“Wemighthave a problem?” Theo repeated.
It was the most rattled she had ever seen him. His usually immaculate hair was in disarray from having his fingers run through it several times over the past hour. His button-down shirt hung unevenly, wrinkled from the long car ride. His jawline was tense with frustration. It all humanized him in a way she wouldn’t have expected to be so appealing. He should have been less attractive when he was less put-together, but instead she found herself staring at him.
“What?” he demanded.
She shook herself. “Nothing.” This was no time to be checking Theo out. Even if there was something alluring about seeing him look like a regular person instead of an executive for once, he was angry at her right now, and he had a right to feel that way. He was being too harsh, but sheshouldhave reached out and contacted the proprietors of this establishment before bringing them all the way out here.
She turned a slow circle again, looking around the room. The sign over the reception desk readWelcome to Creston Lodge!She had only ever been here on days when it was open, when the staff bustled about the lodge and the air was filled with the excitement of someone’s party. She probably should have guessed that there would be no one here if there was nothing on their schedule. Of course they didn’t take walk-ins.
“It’s not that bad,” she told Theo, rallying her thoughts. “We can still look around the place while we wait.”
“You’re not seriously still trying to sell me on this place as a wedding venue? I am absolutely never coming back here as long as I live,” he told her. “There’snochance I’m agreeing to it.”
Harper folded her arms across her chest. She’d restrained herself when it came to his venue of choice, but if he was going to act like this about it… “Well,I’mnot agreeing to that ballroom you took us to,” she said. “It looked like some billionaire’s charity-event space.”
“Billionairesdohave charity events there. And you say that like it’s a bad thing. You don’t think the nicest event space in Houston is good enough for Max and Tara?”
“No, I don’t! And I don’t know why you always act like the most expensive option is the best. I genuinely think they’ll both like Creston Lodge better. And this whole day wasyouridea, so you should at leastlookat it before you decide to completely write it off.”
“Well, you can’t seriously think I would want to have a wedding here after something like this.”
“I get it, Theo,” Harper said. “You’re mad that I didn’t call and make an appointment. And honestly, that’s valid. I would bemad about it too if I were you. But that doesn’t make this venue any less of a good idea, so at least look around and give it a fair chance, okay?”
Theo looked away, toward the large window that occupied the entire back wall of the reception area. It had always been one of Harper’s favorite features of this lodge, and she had expected that it would stun him when they walked in. But he was looking at it like it was nothing in particular, like he saw views like that every day of his life. It annoyed her.
“Why don’t we put in a call for a tow truck, and then I can at least show you around the grounds a little bit,” she suggested. “Will you put up with that much?”
For a moment, she thought he might still say no, but he let out a long sigh and nodded. “I guess it’s the least I can do,” he said. “And we did come all the way out here, after all. You may as well show me what you wanted me to see. But when the tow gets here, I don’t care how much of your tour is left — we’re leaving.”
Almost immediately,they ran into another snag.
Harper had decided she would be the one to clamber over the reception desk to get to the phone. There was something undignified about that, and she couldn’t imagine Theo doing it without giving her a reproving look that would make her feel worse about the whole situation than she already did. Better to let him stand on the opposite side of the desk and feel like she was solving the problem she had, inhismind, been the cause of.
But the moment she picked up the phone and put it to her ear, she froze, knowing that things had just gone from bad to worse.
She stood still, keeping her face as neutral as she could and hoping that he wouldn’t register that anything was wrong until she’d had a chance to decide how she was going to handle this latest blow. But Theo had always been unpleasantly observant — it seemed impossible to keep anything from him. And he must have seen some telltale sign on her face, because his eyebrows lifted and he frowned at her. “Now what?”
She bit her lip. “The phone isn’t on.”
“What do you mean, it isn’ton?”
She held out the receiver so that he could see for himself.
He held it to his ear, and she knew he would be hearing the same thing she had. Dead silence. It was going to be impossible to make a call.
He handed the receiver back to her slowly. “What is this place?” he asked quietly.
“They must shut down the electricity when no one is here. To save on costs, maybe.” She went to a light switch and flicked it. Sure enough, the lights didn’t come on. “This isn’t a place that has guests all the time — only when there’s some event going on down the road. So, I guess they shut everything down in between events.”
“I can’t believe you?—”
“I know.” She held up a hand. “You can’t believe I didn’t anticipate all this and call ahead. If I just agree that you’re right and I’m wrong, can we stop rehashing all that and move on? Idon’t want to spend the rest of the night arguing about whether or not I should have anticipated what’s happening now.”
“Well, youshouldhave.” He sighed. “All right. So,ourphones are dead, and now this phone is dead. Which means we can’t call for a tow, or even for someone to come and get us out of here. What are we going to do?”
“We’re just going to have to hope that someone comes in and checks this place on Monday,” Harper said.
“OnMonday?”
