Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Dean felt a surge of worry as he got out of his car and looked at the wedding venue. It was a beautiful old building, and although the outside looked untouched by the storm, Dean couldn’t help feeling that something was off.
Maybe it’s just my imagination, he thought as he approached the front door. I’m just thinking that something is wrong because I’m worried about it.
He took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The lobby was cool and filled with various potted plants.
At first, he felt a flutter of relief, seeing that all of the stained-glass windows were undamaged and noting that the lobby seemed as clean and tidy as ever.
A moment later, however, his heart sank.
There was a new smell in the air, and he recognized it as the smell of water mixed with damp wood and peeling plaster.
He heard voices coming from the main room, where the reception for his and Noelle’s wedding was scheduled to be, and he headed in that direction.
His heart was thumping in his chest by the time he reached the double doors, which were open.
As soon as he stepped through them, he knew that he couldn’t hope there wasn’t going to be a problem anymore.
The whole room had been flooded, and there was at least six inches of water on the floor. The tables and chairs bobbed slightly in a lopsided fashion, half-floating in the unwelcome indoor pond.
“Oh, Dean, hi.” The owner, Margaret, turned to him with a weary look. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”
Dean nodded. “I’m so sorry. Are you insured?”
“Yes, thankfully, but we want to keep this place historically accurate.” Margaret shook her head, looking pained.
“I can’t have the insurance company pay for someone to come in and drywall over antique wood paneling.
I’m still hoping we can get this wood dried in time before it warps, and we’ll have to treat everything for mildew.
Right now, we’re waiting for a pump to arrive so we can get the water out of here. ”
“I can help with a bucket for now. I know it won’t be much use, but if we work together, we should be able to get the water down a little at least.”
“Would you?” Margaret smiled gratefully. “We were just talking about that. David went to go get some buckets.”
As if on cue, at that moment David, Margaret’s husband, stepped into the room, carrying a stack of buckets. He and Dean shook hands grimly but didn’t say anything. Dean thought to himself that there wasn’t a need to. It was pretty clear that they were all in a jam together.
They started to collect the water in the buckets, carrying them to the sink in the bar and dumping them out one by one.
As they worked, Dean carefully surveyed the damage around him.
He wondered how long it would take to repair the venue, and if he and Noelle would be able to have their wedding there.
They’ll have to treat the wood and probably replace some of it, Dean thought, feeling his heart sink as he looked at the beautiful antique wood paneling surrounding them.
And this carpet will have to be replaced, that’s for sure.
I think it was the original carpet too. Margaret will probably want to take the time to look for a replica, or at least a close match.
After they’d been working for half an hour, he decided he needed to ask the question that was buzzing around in his mind like a swarm of bees.
“Margaret, what do you think the timeline for this will be?” His voice sounded husky, and he cleared his throat. “Do you think things will be back together by the time Noelle and I are schedule to get married?”
Margaret turned toward him, and as soon as he saw the remorseful look in her eyes, his heart sank all the way down into the puddle surrounding his soaked shoes.
“I don’t think so, Dean, I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I wish I could say yes, and I’m not saying that it definitely won’t be ready, but I’m not entirely sure how many repairs we’re up against here.”
Dean nodded, not wanting her to feel bad about being the bearer of bad news.
It wasn’t her fault that things had happened the way they had, and he knew that she wasn’t going to brush off her responsibilities and move slowly when it came to restoring her business—both for her own sake and for the sake of her customers.
“It’s okay,” he assured her, even though his stomach was twisting with disappointment. “We’ll just hope for the best, I guess. That seems like all we can do at the moment.”
He worked on accepting the bad news as they continued to collect water in the buckets. After another couple of minutes had passed, Margaret’s cellphone began to ring.
“Ah, that’s the pump, thank goodness,” she said, recognizing the caller as soon as she looked at the screen. “I’ll go let them in.”
“Thank goodness, my back was starting to hurt,” David said, leaning back and stretching.
Dean smiled. “Same.” Internally, however, he felt a flutter of happiness.
The truth was that he only felt a little stiff, the way he would have felt years ago before his osteoarthritis had appeared.
The surgery truly seemed to have done wonders for his body, and he felt incredibly grateful even in the middle of his upsetting circumstances.
He and David had just put away the buckets when he saw someone enter the room out of the corner of his eye. At first, he assumed it was Margaret, but when he turned he saw that it was Noelle.
His heart skipped a beat as he saw her look around the room in dismay.
She looked as though she was on the verge of tears, and he scolded himself for not texting her sooner.
He knew that sometimes bad news was better than suspense, and she must have been so worried that after a while she’d decided to come down to the venue herself to see what was going on.
He hurried to her side and folded her into his arms. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you or text you, sweetheart.
We’ve been trying to clear as much of the water as we can using buckets.
Margaret isn’t sure what’s going to happen with the venue, but we’re going to figure it out, okay?
Everything will work out fine, don’t worry. ”
Noelle shook her head, and he saw tears glistening in her eyes.
“It’s not even this,” she said, her voice shaky.
“I came down here to find you because I got some other bad news.” She took a deep breath.
“I just got a call from the wedding dress shop. They said that my dress, along with a whole bunch of other ones, got destroyed when their storage room downstairs flooded.”
Dean’s jaw dropped, and for a moment he could hardly believe that something so unlucky had happened to the woman he loved.
He knew how excited she’d been about that dress, especially since all of the Owens women had helped her pick it out.
She’d declared that it had been absolutely perfect, although she’d refused to give him any more details than that, wanting it to be a secret until he saw her on their wedding day.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, holding her tightly. “They can make another one, can’t they?”
Noelle shook her head. “She said she wasn’t sure. The whole company really took a hit because of all this damage. She isn’t sure that they’ll have the ability to make another one in time.”
“I bet they will,” Dean said. “Or… well, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out. Don’t worry. It’ll all work out, I’m sure of it.”
Despite his reassuring words, his heart was broken by her news. They’d already experienced several setbacks when it came to their wedding, and he was afraid that all of the damage caused by the storm was going to wreck their plans once again.