Chapter 2

Claire was holding her backpack in her hand as we left her home and the party behind. The Town Car was waiting with the driver holding the door open. She offered to take the backpack and put it in the trunk, but Claire wanted to hold onto it.

"It feels so different," she said to me, a hint of sadness in her face. Holding it upright in her lap, she tapped the backpack and added, "Mom's not here anymore..." and her voice trailed off.

"Sorry, Hun," I offered.

"I've carried her so far and back again. It's just so strange not to have her here with me."

I lifted my arm and encouraged her to lean against me as I placed it over her shoulders. "I know dad will be comforted having her there, but I still miss having her near."

There was no way for me to really understand what she was feeling. I guess it was sort of like losing her mother again. I lifted her chin to bring our lips together and saw a single tear making its way down along the side of her nose. I captured it with the tip of my thumb and brought our lips together.

Just before they touched Claire told me she was glad we'd found each other. "I couldn't have made it if I didn't have you by my side."

The kiss was moist and her lips satiny soft. Lips which soothed my soul. Her hand lifted up and it searched out the back of my neck as we kissed. It wasn't a real long one, nor was it brief. Perhaps just a minute or two and then we relaxed, continuing our contact, sitting there in the rear seat of the limo.

As we turned a corner, I could see the huge Sheraton Hotel's logo shining from a very impressive building ahead. To our left was a black hole; darkness. I assumed that was Lake Superior.

It must have been the limo's tinted windows that created the effect. Sort of being at the end of the earth or perhaps like the 'Bridge To Nowhere' emblazoned on our matching t-shirts.

The driver pulled our car up to the main entrance and moved around to open our door for us. As she opened the trunk and retrieved my backpack, she confirmed, "I'll be here at eight-thirty to pick you both up. OK?"

"That will be fine," I replied and Claire and I, each holding our backpacks by the small strap on its top, headed hand-in-hand into the Hotel.

Now there is plain and then there is 'Posh'. The lobby of the Sheraton was, to say the least, the Poshiest I'd ever seen let alone been in. For the uninitiated, the Front Desk was very foreboding. Dark mahogany wood was everywhere and the atop the wall behind the desk was a large formal two-handed clock.

I will admit, both Claire and I were taken back just a little bit. I have to laugh, the Desk Clerk was similarly taken back. He was I'd guess in his late fifties. He'd spotted us as we'd entered and caught our little misstep due to our collective surprise at the lobby and its Front Desk.

I saw the clerk look around and then pat something on the counter. A bell sounded and out of nowhere a uniformed younger man, I assumed to be the Bell Captain, was in front of us effectively halting our progress toward the counter.

"May I help you?" he asked.

Claire and I looked at each other and before we spoke, the Bell Captain, scanned us head to toe and expressed exactly what I figured he was thinking. "Are you in the correct hotel?"

I fully expected him to say something like, "Motel 6 is down the street." But he did ask, "Do you have a reservation? We are fully booked."

I can imagine, two people, carrying only tattered backpacks, dressed in matching shorts and t-shirts, touting 'I Walked The Bridge To Nowhere' must have been ringing warning bells. When I offered, a simple, "Yes," he looked blankly at me.

"Yes, what?" he said with a little sneer.

I know I would have been real upset if the whole situation wasn't causing me to stifle my desire to let out a huge guffaw. Claire sensed I was having trouble holding my laughter in and gave another, slightly more complete sentence. "Yes ... We have a reservation."

The desk clerk by that time looked like he was ready to dial 911 because we looked so ... threatening? I couldn't figure out what his problem was nor that of the Bell Captain. His very terse reply was, "Under what name?"

It was then, I said for the first time, "Mr and Mrs James March."

Now I tried to move forward to get nearer the desk, but as I zigged a little so did the Bell Captain. He also put up his arms and glancing toward the doorway, asked very sceptically, "There's no car outside. How did you get here?"

Sheesh, I thought. In a minute Homeland Security is going to come barging in along with a SWAT Team. The whole thing was getting funnier by the second.

"By Limo," offered Claire.

As the Bell Captain said, "I don't SEE any limo outside!" in a voice definitely implying we were lying, the Desk Clerk said in a commanding voice, "Sorry. We have no reservation for you."

Now, that could be interpreted as, "Gee, I'm sorry I don't see a reservation under that name," but he hadn't even looked at any sort of a list or used a computer to look it up. The way I interpreted the tone of his voice was, "Nope. We don't want your type here!"

What happened next was going to define Claire's and my relationship. I figured, I really didn't need the posh, and I'd seen another, not so fancy hotel a couple of blocks away. I had my credit card so we most likely wouldn't have any trouble there.

From the Bell Captain, succinctly and very firmly came, "You will have to leave."

As I'd already determined we could probably get a place to stay without much trouble, I wasn't too upset. I wasn't a match for the hotel and I started to turn around. The problem that arose was I hadn't let Claire know what I was thinking. She decided to take things in her own hands and ducked under the Bell Captain's outstretched arm and started toward the Front Desk.