“Don’t push it. I’m admitting I was too hasty,” she said. “Let’s go to the Crystal Ballroom and have a look at the place. Maybe it’s as nice as you say, and we’ll both agree that it’s the right place for the wedding.”
“Okay, then.”
“But promise me one thing?”
“What?”
“That we’ll at least look at my suggestion too before we make a final decision about what we want to do?”
He glanced at her.
“I’m taking this seriously,” she assured him. “I’m going into it with an open mind. I promise I’m going to consider this venue. I just want you to considermyvenue too. And you’re the one who said we should each pick a place.”
He nodded. “All right,” he said. “We’ll look at both of them, and then we’ll come to a consensus. Together.”
But Harper had the feeling that he had already decided in his own mind which of the options he was going to favor.
“Mr. Davenport?My name is Genevieve Wallace. We spoke on the phone.”
“Of course.” Theo extended his hand to shake with the woman who had come out to greet the pair of them. She was immaculately dressed in a fitted suit with a pencil skirt. Her makeup was flawless, and not one hair was out of place in her tidy bun. Harper admired her acrylic nails. She had always respected professional women who could keep their nails done like that — she herself would never have been able to do it.
The woman turned her attention to Harper. “And we haven’t been introduced,” she said. “Genevieve Wallace. I’m the events coordinator here.”
“Harper Martin. I’m in events planning myself.”
“Oh! I should give you my card before you leave today.”
“Thank you for seeing us on short notice, Ms. Wallace,” Theo said.
“Of course. Why don’t you two step inside, and you can tell me a little more about your event. Is this a sports banquet?”
“It’s actually a wedding,” Harper said quickly, not fully trusting Theo to come through with the truth, even though he had said he would.
“A wedding! How lovely! We do plenty of weddings,” Ms. Wallace said. “How long have the two of you been together?”
Theo made a strange sound in the back of his throat.
“Not our wedding,” Harper said quickly. “We’re the best man and the maid of honor. We’re here on behalf of the bride and groom.”
“Yes, they’re very busy people,” Theo spoke up. He sounded a little choked, as if he hadn’t quite gotten over the misunderstanding. Harper found herself looking forward to the moment when they got out of here and she would be able to tease him a little about it. It was funny that they’d been mistaken for the couple getting married, but Theo looked as if he’d swallowed a lemon.
Ms. Wallace was nearly bouncing on her toes. “They’re too busy to come and look at the space themselves? They must be… very important people.”
She was trying to get them to drop a hint, Harper thought. She was probably envisioning celebrities, and, of course, the bride and groom weren’t special in that way. But Theo only said, “Yes,I think that’s fair to say,” and gave Harper a meaningful look, letting her know that she ought to keep her mouth shut.
Harper was tempted not to cooperate, to just tell Ms. Wallace that the wedding was that of two ordinary people. But she restrained herself. There was no point in doing anything that would cause an argument right now. She could debate these choices with Theo later. But he had to know that she wasn’t going to feel good about choosing this venue if they had to mislead the events coordinator in order to do it.
“Follow me,” Ms. Wallace said. “I’ll show you the ballroom, and then we can take a tour of the grounds. I think you’ll like it. And when we come back in, we can sit at the table there and go through the book, and I’ll show you both some of the events we’ve had here in the past. I think you’ll find it’s ideal for whatever you’re planning. Do you know what date you’re looking at?”
Harper gave the date of the wedding. This was something that couldn’t be negotiated, since the invitations had already gone out, and she found herself hoping — though she knew she shouldn’t — that this venue wouldn’t be available on the day in question. Maybe they would be forced to move on without her having to argue with Theo.
But Ms. Wallace smiled. “You’re in luck,” she said. “We usually book up months in advance, but we’ve had a cancelation. I can put a hold on that date for you as long as you can let me know within forty-eight hours whether you intend to book.”
“Yes, I think we can do that,” Theo said, and Harper nodded too. It was a fair thing to ask.
And the spacewasbeautiful. As they took the tour, she found herself genuinely admiring it. It would be a beautiful place to host an event, and when Ms. Wallace offered her card, Harper took it, thinking that she would almost certainly recommend this venue to her clients in the future. Remarkable parties — legendary parties — could be thrown here.
But this wasn’t the right place for Tara’s wedding.
