“The Captain’s Quarters, then.” He put the car in gear. “If it’s a fleabag, we’ll drive to Buford.”
She cleared her throat. “Fine.”
He turned right out of the parking lot and left the town behind them before they reached the train tracks. Ed had been accurate with his description. If there was any sign marking the intersection that followed the tracks, it was too dark to tell.
It was so dark, in fact, that it felt like they were driving into a void when he turned again. No oncoming cars headed toward them. No flickering light came from houses or farms off in the distance. The headlights swept over the curving road. Not even a white line bisected the center. “Do you get the feeling we’re heading into our own horror movie?”
“I get the feeling if the Captain’s Quarters doesn’t have the lights turned on, we’re never going to see it.”
She reached into the back seat to retrieve her cardigan and pulled it on.
“You’re not actually scared, are you?”
Not of the Captain’s Quarter’s. “You told me yourself I get cold at the drop of a hat.”
“Could be ninety degrees but if a breeze blew, you’d get goose bumps. How you ever survived competing at Oozefest, I’ll never know. First year we did it, it was pouring rain on top of it.”
“Three layers of everything. Thermals. Socks.” And duct tape to keep from losing anything critical—like pants or shirts—along the way. She’d seen both happen. And after the first time she’d participated in the muddy event, she’d learned it was easiest for her outer layer to be something she could dispose of entirely.
The road curved again and a brightly lit two-story house came into view. “Suppose that’s it?” She tried not to draw comparisons between it and the Amityville Horror house.
“Ed said it was the first place we’d come to.”
“There’s the turnoff.” She pointed. He was already slowing and turned onto the paved drive.
The house was further away than it had seemed at first but when Adam finally rolled to a stop beside it, they could see a separate building situated several yards behind it.
“You coming in or you want to wait?”
She pushed open her car door in answer and climbed out. He joined her and they headed toward the door on the side of the house.
Laurel shivered and stepped closer to Adam, sliding her arm through his. “I know. Evidently on top of everything else, I’m a ninny.”
He chuckled softly and pulled his arm away but only to close his hand around hers. Then he knocked on the door.
It opened a second later to a face that looked just like Ed’s set atop an equally sturdy woman. “I’m Sis,” she greeted in a booming voice. Even her wiry red hair seemed to rattle. “Ed warned me someone might stop by. You’re here about my Captain’s Quarters, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She beamed and stepped out of the door. “Where you folks headin’ to?”
“Texas.”
“Got a long way to go. I’ll show you the room. Only have the one available tonight ’cause of the veterans ride.” She walked fast, her long stride eating up the distance to the building behind the house.
It was a long, narrow single story. “Advantage for you, though,” she said over her shoulder, “is that the room’s at the end of the block so to speak. When all the bikers start rolling in tonight, the noise shouldn’t disturb you too much.”
They passed four windows. Four doors that each had a plain light fixture hanging atop the sill. Presumably that meant four rooms. At the end of the building, Sis rounded the corner and stopped at the lone door there. It opened without a key and she reached in to turn on a light switch before moving out of their way. “Go on in and take a look. Price for all my rooms is the same. Thirty-nine dollars.”
Both Laurel and Adam stopped midstep, giving her a surprised look.
“I know.” Sis gave an apologetic shrug. “Had to raise it five bucks last year ’cause of the new roof I needed.” Then she gave them a bright smile. “But I got a little buffet breakfast I throw in now, too, to help make up for it. Served on the covered patio at the back of the house starting at 6:00 a.m.”
Gone were the Amityville Horror notions. There was something too engaging about the rawboned woman. “Sounds perfect,” Laurel said before she could stop herself. She hadn’t even looked inside the room yet.
Adam, on the other hand, had one foot in the room and one foot out. “There’s only one—”
“I’m tired.” She cut him off knowing that he’d been going to say bed. But it was time to be practical and she knew instinctively that he’d choose protective over practical. As if they couldn’t occupy a single mattress at the same time.
During dinner he’d planned the route for the next day and she knew it would be a long one. The sooner he could get a decent night of sleep, the sooner they could be on their way in the morning. “And I know you’re tired, too. But our choices are here, the car or another hour’s drive.” And she would have bet her right arm that they wouldn’t find anywhere else down the road for such a bargain.
He didn’t look quite as convinced as she felt but he gave a capitulating shrug and looked at Sis. “We’ll take it. Cash okay?”
“Better ’n okay. Just need to take a picture of your driver’s license.” She waited while he pulled out his wallet. “I sure do miss the days when I could just have folks sign the register. But a person’s gotta protect their interests, you know?” She took his license when he extracted it and snapped a picture of it with her cell phone, then handed it back. The two twenty-dollar bills that Adam gave her were folded in half and tucked down
