She didn’t, though. She glanced briefly at him, then stared out through the windshield in total silence.
“What?” he asked her after a moment.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Well, we’re in a mess now. Unless you have a phone number for a taxi company?”
“No,” she said. “Do you think you could call someone to come out here and pick us up?”
“I could call Max.”
“You absolutely cannot call Max.”
“Why not?”
“Because he has children. Because he and Tara asked us to handle this so that they wouldn’t have to. Pick any reason you want. The point is, we can’t bother them.”
“So, you think we’re just supposed to sit out here until someone happens along this way?”
“Hey, don’t shout at me,” she snapped, even though he hadn’t been shouting. “It’syourcar that broke down. I’m just trying to get us to the venue.”
“Great. So, what do you propose to do now?”
“Well, we’re just going to have to walk. It isn’t far from here. And then we can have them call a tow truck for us. It won’t be a big deal.”
Theo had to admit that it was a better plan than any he had. He got out of the car without waiting for her and gathered up his most important things — the keys, his wallet, his phone — and walked out onto the road, waiting for Harper to join him. She did so a moment later, though she didn’t look in his direction but started to make her way along the road they’d been driving down, clearly heading for the venue that she had indicated they would find at the end of it.
He watched her go for just a moment, then hurried after her.
“Do you really think someone will be able to call for us?” he asked. “Because my phone is about to die.”
She still didn’t look at him. “I thought you had it plugged in when we were in the car,” she said. “I noticed you were on the charger the whole time, so I couldn’t get a charge.” She held up her own phone, and he saw that the screen was black.
“You could have told me that your phone was dying.”
“I didn’t think you would let me use the charger if Ididtell you.”
“And you decided that making a point by letting your phone die was more important than just finding out?”
“You didn’t offer your charger,” she said, “so I assumed you needed it. Don’t make out like it’s my fault now because I didn’t insist. Anyway, wasn’t yours plugged in?”
“I guess it wasn’t drawing a charge because of the car battery not working,” he said. As he spoke the words, the screen faded to black. He tapped it, trying to bring it back to life, but it was hopeless. “Damn it. I should have called Max! Why did I let you talk me out of that?”
“You can’t blame me for everything, Theo. I didn’t know your phone was dying.” She sighed. “Let’s just get up to the venue. They’ll be able to help us make a call, and we can get a tow truck and get out of here.”
“You must be joking.”
Theo peered in the window of the quaint little event space. All the lights were off. There was nobody inside.
“Closed on Saturdays,” he said, not bothering to look back over his shoulder at Harper. “Unless someone makes an appointment. I’m willing to bet that’s what’s going on here. There’s nobody here because the place isn’t open today.”
Uncharacteristically, Harper was quiet.
“Which means we drove out here for nothing, since we can’t get a tour of their place,” he said. “And we aren’t going to be able to use their phone either.”
Silence.
He looked back at her. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
