Nina Cox Must Date

Chapter 25 - Gift

Three months later

Taylor nervously taps his fingers on his legs. I made him wear a blindfold because today is his 30th birthday, and I want it to be the most memorable.

"I can't run if you plan to kidnap me," he jokes, and I laugh.

"I'm not kidnapping you. I don't want you to guess where we're going," I reply.

"This is making me nervous, Nina," he admits.

"There's no need to be nervous."

"Where are we going? You're not bringing me back to the hotel from New Year's Eve, are you?" he asks.

I snort with laughter. Although our winter vacation took a turn for the worse, it ultimately brought us closer together. It all started when we arrived at the beautiful hotel. It looked promising—until we turned the corner and saw the long queue at check-in. We had waited in shorter lines at theme parks.

"I hope this is a sign of the quality of the place," I told Taylor.

"Or maybe they're just horribly slow at their job," he replied.

When we reached the front of the line, the clerk informed us that only regular rooms were available.

"When I made the reservation, I requested a room with wheelchair facilities," I told the clerk, who seemed ready to give up.

"I understand, Miss Cox, but the terms and conditions state that during high occupancy periods, we can't guarantee specific requests," he explained, pointing to the small print I hadn't read.

I felt terrible when he pointed that out, but Taylor reassured me not to worry. When we finally got to our room, I had to move a suitcase rack out of the way so Taylor could get inside.

"I have just enough space to move around the bed," Taylor commented.

I couldn't let my boyfriend suffer because of the hotel's poor planning, so I removed the desk chair, two corner chairs, the small table between them, and one of the nightstands and placed them all in the hallway.

"Not our problem anymore," I said after bringing the last item outside.

Taylor smiled at me and headed to the bathroom.

"Wait. I don't think you can move the tub to the hallway," I said.

I joined him in the bathroom, and we quickly realized that closing the door was impossible unless you were inside; with the chair in there, it was even more difficult.

"Let me go back to the reception," I suggested as I reached for the room key.

"No. I'll find a way," he insisted, holding my hand.

After unpacking, we headed out for dinner, only to find that we needed reservations. We got into my car and drove to a casual restaurant. Thankfully, I already had tickets for the New Year's party; otherwise, we would have had nowhere to go.

The rest of the week was spent exploring the area. We returned to the hotel to shower and sleep. Due to the bathroom issue, Taylor needed my help to transfer first to the bathtub's edge, and then I could remove the chair to close the door.

New Year's Eve arrived, and I felt excited. Taylor dressed on the bed while I applied my makeup in the bathroom. I wore the red dress I had borrowed from Lisa. We looked like a magazine couple, all shiny and elegant.

The party was in a large ballroom that was already full when we arrived. The music was loud, and we stayed on the dance floor's perimeter, searching for a place to sit, but everything was taken.