” I tell Josie.
“It’s the last one,” she counters, shaking her head. “What are you going to do?”
I shrug. “I’ll figure something out. My truck isn’t that bad for one night.”
“There’s a tornado warning. You can’t be in your truck if there’s a tornado.”
The clerk clears her throat. “Either way, someone needs to fill out that form.”
Josie looks back at the form and then at me. “We can share the room. You take one bed. I’ll take the other.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
Josie purses her lips and nods. “Yes. We can handle it.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
JOSIE
Well, shit.
I step inside the room, wanting out of the rain. Jacob steps in right behind me, and we’re both thinking the same thing. Because there is only one full-size bed in this room, not two.
“Maybe that’s a pull-out couch.” Jacob strides in, going right to the little sofa next to the bed. “Nope. You take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”
Shivering, I take my coat off and hang it on the back of the door. My torso is dry, but the rest of me is soaking wet and I’m freezing. “I’m smaller. I can sleep on the couch.”