"Today," he admitted with confusion.
"That's what I thought. So you don't know where the nearest twenty-four-hour grocery store is. I do."
"Yes, but I can find my way back to that restaurant we visited earlier," Cale assured her, thinking he'd make a quick run to the hotel, drop off his suitcase, grab a bag or two of blood, and hit the drive-thru again on his way back. He'd enjoyed the food they'd had earlier and wouldn't mind more of it.
"No way," Alex said firmly. "There's absolutely no nutritional value to that stuff, and you haven't eaten all day. We'll go to the grocery store and gather the fixings for a nice healthy picnic."
"But I thought I'd stop and check into my hotel on the way back and drop off my luggage," he said desperately.
Alex turned to peer at him wide-eyed. "You haven't even checked into your hotel yet? "
"No. I'm afraid not. I went straight to my aunt's from the airport, then on to the ... er ... well Mortimer's place, and then wound up at your restaurant and now here," he finished.
"Oh, well we should head straight to the hotel first then, and we should get moving. They could give your room away," she said worriedly, rushing out of the room.
"Right," Cale muttered wearily, collecting and shrugging into his own jacket. This complicated things.
Chapter Six
"This is nice. I've never been in this hotel, but the rooms are lovely."
Cale glanced around as he followed Alex into his hotel room. It had been twenty years since he'd stayed at this particular hotel. It was owned by an immortal who ensured that the windows had blackout curtains and the closets had outlets for special travel refrigerators. That thought in mind, Cale paused to open the sliding glass door to see if his blood had been delivered. The closet was empty.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked coming up beside him.
Cale forced away a frown. "Nothing. I was just debating whether to change or not."
She looked him up and down. "Well, I guess that depends on whether you were planning to help me finish the painting or not ... I mean, you don't have to if you-"
"I'm helping," he interrupted as she began to babble.
"Thanks," Alex said softly, and then cleared her throat. "Then you should probably change. You seem to have managed to avoid getting any on your suit yet, but I wouldn't want you to tempt fate." She glanced around and then said, "I need to go to the washroom. You could change out here while I-" She paused suddenly and frowned. "Or did you want to shower or something?"
"Why? Do I stink?" Cale asked with amusement, and she flushed.
"No, of course not. I just thought, well I always feel like showering after a flight, and you did spend all those hours over a hot grill and-"
"I'm good. A shower would just delay eating. I'll shower after we finish painting. You go ahead and go to the washroom, and I'll change."
Alex nodded and moved to the bathroom door. "I'll take my time."
Cale wheeled his suitcase to the bed, opened it, and rifled through the contents in search of a casual shirt and jeans. He then quickly stripped off his clothes and began to dress. He'd pulled on his jeans, done them up, and picked up the long-sleeved maroon shirt he'd taken out when a knock sounded at the door. Taking the shirt, he crossed the room to answer it and released a relieved breath when he saw the man on the other side holding a large cooler in hand.
"Come in," he said, and glanced toward the closed bathroom door as he made way for the man to enter.
"Where do you want this?" the deliveryman asked, moving into the room.
"Here." Cale opened the closet door.
"Nice setup," the man said as he paused beside Cale and peered into the unusually deep closet with the plug socket against the back wall. He set down the cooler and plugged it in, explaining, "This is the newest model. Portable. You can hook it into your car lighter if you need to take it on the road."
"Great, thanks." Cale tipped the man and saw him out. He then immediately moved back to the waiting cooler. Squatting in the closet door, he flipped the lid open. One glimpse of the bags of dark red blood inside was enough to make his teeth start to drop, and Cale immediately grabbed a bag and popped it to the sharp tips. He then simply squatted there as the liquid was sucked up into his teeth and body.
Cale hesitated after the first bag, wondering if he had enough time for another, but the fact that his stomach cramps had barely lessened made him decide to take the chance. The bag was only half-empty, however, when the bathroom door began to open.
"Knock knock. I'm coming out. Are you decent?" Alex's voice sang out teasingly, and Cale reacted with all the aplomb you'd expect from a man of his considerable age: He half stumbled and half fell into the closet, pulling the door closed behind him with panic.
"Cale?" he heard Alex say uncertainly from the room. "Where are you?"