Chapter 4
Chapter Four
There didn’t seem to be much to discuss after that. They all agreed to meet back at her house when they came up with some actionable information, and then Delia walked Ty and Pru to the door. She halfway wondered if the two of them were going to go somewhere together after this.
Apparently not, though, since Prudence got in her beloved Mini Cooper and Ty climbed into a white pickup truck parked at the curb, and they headed off in opposite directions.
Oh, well. Delia couldn’t help thinking there was a spark of attraction between the two, but she sure wasn’t going to play matchmaker.
At the moment, she had plenty of other drama to keep her busy.
She returned to the living room, where Caleb was waiting for her on the couch.
“Not very welcome news, huh?” he said, and she allowed herself a sigh.
“Not really,” she replied, then sat down next to him.
By that point, it was nearly seven, and she supposed they should be thinking about dinner.
The snacks she’d put out had helped a little, but she knew she needed something a bit more substantial to eat than a couple of mini quiches and half a slice of pizza no bigger than her hand.
Most likely, she was thinking about food because that was easier than trying to figure out how she could possibly tell her cousin Olivia that she needed to change wedding venues.
“What do you want to order in?” Caleb asked, and she wanted to hug him.
How did he always seem to know what was going on in her mind?
“Something horribly fattening,” she replied.
“Fettuccine alfredo from Tortellini?” he suggested.
That was her favorite local Italian restaurant. Most of the time, she tried to avoid the dish affectionately referred to as “heart attack on a plate,” but right then, she just wanted the comfortiest comfort food she could find.
“I love you,” she said simply, and he grinned and then leaned over so he could press a kiss against her cheek.
“I’ll call in the order.”
He got his phone out of his pocket and placed an order for a family-size alfredo, along with a house salad and an order of garlic bread. Probably the bread was redundant, considering all they’d be eating was pasta heaped with cream sauce, but that was all right.
Still, she guessed she should send any leftovers home with him.
Being part demon seemed to have given Caleb the metabolism of the gods, considering he could eat pretty much anything he wanted and never gain weight.
She tended to be okay at that sort of thing, too, although she knew a meal like this would probably require an additional half hour on the treadmill tomorrow morning.
That was all right, though. Maybe the mindless exercise would give her the time she needed to think of some convincing arguments as to why Olivia needed to move her wedding to a location that wasn’t quite so spiritually fraught.
“It’s going to be okay,” Caleb said as he rose from the couch, extending a hand to help Delia up as well. “After all, it’s not as if the Styx Group has bought up every wedding chapel in Las Vegas. There are other places where your cousin can have her ceremony.”
“Easy for you to say,” Delia replied wearily as she headed into the dining room to set the table. Tortellini’s tended to be pretty prompt with their deliveries, which meant they didn’t have a lot of time to get things prepped before the food arrived.
“I do like to look on the bright side,” he agreed.
She couldn’t help smiling as she got out some placemats and napkins, then made a side trip into the kitchen to fetch plates and glasses and flatware. Or rather, she got the plates out of the cupboard and handed them over to Caleb so he could take them into the dining room.
Not a moment too soon, because the doorbell rang just a bit after that. He hurried to get it, obviously wanting to be the one who paid for the meal and tipped the driver. As harrowed as she was in her mind right then, Delia decided she wouldn’t waste any energy on protesting.
If nothing else, he had a lot more money in the bank than she did.
He brought the bags of food into the dining room just as she was setting a bottle of Montepulciano on the table. “Good choice,” he commented, eyeing the bottle of wine.
“Glad you approve,” she said with a smile.
They sat and were quiet for a moment as they portioned out the food, and Caleb uncorked the wine and poured some for both of them. Delia had to admit it all smelled delicious, and her outlook on life improved further as she took a swallow of wine and let its friendly warmth course down her throat.
A piece of garlic bread helped as well…but not so much that she could completely ignore the reason why she’d needed this calorie-fest in the first place.
“I keep racking my brains, trying to come up with a totally logical reason why Olivia should move her wedding somewhere else,” Delia said as she set down her wine glass and reached for her fork. “But so far, I can’t come up with anything.”
