The old man nodded.
Tanner? Riley? Those surnames sound foreign. But the two men don’t look even the faintest bit
foreign. I bit my lip again. That was another rude thought. But this time, the bite was a little too painful than intended. I grimaced. Anthony noticed it. “You okay?”
Stil with the grimace, I nodded, “Yea.” Shoot. I shouldn’t have bitten it that much.
“I understand that you have an ample number of rooms here even on peak seasons,” I heard
Drew say to the old man. I turned toward them. I felt Anthony stay close behind me.
The old man nodded again. “But, most of the rooms are under renovation now.”
Drew tilted his head in thought. I neared him and stood beside him. “Hmm. Maybe Lea wasn’t
aware of that,” he whispered to me. “Well,” he said, going back to address the old man, “how
many rooms are available then?”
Without checking his list, the old man said, “Three.”
I smiled. “Can I have a room?” I whispered to Drew, slightly begging.
He just looked at me, before final y answering, “You can’t.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“How many beds in one room?” he asked the old man, ignoring my question.
“There is one room with two beds, which was taken by Mr. Tanner and Mr. Riley a while ago.
The two other rooms have single queen sized beds.”
I stared expectantly at Drew. “Don’t tell me a girl can’t have her own room?”
He smiled politely at the old man. “Okay. That’s fine. We’l take the two other rooms.”
“Identifications please.”
Identifications? Hotels require that now? Despite my thoughts, my hand flung to my pocket but
suddenly Drew held them in place. “I’ve got it. You two forgot your important documents so I
took care of them for you,” he smiled a little too sweetly, and there was a glint in his eyes which said I better not interrupt him. I swallowed nervously, knowing there was something quite wrong
with what was going on.
He handed the man three ID’s, all of which unfamiliar to me. But I saw that our pictures were on
each card. I tried my best not to react. Were those fake ID’s? I felt like we were in some sort of
undercover spies. I almost smiled at the ridiculous thought.
“Mr. Chan?” The old man’s voice broke my train of thoughts. He looked expectantly at the three
of us.
There was a sound of a falling object.
“Oh. My pen,” Drew stooped down to get it and I saw from my peripheral vision that he nudged
Anthony’s leg before final y straightening up.
“Yes?” Anthony answered the old man, though I could tell he too, wasn’t informed of our new
names.
“You and your wife are on room 107,” he handed him the key. I blinked. Wife? I was the only
girl here, so that means…
“Mr. Tyree, you’re on room 108.” He handed Drew the key. I smiled at him sweetly, silently
cursing my uncle for everything that’s been going on since they found us. He spun on his heel.
“Rooms are?” he called out to the old man.
“On the end of that hal way.” He called out. I smiled at the old man, and Anthony thanked him.
When we turned, Drew was a good three feet from us, obviously wanting to get to his room
before I get to him.
I cleared my throat as Anthony and I tried to keep up with him.
“Uhm, excuse me Mr. Tyree,” I tried to make my voice calm, sweet even.
“John, just call me John,” he smiled at me. I was now in step beside him.
The name got stuck in my head. Once I realized where he lifted the name, I rolled my eyes.
“Dear John?”
“Did I just say John? It’s James. My bad,” he smiled again.
I groaned in frustration. “You could have at least told us!”
“I was about to, but your sleep talking got in the way,” he answered calmly and held my hand
which I didn’t notice was in midair. I had that awful habit of throwing up my hands in frustration.
“And, don’t hold your hand that way. They’re watching.”
I didn’t notice we were already in front of room 108. When I lowered my hand to my side, I
realized what he was talking about. Of course there were cameras in this establishment. My
gestures could have blown our cover.
“Your room is there, in front of mine. So don’t be so noisy. I need rest.” He teased.
I smiled at him sourly, inwardly feeling grateful that I didn’t blush a lot. “You sure need rest. And I’l make you pay for this.”
“Oh sure, I’l pay for this. I think I just did. Tanner and Riley did it for me. Good night Mr. & Mrs.
Noah and Allie Chan,” I didn’t notice that he already got his door unlocked and Anthony was
halfway in doing the same to the door of our room. For some reason, the names stuck on my
head again. Before I could frown at my uncle, he was behind the door, safe from my reaction.
Shaking my head, I turned to Anthony who was now turning the knob.
“The notebook,” he muttered, pushing the door and feeling the wall for the light switch.
I stared at him, gawking. “You too?”
“What? It’s a great story.” He shrugged, final y turning the light on. He held the door open for
me, and after I entered, he followed closely and shut the door behind us.
“I know it’s great. But it’s just too…”
“Impossible?” he supplied for me.
I stared at him, studying the authenticity of his words. Does he really believe that the story was
even possible? “Cheesy. I mean, men get tired eventual y. And they’re generally polygamous in
nature. Didn’t Noah find someone else along the way? The book says they’ve been apart for
fourteen years and the movie says seven, but still. He could have found another one within that
span of time.”
“You read the book?”
“Wel yea, it was interesting. But Drew just talked me into reading it.” I answered, not noticing
how defensive I sounded. Then I realized what he just did. “Hey, that’s not the point. What I’m
saying is that there’s no man in the world who could ever
