He held up his hands. “I can explain this,” he said. “We came out here yesterday hoping to tour the place. Our car broke down and our phones were dead. When we realized the door was unlocked, we decided our best bet was to just let ourselves in and stay the night, hoping someone would show up in the morning and turnyourphones on so that we could call a tow truck.”
The woman was eyeing the plates and wine glasses from their makeshift dinner, which sat on the bar. “Looks like you helped yourselves to a few things.”
“We had to eat,” Theo defended himself.
“And you had to open a merlot?”
“I’ll pay you back triple what that’s worth. And we’re hoping to book a wedding here, and we’ll pay really well for that, too. Mybrother is getting married, and I want him to have the best of everything.” He glanced over at Harper, unable to keep himself from thinking about how moving their conversation had been, how powerful it had felt to be seen so clearly by another person. “He would love this place. I really am sorry for coming in when no one was here like this. I didn’t mean to alarm you. It just felt like our only option.”
The sound of voices had stirred Harper. She sat up slowly, and to her unending credit, she didn’t appear to be alarmed by any of what was going on. She didn’t try to jump into the conversation. She waited and allowed Theo to do the talking.
The woman nodded slowly, taking in Harper, clearly put at ease by the presence of another woman. “I’ll go connect the phones,” she said. “You can call your tow. But I’m going to check the place for damage before you leave, and take pictures.”
“That’s reasonable, I’d do the same,” Theo said. “We’ll give you our identification, too, in case anything comes up.”
“Then I don’t think this needs to go any further than the three of us,” the woman said. She walked off in the direction of the reception desk.
Theo waited until she was a good distance away, then hurried over to Harper and helped her out of the nest of couches. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little startled.” She smiled. “Last night was fun, though.”
“It really was. A lot more than I would have expected.” He smiled. “I think we’ll be able to handle the rest of our time together planning this wedding.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have the same problems anymore, no.” She grinned.
He took a deep breath. They did need to address the elephant in the room. She’d given him no indication that she was the clingy type, but how many times had he thought he was spending a night with a woman who understood his intentions, only to realize that she’d expected something more? “We do need to be careful to keep things professional moving forward, though,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows and said nothing.
He found the silence unsettling. It seemed as though maybe this was her way of trying to get him to go on talking, and if it was, it was going to work. He felt the words coming up like vomit. “You know I’m not interested in anything serious,” he said. “I don’t think you are either — at least, not here. You’re looking for marriage, and you know I’m not that guy. We were just having a good time.”
“Of course,” she said evenly. “You’re right; that is what I want. It’s exactly what I was hoping for when I found out I was going to be working with Max’s best man to plan the wedding. All I needed was someone I could enjoy myself with, and it seems like that’s what I’ve got.”
“Exactly.” He felt himself begin to relax — theywereon the same page, just like he had assumed last night when they had gotten themselves into this. It wasn’t going to create problems for them moving forward, and that was a relief. “I had a great time, and I’m glad you did too. And I’m glad we’re going to be getting along better moving forward, but this was a one-time thing.”
“Agreed,” she said.
He thought he caught a shadow of something on her face, but then a moment later he was sure he had imagined it. She twisted her hair into a bun and secured it with the elastic band around her wrist. “We should talk to that woman before we go, and make sure we can get this place for the day of the wedding. It would be great to have that all squared away.”
As if on cue, the woman came back. “The phones are up,” she said. “You can make your calls.”
“Are you who we would speak to about a wedding reservation?” Harper asked.
“My name is Cynthia Johnson. I can help you with that, yes.”
Harper nodded. “I’m Harper Martin. I’m an events coordinator, and I’ve worked with this space before, but I don’t think you and I have ever been introduced. Of course, if we had, it would have been less of a shock for you to find me in your lobby this morning.”
“You make a habit of that sort of thing?” Cynthia Johnson smiled wryly.
“No, of course not. But I imagine seeing a familiar face would have been less alarming than seeing a stranger. Truly, I am sorry about all this. I wonder if we can talk about dates?”
“I’ll get the book,” Cynthia said.
“I’ll go call for the tow,” Theo offered.
Harper smiled at him. “Thanks,” she said. “The sooner we can get out of here, the better. And do you have some spare phone chargers, Ms. Johnson?”
“I might be able to find you something.” The two women went off together.
