After a moment’s hesitation, her eyes sprung open. “Oh now, hang on just a moment . . .” She set the towels down on a nearby table. “Room 212, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Then I have something for you. It’s a message for the ‘girl from 212,’ so that must be you. It’s from young Ryan. I almost clear forgot. Now, just give me a moment and I’m sure I’ll remember what it was.”

Amy hesitated. A message? For her? She didn’t know anyone in this town, and she definitely didn’t know anyone by the name of Ryan. Why would some random guy named Ryan be leaving her—

Oh.

Suddenly the events of last night came rushing back, and it dawned on Amy, rather obviously, that Ryan must have been the guy who was in her bathroom. She was shocked that she had forgotten about it. How that was possible, she had no idea, for it wasn’t the sort of thing one could easily forget—but somehow she had.

“Ahh, that’s it, yes, yes.” The bartender lifted her head and looked at Amy. “Somethin’ must have happened between the two of you last night because he rushed down to speak with me and then flew outta here at a rate of knots. I swear, I’ve never seen that boy move so fast. Anyhow, I haven’t the foggiest idea what he was talkin’ about—he was beside himself, truly he was—but he wanted me to tell you this . . .” She took Amy’s arm and guided her to the corner of the room, away from the swaths of people making their way through the lobby. “Ryan is very sorry. He knows he gave you a scare, but he only meant to help, nothing more. He hopes you can understand why he did what he did. He said if he were you, he would have reacted in the exact same way. Does that make any sense at all?”

“Um, yeah, it does.”

“Really? Because it’s all a mystery to me.”

“No, it’s clear. We had a misunderstanding.”