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“Not a who, I don’t think. More like a what.” She tries the door, confirming for herself that it’s locked tight. “It’s the magic in this town.”
I nod. “Right. I’ve heard a lot about this magic.”
“Well, now you get to experience it for yourself. Lucky you and me.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be hiding a key somewhere I don’t know about, would you?”
“Trust me, this inhaler barely fits in my cleavage.”
My gaze dips before I can catch myself. Her answering blush could light a room on fire.
I pull on the doors one more time and sigh. “We are for sure locked in.”
“I guess the Collins boys will have to live without me.”
The not-being-in-control part of this grates against every instinct I’ve honed over the years. But she’s smiling, so I force myself to do the same. It’s just a door. Nothing bad is going to happen because of a door.
I realize she hasn’t told me her name. I’m about to ask when she says, “Can you call someone to get us out?”
“And here I thought we were having a great time discussing the Collinses.” She giggles. “Don’t worry, I’ll make a call.”
But, of course, maintenance isn’t answering when I need them, so I call reception, but they’re not answering, either, so I text my cousins and let them know to bring keys.
But I also tell them not to hurry.
The woman in the red dress sits at a table, so I sit across from her and stretch out my legs.
“So, tell me, Miss Red Dress, what brings you to Mystic Meadows, land of the unicorn and piggycorn?”
“I live here.”
“Do you, now?”
“I do.”
I lace my fingers together and rest them behind my head. “It seems I’m gonna be in town for a while.”
“Where are you from?”
“Charleston, South Carolina.”
“So that’s where your accent comes from. I didn’t know the Maddox brothers had a Southern cousin.”
“You just thought all us Maddoxes were damn Yankees, didn’t you?”
“How’d you guess?” she asks with a bright smile.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”
“So is your family in the hotel business?”
I drop my hands into my lap. “No, we’re the poor Maddoxes.”
“You’re just saying that to earn points.”
“Is it working?”
She laughs. Every nerve in my body snaps to attention like she just said my name in a room full of strangers.
