The blinding snow of the blizzard battered the windshield, unphased by the wipers. The midsize sedan skidded momentarily as it lumbered its way along the snow-covered Interstate. Vanessa’s hands were white on the wheel as she did her best to stay on the road despite the impossible driving conditions. Wind rocked the car as they passed the umpteenth vehicle stuck in the ditch.
“There’s another one. You were right – we should have stayed someplace back in Denver.”
“Listen, Claire,” Vanessa breathed, her eyes never leaving the road, “what’s done is done. Right now, we need to stay focused. Did you find a place where we can stop until the storm blows over?”
“I think so.” Claire’s eyes went back to her phone. “We’re almost literally in the middle of nowhere, but if you can make it to the next exit, there’s a little town about a mile north on that road with some kind of motel.”
“That sounds great. Call ‘em and let them know we’re on our way.”
“Sooo, that’s the problem,” Claire replied. “The motel doesn’t have a website, and I can’t find a phone number.”
Vanessa couldn’t help but sigh. “Well, that’s a small-town business for you. Let’s hope we get lucky and they have a couple rooms for us.”
As she did her best to keep the car on the road, Vanessa’s thoughts drifted to her colleague. Claire had a lot going for her. At 22, she was the company’s youngest and newest saleswoman, and she was seriously good at it. In less than six months her monthly sales numbers were second only to Vanessa’s. It was no shock when her boss moved her into Vanessa’s sales team, and when their top client started balking over this year’s contract, management had Vanessa bring Claire with her to Denver to close the deal.
Initially, Vanessa had reservations about going on the sales call with Claire. They weren’t rivals per se, but Vanessa couldn’t help but admit that a part of her felt threatened by her new, young sales protege. She’d been in the company for twenty years – almost as long as Claire had been alive – and in a few months, this new girl was riding shotgun on the company’s most important sales call. It left Vanessa wondering if her days as the company’s top salesperson were numbered.
For her part, Claire always seemed to look up to Vanessa. She was always eager to learn from the older woman, and had told her on many occasions how much she loved being on her team. In the last couple months, they had gotten to know each other, and while Claire could be a little pushy at times, the two ladies generally got along pretty well.
Still, Vanessa couldn’t help but have moments of insecurity. Industrial heavy machinery sales was a male-dominated field. When she came into the company she fought tooth and nail to prove herself, and it took over a decade of determination along with being passed over for promotions in favor of less competent men time and time again before she claimed her spot as the senior sales executive. Now, in less than a year, this young girl was in the number two spot, and made getting there look easy.
After an arduous drive, Vanessa finally pulled up at the office of a motel that appeared to be straight out of the ‘60s, right down to the faded avocado, straw, and coral color scheme. She sighed in relief as she spotted the neon sign hanging in the window that read “vacancy.”
“Thank goodness,” Claire chirped. “Here, give me the purchasing card, I’ll go get us rooms.”
“Sure thing.” Vanessa fished the company card out of her purse and handed it to Claire. Pushing the door open against the wind, Claire jumped out of the car and ran through the snow into the motel office.
With the car to herself, Vanessa decided to call up her husband to let him know what was going on. As she told him about the weather and shared that they were safe and at a motel, she watched the conversation unfold between the motel manager and Claire through the large glass window of the motel office. The old man in the office looked out the window at her, then turned back to Claire and shook his head as he spoke. Claire scowled a bit and said something back to him. Vanessa watched as the two went back and forth, apparently in some sort of debate. At one point it became animated enough that it distracted Vanessa from her call.
“Hey ‘Ness, babe, you still there?” her husband asked over the phone.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry, just trying to figure out what these two are talking about.”
“Well, I gotta get the kids to bed, so I’m gonna go. But hey, I’ll call you later tonight when the kids are asleep.”
“Sounds like a plan, baby. Love you!”
As Vanessa ended the call, she watched the old man pull a key from the wall behind him and toss it on the desk in front of Claire. She grabbed the key, but before she could leave, he pointed at her, said something else, and then pointed at the car. Claire nodded, and while the old man flipped a switch that changed the neon sign to read “no vacancy,” she dashed out the door and back into the car.
“Brrrr!” Claire shivered. “So, that was definitely weird.”
Vanessa arched an eyebrow at her colleague. “Wanna tell me about it?” she asked.
“You know it, but not up here,” she responded, eyeing the old man who was staring at the duo from his desk. “Look for room 14, on the far end of the building.”
“Sounds good,” Vanessa responded, backing out of the parking spot and driving slowly through the snowstorm towards the end of the motel. “Which one of us gets that room?”
