Chapter 12
HARPER
“We might have 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 she should have 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 read Welcome 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’s no chance 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’m not agreeing to that ballroom you took us to,” she said. “It looked like some billionaire’s charity-event space.”
“Billionaires do have 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 was your idea, so you should at least look at 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 be mad 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, in his mind, 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’t on?”
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?
I don’t want to spend the rest of the night arguing about whether or not I should have anticipated what’s happening now. ”
“Well, you should have.” He sighed. “All right. So, our phones 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.
“On Monday?”
“I mean, it’s likely they will. They have to be here during the week, right? Because they have to take calls from potential customers. It’s dead now because there was no event and everyone took the weekend off, but someone will come in on Monday.”
He nodded slowly. “I think you’re probably right,” he said. “But what are we supposed to do here until Monday?”
“The kitchen is this way,” she said. “We can get ourselves some food. And then we can find some beds somewhere. I doubt we can get into the guestrooms, they’ll be locked, but I’m sure we can find somewhere to sleep.”
She fully expected more ranting from Theo about how crazy and inconvenient this all was, how he wished she had anticipated what would happen when they got here, but he didn’t say anything.
She found herself feeling guilty all of a sudden. Even though she had protested at every turn, she did have some responsibility for what was happening here, and she knew it. She felt as though it was her duty to make things right.
Theo leaned against the wall of the kitchen and watched as Harper went to the refrigerator which, thankfully, was operational due the entire kitchen being gas-powered, a fact that the owners had told her in the past. “I think we’re technically breaking and entering right now,” he observed as she began to pull things out.
“We’ll pay for all this,” she said. “I’ve worked with Creston Lodge before. They know me. They’ll forgive me for this.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. This is part of the reason I wanted to consider them for the wedding,” she said.
“Because you wanted to throw some business to some friends of yours?”
“No. Because I’ve worked with them and I trust them,” she said.
“I’m not trying to rub it in, Theo, but the fact that that Genevieve Wallace woman was most excited about the prospect of throwing a wedding for celebrities is a big red flag to me.
Do you really think she’d do her best for Max and Tara once she discovered they weren’t famous?
I don’t think she would. I think she would resent them — and us — and give us the bare minimum.
But I trust the team here to do their absolute best for us.
It might not be the fanciest place in Houston, but the service would be top-tier, I promise you that. ”
She pulled a couple of steaks out of the upright freezer, found a metal bowl, and filled it with water so that they could begin to thaw. “Steak dinner?” she asked.
“Do you know how to cook those?”
“Sure, I do.”
“Well, okay, if you think it’s a good idea.”
“Why don’t you look around and find plates and silverware? And once these are done, we can take them out into the lobby and eat them at the bar or something?”
“If you think so,” he agreed placidly and began to hunt around for silverware.
The two of them worked side by side in silence for a while, and Harper found that she was grateful for the quiet.
She didn’t want to fall into a trap of continuing to apologize for the mistake she’d made.
There was only so much resentment he could reasonably have, given that it had been an honest error.
But at the same time… they really were in a predicament. And this was a man who had made it clear how little he liked the prospect of being kept from his work. Of course he was upset by what was going on. She couldn’t blame him for that.
Let some time go by. Apologize to him again in a few days, once we’re back at home and all of this is in the past. He’ll be better able to receive an apology then, and you’ll be able to give it without feeling awkward. For right now, let’s just get through this.
Even to her, it seemed almost impossible.
A whole day here. Two nights! And that was if she was right and someone did show up on Monday morning to get them out of here.
If that didn’t happen, they were going to lose their minds and have to try to get out on foot, because neither of them would be able to tolerate waiting around with no end in sight.
When the steaks were ready, Harper looked up to tell him so, only to realize that she was alone in the kitchen.
At some point, Theo had slipped out. She frowned, looking around, and saw that he had left two plates on the counter near the stove.
She transferred the steaks onto them, picked the plates up, and left the kitchen for the main lobby, wondering if she would find him there.
She froze, startled.
There was a fire crackling in the sheltered indoor firepit that stood in the very center of the lobby, surrounded by seats. Theo had taken one of the chairs. He’d opened a bottle of wine, which he must have taken from the bar, and two glasses had been set out.
“As long as we’re paying them back for this impromptu stay, we might as well make the most of it,” he said, and gestured for Harper to come and join him beside the fire.