A Hotel Error Pt. 03

We stared at each other, sizing another up while both of us froze in disbelief. My heart pounded in my ears. She was wild and flighty, like a wild horse found in the forest. She had no ring, but her skin had a slight tan line where there would be a wedding band.

"It's okay, I'm Eric. It's good to know I'm not the only one who had to read through the spelling errors of this thing." I held the book up with the title to her.

She smiled and gave me a light laugh. A roll of her eyes and a nod of her head was enough to say yes. "I'm Grace." We shared a smile and neither of us felt alone. Eight floors up I had a friend who was fucking my lover/mother in who knows what way, but I suddenly didn't care like I once had.

Outside in the hall, Beth looked in the hotel restaurant and scanned the room looking for us. I looked away from Grace and Beth spotted me, she gave me her famous large smile with a wave and stepped inside. Still built like a fitness model, she had nice firm breasts, short brunette hair and Mediterranean tan. Unlike before, she had on a pair of tight jeans and navy blue spaghetti strap crop top.

Grace looked back and spotted the new woman approaching. She reached into her small purse, pulled out a card and hesitated before handing it to me. "It's okay, we're not alone." I whispered and tapped the book.

She looked down at me then to the card in her hand. Grace Peregrine, something high school. She took a step back as Beth grew closer and excused herself around a table who was getting up from breakfast. Normally I'd be excited to see her, but I wished she would have showed up late.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." I whispered.

Grace looked down at me over her shoulder, then to the empty table behind me, she gave me a smile and opened her lips as if to say something. Her cheeks turned flush and she lost her words as Beth passed the group of people between us. With a shaky hand, she slipped the card back into her purse and walked away. The heels of her shoes clicked on the ceramic tiles as she walked away with long strides.

She wasn't built like mom or Beth. She had larger bones and didn't have a tiny waist. But with wide shoulders and hips, she had an amazingly strong silhouette.

Beth caught me staring and gave me a smile, "Hi, who was that? Does your mom know you're trying to pick up older ladies?"

I gave her a laugh and shrugged it off. "My new unicorn." I thought to myself.

"No, just..." I looked down at the book in my hand and set it down with the front cover up. "She stopped to say she has the same book."

Beth sat down on the bench and frowned at it. "Oh, I never seen it before. Community Art of Sprigland. Do they mean Spring Land?"

"Yeah, that's what started the conversation," I said and gave her a smile. I looked to the door to see Grace leave the restaurant. She glanced over her shoulder and we shared a final eye to eye moment, then she was gone. "Unicorn," I said.

"Unicorns, is that what they paint in here?" Beth joked and paged through the book.

Mom entered the front lobby from the opposite side and fluffed her hair in front of the restaurant window. My phone vibrated and I checked the message. "Wow, I feel bad taking your money for that, but if you ever need a guy for another video I'm in," Dean text. I flicked the message away and watched mom as she entered the restaurant.

"Small world." I said.

"Isn't it? Sally called me this morning and said she's going to come in this week personally for my delivery. I guess both your mother and I have deliveries, so she'll deliver both my order and meet us personally. Huh, that's odd, page fourteen. The writing is different. Core relationship..." Beth frowned at the page and her voice trailed off, oblivious to mom's arrival.

My stomach sank as I looked at Beth's face and watched as her eyes scanned the page side to side. Mom glared at me and the book in Beth's hands. She gave a big smile and said, "Beth, hi!"

Beth set the book down and stood up with a big smile. "Hey," she got out of the bench and wrapped her arms around mom for a quick hug. "Did you know Sally is coming in?"

"Yeah, I got the call when I was finishing up to come downstairs." She said.

"Did you eat yet? Because I haven't had much," she gave me a sideways glance with a grin on her face.

To hell with jealousy. Now I was just curious what exactly went on in that video. I looked over at Beth and gave her a smile. After all, the world is as large or small as you make it. I decided then to explore this tiny world I had.