“We both do. Turned out he only had one room left. Didn’t want to sell it to us, either.”
“What do you mean?”
“Girl,” Claire began, “that guy was a little cuckoo in the head. I guess all he had left was the motel’s ‘Honeymoon Suite.’ He kept saying that the room was special, and he couldn’t let two girls share it.”
“Seriously? Why not?” Vanessa spotted the door marked 14 and pulled the car into a parking spot.
“He wouldn’t tell me. He just kept saying the room was special. Of course, some grumpy old hotel manager is no match for the number two saleswoman at Valley Industrial. I wouldn’t give in, and he finally agreed to give it to us. So yay me!”
Vanessa found herself chuckling at Clair’s exclamation. “Yay you, indeed. Let’s get our stuff in there and pick our beds.”
“Oh yeah,” Claire cut in. “That’s one thing. There’s only one bed in the room. That was one of his arguments. I told him one of us could sleep on the couch, or we could both share the bed and it was none of his business who sleeps where.”
Vanessa paused. Sharing a room with Claire was one thing. Sleeping in the same bed with the girl who was giving her a run for her money at work was definitely another. She hoped the sofa was comfortable. “Oh, one bed? What else did he say?”
“Well, he made this super big deal about not using the robes in the bedroom closet.”
“Robes?”
“Yeah, I guess there are robes in the room. He kept going on about how they were for newlyweds only, and then he was like ‘I won’t be responsible if you decide to wear those robes. Leave them in the closet and don’t touch them!’ Weird, right?”
“Weird is right. I’ve seen a lot of interesting innkeepers, but it sounds like this guy takes the cake. I guess we should go in and see what makes his honeymoon suite so special.”
With that, the girls exited the car and ran through the storm to the motel door. Claire put the key in the lock and a moment later they burst inside.
“Holy shit,” Vanessa groaned. “I’ve died and gone to 1965.”
As the women hung up their purses and coats on the brass coat rack by the door, Vanessa took in the two-room suite. Plush orange shag carpet adorned the floor. A faded floral wallpaper complimented the uncomfortable-looking pale green sofa and matching easy chair. Across from the sofa, a very out-of-place looking flat-screen TV was the only indicator that they were still in the present day.
In the bedroom, a hot pink heart-shaped hot tub took center stage, which almost perfectly matched the comforter on the king-sized bed. A faint musty smell permeated the air being recirculated by the old heater, faintly clanking away from its place on the wall.
“This is the super special honeymoon suite?” Vanessa asked. “Wow. I’d hate to see a standard room.”
“Hey,” Claire chuckled, grabbing a handful of the orange crushed velvet drapes hanging in front of the window, “at least the carpet matches the drapes!” The tension broke, and both women found themselves giggling.
“Come on,” Claire said to her older colleague as their laughter died down, “the good news is that we’re going to have a great story to tell when we get back tomorrow. Now let’s go check out those forbidden robes!” Claire slid past Vanessa and raced into the bedroom. Vanessa followed her, and the two came to a stop at the closet door.
Claire grabbed the handle on the closet door and gave it a yank. The door flung open, revealing a pair of soft-looking velvety robes hanging inside, each with a heart embroidered on the left breast.
“Aw, aren’t those adorbs?” Claire asked. “Cutesy robes for the newlyweds. So hey, don’t you think we should try ‘em on?”
“I don’t know,” Vanessa replied with a laugh. “That old innkeeper would probably have our heads if we did.”
Claire smirked. “Aw, he’ll never know. Come on, let’s live a little.” Claire reached in and grabbed the robe on the left. An instant later she pulled back her hand and let out a yelp. Vanessa’s eyes went wide.
“What happened?”
“Damn shag carpets!” Claire exclaimed. “I just got zapped by the static. No biggie.” She tentatively reached back in and tapped the robe. When it was evident she wasn’t going to get zapped again, she grabbed it and pulled it out. “See? No worries.”
The girls’ eyes met for a moment and Claire ran her fingers over the robe’s soft material. “Hmmm, this feels really nice,” she purred as her hand stroked the robe. After a moment’s pause she added “Okay, I’m gonna go put this on. Grab yours and let’s get comfy, girl!”
Vanessa watched Claire walk to the bathroom and pull the door shut. Something felt a bit off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Deciding the damage was done, the woman reached into the closet and grabbed the robe hanging on the right side. A spark of electricity ran through her fingers and she yanked back her hand with a loud “Oh fuck!”