HAZEL FINE SINGS ALONG (WATTYS 2022 Winner!)

Chapter 12: Lover

Hazel woke up with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed. "Shit!"

"What?" Zoey said groggily.

"I forgot Checkers in the car."

Hazel jumped out of bed and slipped on a pair of flip-flops, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas. She was a terrible person. Who left their animal in the car overnight? People who ended up on the news with a dead child, that's who. Not that a dead bunny was newsworthy, but still.

Hazel hurried through the lobby, hoping she wouldn't run into anyone she knew. She made it out of the hotel and into the parking lot without incident. When she saw her car, she almost broke into a run. Please, please, please let Checkers be okay!

She yanked open the door and was hit with an awful smell. Was Checkers dead? No, he'd just pooped up a storm out of anger over being abandoned.

"Oh, Checkers! I'm so, so sorry."

Checkers turned his listless head toward Hazel. She rubbed the fur behind his neck in the way she knew he liked, then reached into the front seat where she had a couple of water bottles stashed. She filled Checkers' bowl. He hobbled over to it.

"I forgot to bring anything for you to eat. Wait. Wait there."

Checkers wasn't going anywhere. He could barely drink the water in his bowl.

Hazel searched frantically for something she could feed to him. Her eyes came to rest on the palm tree above. It was green. It must be okay, right? She'd flown out of the room without her phone, so she couldn't check. But the chances of it being poisonous were slim.

She jumped in the air, reaching for a leaf. She missed, then jumped higher, catching a large frond, and holding on for dear life.

Crack!

It came down but so did the branch it was attached to, landing on her sad car, and denting the hood.

"Goddammit."

"Can I be of assistance?" Martin said.

Hazel turned around slowly. Martin was smirking at her from a few feet away.

How long had he been watching her? And, oh God, she was in her pajamas. She reached her hands up quickly and gathered her hair together, twisting it into a knot at the base of her neck. "I'm fine."

"Oh, I know you are." Martin gave her that same appraising look he had at her audition. "But what, pray tell, are you doing?"

"Feeding my bunny?"

"Is that a euphemism?"

"No." She stepped aside so he could see Checkers lying pathetically in the backseat. "The hotel doesn't accept pets, so I had to keep him in my car, and I realized this morning that I forgot to feed him last night." Her words tumbled out. There was no point in lying. What else could she possibly say that would explain her presence in the parking lot at this hour and in this state?

"Ah, well ..."

"I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"It looks like your car might be."

"It was on its last legs anyway."

Martin smirked again, but it didn't seem to be connected to what Hazel had said. She wondered what he was doing in the far reaches of the parking lot this early in the morning.

"Can I give you a bit of advice, Hazel?"

"Yes, of course."

Martin took a step toward her. He was close enough that she could smell his cologne, too strong and sharp. She tried not to wrinkle her nose. At this distance she could see that he'd probably had as much Botox as Georgia; his face was unnaturally tight.