“You knew about the other girl,” she said. “Didn’t you?”

He looked at her as he waved his hand in front of his mouth frantically. He showed no surprise hearing that there was another girl.

“I didn’t know,” he said, when he had gotten it under control. “I guessed.”

“How?”

He sighed.

“Whenever anyone asked him if he was seeing anyone, he would always give cagey answers, at least around me. Once you said that it was his idea not to say anything…it all fell into place. There’s only one reason he would do that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“There was nothing to tell. I never saw her. I told you I had a bad feeling. That was all it was.”

“Well,” she said, sniffing. “You were right.”

Scarlett was hit by a wave of exhaustion—a welcome chance to block it all out.

“I just want to sleep,” Scarlett said. “And never go back.”

She rolled over on her stomach. Spencer scrunched her curls until she settled herself—another throwback to when she was little. She heard him take the bag of soup away, heard him shut the door. What she couldn’t possibly have heard was his arm brushing the bureau as he left, causing a small slip of paper to flutter to the ground. It landed just under the bureau, where it could hardly be seen.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TOWELS

“Let’s talk about towels,” Lola said, coming into the Orchid Suite late the next morning.

Scarlett looked up over the top of her blanket blearily.

“What time is it?”

“Eleven. Spencer told me to let you keep sleeping. You must have been really sick. Do you feel any better?”

Scarlett had to make an effort to collect her thoughts. She’d been sleeping for something like fourteen hours. Her mouth was dry, her head hurt, and she was starving. Oh, and Eric had still dumped her.

“Not really,” she said.

“I’ll bring you up something to eat,” Lola said. “Unless you feel like you can get up.”

“No,” Scarlett said, sick of being in her bed. “I’ll get up. I need a shower.”

“Towels,” Lola repeated, indicating that it was the word of the day and needed to be used as frequently as possible. “That’s what sets certain hotels apart. Really nice towels, and lots of them. As many as you like. I think towels are one of the big reasons people like hotels at all. You can use them and drop them on the floor…”

That was about how Scarlett felt. Used. Dropped on the floor. And she was really starting to miss Chip. She never had to deal with these kinds of wake-up calls before.

“…and someone comes along and picks them up and gives you new ones. Towels are nurturing. Towels go against bare skin. Now, lots of hotels provide piles of thin, scratchy towels. But when you use a good towel, a really thick, soft, amazing towel, you feel cared for. You remember the towels. And their cousin…the bathrobe.”