Caleb twirled some fettuccine around his fork, his brows pulling together as he appeared to ponder their current quandary. “What would make someone change wedding plans at the last minute?” he asked. “I mean, normal people reasons.”
She couldn’t help teasing him a little. “Are you saying you don’t know what ‘normal people reasons’ might be?”
That question got her a smile, as she’d hoped it would. “Well, considering I was raised by a half demon and the frostiest bitch east of the Mississippi, there’s a whole lot I don’t know about ‘normal.’”
Delia set down her fork and reached over so she could lay her hand on top of his where it rested on the table.
Although his tone had been light enough, real pain had underlaid those words.
He’d spent his whole life having to pretend to be something he wasn’t, and even though he’d had other quarter demons as his friends, they’d all been pretending as well, hiding the truth of their natures from everyone else in the small Indiana town where they lived.
It must have been a hell of a way to grow up.
“I think you’re doing pretty well at it,” she told him, and the tense set of his jaw seemed to relax slightly.
“Well, it helps that I can be myself around you,” he replied, and the simple, matter-of-fact way he said those words made her heart ache for him that much more.
“Yes, you can,” she said.
Their gazes held for a moment. Then he shifted in his chair and reached over to pick up his glass of wine, and she realized he wanted to move on. Maybe someday she could get him to truly open up about his past and his childhood, but she knew that time wasn’t now.
No, right now they needed to deal with the matter at hand.
What could they come up with to convince Olivia that Angel’s Dream was the absolute last place she should be getting married?
“Venue double-booking, maybe?” Delia said, then immediately shot that idea down without even waiting for Caleb to respond. “No, she’s probably already signed a contract, and I doubt they’re that sloppy at the chapel.”
“I have a feeling you might be right about that.” He sipped some wine and swirled the Montepulciano in his glass as he appeared to think it over. “Maybe health code violations? I mean, the place looked clean, but….”
Delia pursed her lips. Would health code violations even be a thing in a place that didn’t serve food? Honestly, she couldn’t say for sure.
“I suppose that might work.” She popped some fettuccine alfredo into her mouth, giving herself a moment to savor the rich, comforting flavor. Maybe the indulgence wouldn’t solve anything, but it sure tasted good. “Or possibly a scheduling conflict with the officiant or something.”
Caleb set down his wine glass and reached across the table to twine her fingers with his. The subtle strength in that touch reassured her just a little. “You know what?” he said. “Maybe you’re overthinking this. Sometimes people just need to hear that you’re worried about them.”
Still holding his hand — she knew she wouldn’t let go right away, would continue to take comfort from that grasp for as long as possible — she asked, “You think I should just call Olivia and be honest? She’s going to think I’m nuts if I start talking about ley lines and portals to the otherworld.”
That familiar glint entered his warm brown eyes, but his tone was surprisingly serious when he spoke. “Feel out the situation first,” he told her, then gently let go of her hand so he could reach for his glass of wine again. “See what her state of mind is like. You might be surprised.”
Maybe some people were capable of believing six impossible things before breakfast, but from what she knew of her cousin, Delia kind of doubted Olivia was one of them. “I don’t even know how to open a conversation like that.”
Before he could respond, his phone sent a ping from inside his jeans pocket. Shooting her an apologetic glance, he pulled it out so he could glance down at the screen. At once, his expression grew troubled.
“What is it?” she asked.
He held up the phone so she could see the alert that had flashed up on his home screen. She guessed he must have set it up so he’d get notified anytime something weird happened at one of the chapels in town.
Electrical Issues Force Closure of Three Vegas Wedding Venues.
Cold moved down Delia’s spine as she read the words. Now seemed like a really good time for another swallow of wine. Once she’d fortified herself, she said, “It’s already starting, isn’t it?”
Being Caleb, he didn’t bother to waste time by making light of the situation.
“We may have less time than we thought,” he replied grimly.
They cleared the table soon after that, both of their appetites effectively dampened by the unnerving news, and then moved to the living room with the remainder of their wine and settled on the couch to strategize.