Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks Read Free Book Online Page B

retrieved a room key, hesitated, then selected two more.
    “Okay, we’re all set here,” she said. “You ready to see your room?”
    “Please.”
    Paul stepped back as she made her way around the desk, toward the stairs. He grabbed his duffel bags, then started after her.
     When she reached the steps, she paused, letting him catch up. She motioned toward the sitting room.
    “I have coffee and some cookies right over there. I made the pot an hour ago, so it should still be fresh for a while.”
    “I saw it when I came in. Thank you.”
    At the top of the steps, Adrienne turned, her hand still resting on the balustrade. There were four rooms upstairs: one near
     the front of the house and three that faced the ocean. On the doors Paul saw nameplates, not numbers: Bodie, Hatteras, and
     Cape Lookout, and he recognized them as the names of lighthouses along the Outer Banks.
    “You can take your pick,” Adrienne said. “I brought all three keys in case you like another one better.”
    Paul looked from one room to the next. “Which one’s the blue room?”
    “Oh, that’s just what I call it: Jean calls it the Bodie Suite.”
    “Jean?”
    “She’s the owner. I’m just watching the place while she’s gone.”
    The straps of the duffel bags were pinching his neck, and Paul shifted them as Adrienne unlocked the door. She held the door
     open for him, feeling the duffel bag bump against her as he wedged by.
    Paul glanced around. The room was just about what he’d imagined it would be: simple and clean, but with more character than
     a typical beachfront motel room. There was a four-poster bed centered beneath the window, with an end table beside it. On
     the ceiling, a fan was whirring slowly, just enough to move the air. In the far corner, near a large painting of the Bodie
     lighthouse, there was a doorway that Paul assumed led to the bathroom. Along the near wall stood a worn-looking chest of drawers
     that looked as if it had been in the room since the Inn had been built.
    With the exception of the furniture, pretty much everything was tinted various shades of blue: The throw rug on the floor
     was the color of robin’s eggs, the comforter and curtains were navy, the lamp on the end table was somewhere in between and
     shiny, like the paint on a new car. Though the chest of drawers and the end table were eggshell, they’d been decorated with
     scenes of the ocean beneath summer skies. Even the phone was blue, which gave it the appearance of a toy.
    “What do you think?”
    “It’s definitely blue,” he said.
    “Do you want to see the other rooms?”
    Paul set the duffel bags on the floor as he looked out the window.
    “No, this will be fine. Is it okay if I open the window, though? It’s kind of stuffy in here.”
    “Go ahead.”
    Paul crossed the room, flipped the latch, and lifted the pane. Because the home had been painted so many times over the years,
     the window caught after about an inch. As Paul struggled to raise it further, Adrienne could see the wiry muscles of his forearms
     knot and flex.
    She cleared her throat.
    “I guess you should know it’s my first time watching the Inn,” she said. “I’ve been here lots of times, but always when Jean
     was here, so if something’s not right, don’t think twice about telling me.”
    Paul turned around. With his back to the glass, his features were lost in shadows.
    “I’m not worried,” he said. “I’m not too picky these days.”
    Adrienne smiled as she pulled the key from the door. “Okay, things you should know. Jean told me to go over these. There’s
     a wall heater beneath the window, and all you have to do is turn it on. There’s only two settings, and in the beginning it’ll
     make a clicking noise, but it’ll stop after a few minutes. There are fresh towels in the bathroom; if you need more, just
     let me know. And even though it seems to take forever, the hot water does eventually come out of the nozzle. I