Because the Night

she's waiting for you

Karen arrived on Christmas Eve. Diego was there to hold the door open when she did. 

"Such treatment," she said, in her breathy voice. "And not even from the doorman." 

Unlike the rest of the staff who worked at the entrance of the hotel, Diego was in a suit. "I don't think those hats look good on me," Diego said, accidentally flirting with her. How do you get a woman to like you? Diego didn't know, but he needed Karen to like him. Like him enough to speak to Lily. 

For the past month, Diego had been texting Lily. He started with "hi." Then he texted her an apology for being born in to such a high maintenance family. He wrote a full-on fantasy of what their lives could be like if he was another guest, not the heir to the throne. She wrote back silence. 

What was he not saying that he needed to say? What could he do, to win her back? At night, he was kept awake by the gaping emptiness next to him, in the large bed. Eventually, he moved rooms to a twin-sized bed, so he wouldn't be reminded of the nights that she sprawled next to him. In the smaller room, he had no other option but to be lonely. 

Even still, in that narrow bed, he imagined her, curled into his back, mewing as she slept. Their breaths synchronized, a lullaby. Waking up with her hair in his mouth. He missed Lily so much that even that sounded appetizing. 

All those months he'd been chasing her away? He should've been holding her tight. Preparing her. Preparing them both. He knew that now. 

He needed to find a way to tell her. 

"On the contrary. I definitely think you could pull them off," Karen said. Was she flirting back? OK, Diego hadn't thought this far ahead. 

"Mom," the kid next to her, somewhere in his early 20s, said. He was trying to grow a mustache, but had huge tufts of brown hair. He was wearing a polo. He didn't seem like he much wanted to be there. 

"You must be Greg," Diego said. 

"What the f," Greg said, literally. "How do you know me?"

"We strive for customer service," Diego said. 

Greg stared at his mom. "Did they replace all the staff here with automatons? What's going on?" 

"You must forgive me," Karen said. "My son has a strong imagination." 

"No, he's not wrong," Diego said, tapping at his brain. "We got a chip installed. I'll never forget a name." Then he turned and named all the doormen working now. Sam. Matt. Paco. Greg's jaw dropped with surprise. Was he kidding, or what? 

"I hope you enjoy your stay, Mrs. Wainwright. Greg. Let me know what we can do to make it more special," he said, letting them through. 

Diego already had a surprise in store. He'd upgraded their normal room to one of the nicer suites, so Greg and Karen would have separate bedrooms. They wouldn't know it was him, of course, but maybe they'd be more receptive to his questions if they'd had a good night's sleep and a complimentary fruit basket. 

Because once Karen found out who the guy with the long hair and the sweet smile really was, Diego had a feeling she'd be a bit less friendly. 

Diego was right. 

**

It wasn't stalking if he worked at the hotel and had access to when their dinner reservation was. It was, uh, customer service? Whatever. Diego couldn't find any ethical excuse for what he did next, which was wait outside the dining room around the time their meal was wrapping up. He "happened" to run into Karen and Greg leaving, and asked how their dinner went.