I’d planned out our trip, so we knew exactly how far we had to go each day. I’d even made reservations so we wouldn’t get stuck trying to find a place to sleep each night. But when we got to our first motel, I grimaced at the outside. It wasn’t exactly the Hilton. There was a taped-off area where the sidewalk had cracked in half. The building needed a fresh coat of paint about ten years ago, and the parking lot had only one light working.

“Come inside with me,” I said to Sarai as I put the truck in park. “This place is sketchy.”

I grabbed our overnight bags out of the backseat and opened Sarai’s door, helping her out. I held her hand as we crossed the parking lot. She didn’t pull away, which I considered a win, but I didn’t expect that anything had changed.

“Hey, I have a reservation for Evans,” I told the night clerk. She looked bored and irritated that I’d shown up, but she nodded and immediately searched my name in the computer behind the desk.

“It looks like someone overbooked,” she said, grimacing.

I stood up straighter. No way in hell were they going to turn us away after we’d just spent all day driving. I had no idea where the nearest hotel was, and I wasn’t going to search for a new place to stay this late at night.

“I have a room,” she said in relief. She looked between us, then met my eyes. “It’s only got one full bed in it because we’re waiting for the other one to be shipped,” she said quickly. “But it’s newly remodeled. You’d be the first people in there.”

“Fine,” I said, setting my credit card on the counter. “I’m guessing the change in rooms will change the price?”

“Of course, of course,” she said, typing.

A couple of minutes later Sarai and I had our key, and we were walking toward our room. All the doors were outside the building, and I glanced at the windows as we passed. Most of the curtains were closed, but a few were open, and I could see families in the rooms, probably travelers like us, and it made me feel a little better.

When I opened the door to our room, I laughed in disbelief. The place was tiny, smaller than any other hotel room I’d ever seen. There was space for the other full bed the clerk had told us they were waiting on, but I wasn’t even sure how they’d fit a nightstand.

I also didn’t think either of us had realized just how small a full-sized bed was.

“You’re going to hang off the end,” Sarai said, setting her purse down on the dresser as I closed the curtains.