Chapter 21: Nothing Owed

The hotel gave Emmett a room on the ninth floor because Liesl had booked it two weeks earlier.

"She knew," I said, in the elevator.

"She always knows."

"She booked a room for a night when we might lose the brewery."

"She booked it for a night when we might not."

I shook my head and leaned against the brass rail, with the cream envelope still in my hand.

He took it from me and put it in his jacket pocket.

"It's yours," he said. "I'm only holding it."

"I know."

"Do you want to count it?"

"Tomorrow."

The doors opened on a hushed carpeted hall.

The room at the end was large, with tall windows over Rice Park.

Snow had started again.

Fat flakes drifted past the glass in the dark.

Emmett shut the door and leaned against it.

"I keep doing this," he said.

"Doing what?"

"Standing against doors. Asking."

"It's a good habit."

"I just want to be sure."

I crossed the room and unfastened his bow tie.

It took me three tries.

"I'm sure," I said. "I've been sure since a bench in a courthouse. I just hadn't told my stomach."

"What did your stomach say?"

"It said, run."

"And?"

"I wore a very long dress. I couldn't."

He laughed, the sound low in his chest.

I took off his jacket and set it over a chair, careful with the envelope.

I undid his cufflinks.

He stood still and let me, with his eyes on my face.

"I have never been this tired," he said, "or this happy."

"Same."

"Which one wins?"

"Ask me in the morning."

He kissed me then.

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