Page 22 of Perfect Score
The travertine stone floors sparkle as I walk through, my chunky heels making an echoed clacking noise as I walk through the lobby and head for the reception desk.
I wish I could take a moment to admire the space with its expensive furnishings and beautiful finishes, but when I look to my left, I see the bar door is open. Liam, Phoebe, and David are at the bar top, and I'm sure everyone else we know is in there too.
"Zoey!" My sister's voice echoes and rattles the glass of this place.
Before I see her, she comes careening toward me and wraps her arms around me in a bear hug.
"Where’s Brent? I thought he couldn’t get a room here?" she whispers.
"He couldn’t… He’s staying with me."
Her eyebrows hit the ceiling, and her mouth drops open.
"You mean, like in your room… with only one bed?"
My sister grips around my shoulders so tight I'm sure it will leave a bruise later.
"Ouch, you’re hurting me," I mumble, glaring at her to release me. "And the room is a double queen so chill out."
She grins and lets go of me. It's not the single bed she was hoping for, but it's still in the same room.
I step around her and head for the check-in desk—Phoebe follows closely behind me.
A man in a nice fitting suit stands on the other side of the check-in desk, Christmas garland strung up behind him against the wall.
"Checking in, miss?" he asks.
“Yes, please," I say, reaching in for my wallet out of my purse and pull out my ID to hand it to him. "Zoey Kloss. I'm here with the wedding party."
"Good afternoon, Miss Kloss, and thank you for choosing us to book your stay," he says, clicking away at his computer.
"Huh…" he says, his eyebrows downturned as he views the monitor, "I don’t have a Zoey Kloss in the system. Could it be under a different name?"
A different name?
No…
Oh, right. I booked it under Zoey Smith when I assumed I’d be married to Liam by now.
"Can you try Zoey Smith?" I ask him a little under my breath even though Phoebe and I are currently the only two in the lobby while everyone else we know are inside the bar.
I know my sister will understand, but it’s still embarrassing that I booked a room under a last name I never had. And then to be using it while my fake boyfriend is unpacking our luggage for us to stay in the room together.
It just feels weird.
"Well, it says here that Liam Smith already checked into your room."
Liam checked into our room?
"Shoot, I forgot to take him off the reservation," I say as I think through the day I booked this hotel.
David and Phoebe had already been engaged before Liam broke off our engagement. With this hotel requiring over a yearlong booking to get a spot, Phoebe had already booked her wedding location, so I booked a room for Liam and me, and forobvious reasons, I assumed we would be married by then since our wedding should have happened a year ago.
“You didn’t change your reservation?” my sister asks, her eyebrows downturned like that was a silly oversight on my end.
“I didn’t think to do it because I forgot that I didn’t book it under my maiden name,” I tell her, a tingle of panic starting to clog my throat, my pulse starting to rise.
This can't be right. Liam wouldn't have done this.