20I dropped Peyton and Leo at the bus for the trip home. They’d reach Chantilly at ten o’clock tonight, in time to shoot off some firecrackers.
I tracked down the band director and signed Vicky out. Drove us to my hotel. Using points, I’d upgraded to a corner room on the twelfth floor club level.
The floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the harbor. Gazing straight down, I spotted the water taxi puttering out of the hotel dock.
Vicky wasn’t interested in the view. She’d just spent three nights in a sleeping bag on a high school gym floor.
The two sumptuous queen-sized beds got her attention. Yawning, she crawled into one, marveled at the softness of high-thread-count white cotton sheets, and fell asleep.
I piled up the pillows at the head of the other bed and settled in with my han
