The car slowly began to sputter, and before they knew it, Clay and Emily were sitting on the side of the road in the late afternoon Southern heat.
The couple looked at one another in disbelief.
Once it became apparent that they weren't going anywhere, they looked at one another in desperation.
Emily stretched a shapely leg out of the car, and retrieved her suitcase, and makeup case from the back seat, the leash of her adored terrier, Revel, in one hand.
"I can't walk far in these heels.", she told Clay, even as they sunk into the damp soil. "What are we going to do? It's getting late."
Clay scrambled with some discarded papers that they'd picked up at the rest station when they'd crossed the state line a short while ago.
"We'll go here. Look at it! It's beautiful! A lake and everything..... we'll have a rest and you'll feel better in the morning.", he promised. He paused and added, "It's only one night, Emily."
She sighed and nodded. "I guess so."
"I can't walk far in these heels.", she told him. "And it's hot and I'm tired. I want a bath, and some clean clothes."
Clay sighed, and nodded, even as he took a large box out of the back seat. He reached under the front seat and retrieved a bottle of rye whiskey, and his leather journal, along with a small paper envelope of cash.
The stranded couple walked a short distance along the road in the woods, until they came to a small clearing, where they saw a dilapidated wooden building in the distance.
Emily gasped as the left heel on her shoe broke, and she leaned against Clay for support. She slipped off her shoes, limping towards the inn in damp pantyhose. A small water blister was forming on her foot, and she wasn't happy....to say the least. She was ready for a perfumed bubble bath, some soft music, and a glass...or two.....of chilled white wine, preferably her favorite French Chardonnay, followed by some cuddling with Revel.
As the distressed couple walked alongside the country road they had been traveling on, eventually, in the rapidly fading late afternoon sunlight, they saw a clearing in the woods.
Emily's spirits perked up when she saw a building near the beautiful blue lake.
"Hey, look!", she said to Clay, as she tugged his sleeve. "I think it's a hotel or something!" Revel barked and wagged his tail.
Or something turned out to be right, because as they got closer, it became increasingly apparent that the sighted building was in less than stellar condition; in fact, it looked downright dilapidated.
While Emily (and Clay, for that matter) would have ordinarily been inclined to refuse staying there, they were not in a position at the present time to choose. Their car had broken down, and it was either sleep in their car overnight, or stay at the decidedly rundown hotel.
As they walked closer, Emily said, "Well, maybe the rooms are clean....."
Her makeup and suitcase were getting heavy, and her feet hurt.
Clay sighed, as he struggled to carry the box in his arms. "Maybe so.", he halfheartedly agreed.
"Well, the hotel is awful, but it IS right on the lake! Isn't it beautiful?!", Emily enthused. The blue lake glistened in the late afternoon sun.
Clay's spirits perked up then, and he smiled. He was glad he was carrying the heavy box. Emily (and Revel) would love it.....
He sat the box down for a minute, and opened the wooden screen door of the small inn. As soon as Emily and Revel and he were inside, he turned to the open door and picked up the box again.
The clerk at the desk was obtuse and uncooperative, as well as looking like he hadn't bathed in several days, but they signed for a room, and he handed them a rusty key to room number 15.
"It's the one nearest the lake.", he told them vaguely.
"Good to know.", said Clay, who was mildly irritated by the attitude of the dirty clerk. He supposed that he should be grateful that there even WAS a lake.
Emily had a strange look of disbelief on her face as she looked at Clay. She TRULY could not believe they were staying here for the night. If it wouldn't have caused all kinds of trouble for the three of them, she would have had Revel sink his teeth into the dumb clerk's leg!
In a short span of time, Clay had unlocked the door, and Emily, Clay and Revel had gone inside and viewed their ....interesting....accommodations for the night. Within an even shorter (or so it seemed to Clay and Emily, they were sharing French Chardonnay and a gourmet picnic (Clay's heavy box contents) on the screened- in porch of their room, by the rippling lake.
Emily clasped Clay's hand, and squeezed it. "Let's buy the inn!"
Clay nodded, Revel barked, and it was a done deal!
