“Jared, Jared… ah, here you go. Reservation made on Monday of this week. Reservation canceled two hours ago today.”
Vanessa held up her finger. “Did you say canceled? There has to be some mistake.”
The innkeeper shook her head. “Oh, no, dear,” she responded quickly. “We have a very firm cancellation policy. The booking service we use sends an automatic confirmation via email. If we don’t receive a response, we call two hours before check-in to make sure you’re still coming. If you don’t answer, we have the right to cancel your booking. Usually this wouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, when the weather got bad, we got a slew of unexpected check-ins and all our rooms filled up. Including yours, I’m afraid.”
Vanessa leaned forward, her brows stitching together in confusion. “Come again?”
The warm smile on the woman’s face didn’t soften the blow the second time around. “I’m afraid your reservation has been canceled and we’re booked full.”
“You have to be able to make an exception,” Vanessa implored, and she could see the spark of regret flickering in the woman’s eyes. “I was trapped on the highway in the middle of a monsoon with no cellular service. How could I respond?”
“That sounds right terrible, dear. Still, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.”
Vanessa felt annoyance pecking at her temple. She pressed a finger there to stop the throbbing ache from growing into a splitting headache. She opened her mouth to allow her displeasure to spill out into the air, but when she met the remorseful smile of the aging caretaker, Vanessa couldn’t bring herself to voice her frustration.
“Do you know if there are any other hotels or inns nearby? Maybe one of them has a room.”
“No, dear.” She shook her head as she closed her ledger. “We’re the only hotel around for twenty miles. And between this storm and the Main Street festival starting in a couple of days, everyone in the area is booked solid.”
Just my damn luck to end up in Mayberry when there’s literally no room at the inn.
“Can I call anyone for you?”
Vanessa shook her head and pulled her phone out of her back pocket, watching cell service return one bar at a time. “No,” Vanessa sighed. “I’ll make a call and hopefully can figure something out.”
“Okay.” The innkeeper smiled. “There’s a desk across the foyer that you can sit down at to make your call. There’s a hot-water dispenser and some herbal tea bags there too. Make yourself a cup and warm up while you wait. I could bring you in some warm oatmealraisin cookies I was taking out of the oven when you rang the bell. Would you like that?”
Did she want a cookie? Could that damn cookie get her a hot shower and a warm bed? Of course not. Yet when she met kind, remorseful eyes, the part of her that was raised to respect her elders tamped down her aggravation. She took a deep breath to let some of the tension bleed out of her body before she nodded.
“Yes, please. I’d like that, Hannah.”
The woman’s smile brightened, and she shuffled off the way she came. All Vanessa could do was shake her head as a pitiful bubble of laughter slipped through her lips. She’d known a handsome man in a tight sweater showing up on her doorstep was a bad omen.
She made her way across the foyer and settled at the small desk Hannah had directed her to. She pulled out her phone, thankful she had four bars but still drawing a blank on who she should call. Cree went out of town on an unexpected business trip for the weekend, and Janae was probably already at work.
Not that either of them would make a suitable candidate. They both had fur babies, and Vanessa’s allergies wouldn’t let her be great in a house where pets lived.
“What the hell am I gonna do?”
She threw up her hands, letting them drop immediately to her thighs. With no alternatives, she resigned herself to do the only thing she could do and dialed the sheriff’s number.
She sat back in preparation to wait for the ring, except halfway through the first one, the call connected.
“Vanessa?”
His voice was deep and rich, and the way it wrapped around her name was sinful. She shook her head. This wasn’t what she was here for. And considering her current predicament, she needed to keep her thoughts straight. No matter how attractive that man was, she needed to stay focused on the task and not him.
“Vanessa, you there?”
She cleared her throat, trying her best to make sure her serious voice was firmly in place.
“Hello, Michael. I just arrived at the Main Street Inn.”
“Oh, that’s great. I was afraid you got caught in all this weather.”
“Well, about that,” she continued. “I did. My car nearly flooded. Gratefully, I made it here anyway. Although, it’s looking like I’m going to have to turn right back around and go home.”
“Why’s that?”
