I got out of the cab and headed into the hotel lobby. It was 11 p.m., and it was a miserable night. It had been raining all day right into the evening. The combination of rain and the chilly fall weather sent a shiver throughout my body. 'I needed something warm inside of me' I thought as I entered the bar area of the hotel.
I had been here on a business trip for three days now, and I was becoming familiar with some of the hotel personnel. As I sat down at the bar, Bill the night shift bartender, recognized me, walked over and said:
"The usual Dottie?" He already had the bottle of Red Burgundy wine in his hand. "Yes please, Bill," I answered.
As Bill poured the wine in my glass I looked around the bar noticing how few customers there were. 'Probably the weather,' I thought to myself. It was then that I noticed one other customer sitting diagonally across the bar from me. It was a woman, probably in her twenties, I surmised. She had very blonde hair, very light skin that even glowed here in the dark light of the bar. 'Very pretty,' I thought to myself not really knowing why that thought came to my mind.
She smiled at me, and I returned her smile. 'If I wasn't so tired tonight,' I thought to myself, 'I probably would try to strike up a conversation with her. It's always nice to have someone to talk to especially here in a strange city.'
But I was tired after running around all day. I finished my wine and walked toward the elevator looking forward to a nice hot shower before going to bed. As I got off the elevator, I walked down the hall automatically looking for my room. 'Room 705,' this is it I thought to myself as I turned the key to my room.
It only took me a minute to throw my briefcase aside, disrobe and get into the shower. I turned the water on as hot as I could stand it, washed fast, put my lavender scent shampoo in my hair and got out, really looking forward to a good night's rest. Getting out of the shower, I slipped on my terry cloth robe, partly dried and wrapped a towel around my dark hair and thought, 'hell with it, I'll fix my hair in the morning.' Now I had wished I had bought the rest of the bottle of wine and brought it back to my room. The Red Burgundy almost had a way of making me feel warm.
I fluffed up the pillows on the bed and turned all the lights out except the night lamp over the bed. As I was putting my wrist watch on the night stand I noticed a book entitled: "A Book of Love" on the top of the night stand. I picked up the book, opened it to chapter one and started to read:
'It all started in a hotel room on a very chilly night in October. It was raining all day...'
My eyes were very tired so after reading what I thought was at least one paragraph I closed my eyes for a minute to rest them.
"Knock, knock," I heard the sound seeming to come from across the room. I sat up in bed and then noticed what was a door connecting my room with the room next door. I got up from the bed, went over to the door and stood there with my ear against it.
"Knock, knock," I heard the light tapping at the door again.
"Yes ... aaahhh ... yes," I asked not sure whether I should say anything at all.
"Hi, can you open your door for a minute," came the unmistakably female voice from the other side of the door.
I hesitated for just a moment, then for some reason I just almost automatically reached for the lock on the door knob. I turned it and opened it just a crack so I could kind of peek through the opening.
"Hi Dottie, my name is Penny," the woman I had recognized as the other woman in the bar began to speak. "I bought the rest of the bottle of wine you started downstairs and thought you might like to join me in a glass."