No Reservations (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 24

It's just so very unfortunate that I have ended up doing the very thing I was terrified of doing - falling for him all over again. And the terrible thing is that I'm almost completely sure now that he feels the same way about me. But my hang-ups and insecurities still can't let me get past prom. A part of my brain is still marinating in that old memory.

Deep down, I know Ryan's right. I should talk to him about that night. Maybe he could clear it all up so easily. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding.

But then my brain keeps saying "what if it wasn't?"

So I choose to mope. I spend the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday hiding in my room. Sneaking around like a shadow when I need to visit the kitchen. Watching like a creep through my window as Ryan walks down to the loch for yet another swim. I'm guessing he's trying to clear his head of me again.

And I'm not sure I can blame him.

I'm almost relieved when Friday comes and the hotel re-opens for guests; I'll have a distraction, even if it means it'll be more difficult to avoid Ryan when I can't just hole up in my room.

We're going to be at full capacity again this weekend but it'll definitely be more chilled than the previous one. It'll still be a shock to the system after a few days off . . . but I'm glad to be busy.

I find people tend to show up to The Thorne Inn as close as they can to the earliest check-in time. I completely understand; I always do this too when I have an overnight stay booked. I want to wring out every little bit of my money's worth. However it means that 3pm is usually all systems go as nearly all the guests arrive at the same time.

Today is no exception. And the usual daytime receptionist is down with food poisoning. Which we suspect is code for "hangover" but we can't prove for sure as the symptoms can be remarkably similar.

"Iona, are you okay to help me with reception?" Ryan asks me politely, as if I'm a stranger. "If you could check the guests in, I can help them to their rooms."

"That's no problem," I say smoothly, walking past him through to the desk without looking at him. There's already a number of guests waiting of course, so I get to work processing them and issuing them with their keycards and vital hotel information, before passing them over into Ryan's capable (oh so very capable - stop it, Iona!) hands.

The queue moves quickly and I've reached the last couple checking in for now. "Welcome to The Thorne Inn," I say on auto-pilot, swivelling around from the computer to face the guests. My face freezes as I take in the man's face in front of me.

"Iona? Is that you?"

I last saw that face in real life at prom. And I spotted it far more recently just a few weeks ago in my crazy dream.

Ryan's friend Martin.

I recover myself and hastily force a smile onto my face. "Martin?" I ask in as pleasant a tone as I can force. It turns out I'm a better actor than I thought. "Oh my goodness, you haven't changed a bit."

And he hasn't.

He still looks like an arrogant, smug little bollocks. I still don't understand how someone like Ryan could ever be friends with him.

"So what brings you up here?" I ask, bringing up his room details on the computer screen. The beautiful brunette with him - who I'm assuming is his other half - is flipping through Instagram on her phone and not paying the remotest bit of attention to the conversation.

"I've always meant to come and check this place out ever since my good friend Ryan took it over . . . Finally got around to it! Oh, there he is!"