The Hotel - 6

It took me a second, and zooming in my phone's camera, for me to see what had caught Caitlin's attention. A majestic wolf stood at the edge of the trees across the lake. Its fur ranged from light to dark gray, flecked with black. Its eyes were gold I thought —unless they were reflecting the sun off the lake. I wasn't about to go around it to find out for certain.

"Who knew there were wolves out here," Phil said. "He's beautiful, but I hope he keeps his distance."

"You don't want him staying in the room next to yours?" Noah teased.

"Only if you're around to protect me," Phil shot back, winking.

Noah grinned. "It would be my pleasure." Then he turned his attention back to the wolf.

Those two needed to stop dancing around each other and go for it. It had been obvious to me from the moment Noah joined the troupe that he'd caught Phil's attention. Noah didn't seem to be immune to Phil, either, but neither of them had gone beyond being friends—yet—as much as I thought they might want to. I could understand that. I'd been attracted to Phil at one point, until I decided we were too different. Phil was a player, although he kept his brief liaisons to people outside the troupe. I didn't want to be another notch on his bedpost. Not that I'm celibate, but I want something that could end in a permanent relationship, not a brief fling. So far, that hasn't happened.

I glanced at Jenn and smiled. She and Kirby were holding a whispered conversation, his arm around her waist. Then I caught the expression on Tessa's face. If looks could kill. I was surprised because I hadn't known Tessa might be interested in Kirby as more than a friend. Sure, she does everything she can to be around him but I thought she'd accepted that he and Jenn were together.

"Dinner time," Ramsey announced, getting laughs from everyone.

When we were back in the hotel, we returned to our rooms long enough to leave our jackets and wash up before gathering in the dining room. Two of the tables had been put together to accommodate all of us. There were already bowls of soup and salads at each place so we began eating. A young woman came into the room to tell us we had our choice of Beef Wellington or oven roasted halibut for the main course. She took our orders back to the kitchen and then returned to clear the table of our empty soup bowls. A few minutes later, she began setting down our entrée plates.

"This is delicious," Jenn said after tasting her halibut. "If they feed us this well for every meal I'm going to gain ten pounds."

Because I was seated next to her, I heard Tessa say under her breath, "You could do to lose at least that many."

I sighed, thinking that she'd better rein in her jealousy or this is going to be one tense few days.

The meal proceeded with everyone else commenting about how good the food was and then moving on to talk about our plans for the following day.

"We'll set up what we need first thing in the morning," I told them. "Then we do a walk-through to get used to the stage, followed by a full rehearsal."

"All in one day?" Ramsey asked.

"No. We'll do a complete rehearsal, in costume and makeup, on Thursday. The show will be Friday night, according to Mr. Delaney. It's not as if you guys don't know your lines. You just have to acclimate to the lack of real scenery and all the props you're used to."

"Did you notice any place in back of the stage we can use for dressing rooms?" Caitlin asked. "Okay, never mind, we didn't get that far."

"There were doors to both sides of it," I replied. "As soon as we've finished eating, we'll go down and check them out."

"I'll come with you," Marsh said. "I need to see if there's anywhere to set lights. If not—" he chuckled, "—you'll be acting with only a chandelier to light the stage."

"My bet is there has to be, for the bands," Phil said.

"Good point. Let's hope."