Page 9 of Change of Plans

Five

Paige

Sine wassilent for a few seconds, and then asked, “What happened?”

I almost couldn’t answer. It was too much. Too horrible. Everything was ruined.

Jace and Savannah could’ve had a huge wedding with thousands of guests and ice sculptures and all that, but they’d wanted something simple. Friends and family only. So, they’d gone with a brand-new, out-of-the-way venue. During the rehearsal last night, it’d been gorgeous. White swaths of cloth draped across the ceiling with identical bundles of roses and baby’s breath everywhere. The wedding planner had gotten every detail right.

And now it was completely destroyed.

“Paige? Are you there?”

“I’m here.” Even though I wish I wasn’t. “Reb and I came to the venue early to do a run through of the song he’s doing, and it’s…a water main broke. The place is flooded. Everything’s ruined.”

Sine let loose a string of expletives that would’ve made me smile if the situation hadn’t been so upsetting.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the same reaction Reb and I had,” I said.

“Do Jace and Savannah know?”

“No.” I could barely get the word out.

I couldn’t imagine how devastated they were going to be. Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt. Jace and Savannah were amazing people, and they deserved to have a beautiful wedding.

“That’s one of the things Reb wanted to talk to Alix about. I think he figures one of the guys should tell Jace, and then let him decide how to tell Savannah.”

“This is so unfair,” Sine said, sounding as close to tears as I was. “I had two beautiful weddings. After all Savannah’s done…this just isn’t fair.”

She was right. This wasn’t fair. And I knew all the shit about life not being fair, but I wasn’t going to accept that. Not for this. Savannah was the most selfless person I knew, and I was going to do whatever I could to fix this.

“Okay,” I said, pushing aside my emotions. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to fix this. I’m going to find us another venue. Reb will call Erik and Tanya, and have them get flowers and decorations. Once I have a new place for the ceremony, the four of us will decorate.”

“What do you need Alix and me to do?”

“Tell Jace and Savannah what happened. Or, maybe not all of what happened. Then get their guest list, and we’ll give you the new address so you guys can make sure everyone knows where to go.”

“I really wish I didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news,” Sine said, “but that sounds like a good plan. Everett was going to watch Patrick and Elise while we all got ready so he can help us out too.”

“Good. Either Reb or I will be in touch soon.”

I ended the call and turned around to see my husband talking to the frazzled wedding planner.

“How did you not check to make sure the place had passed inspection?”

Reb hadn’t changed into his tux yet, and despite the fact that it was freezing outside, he was in short sleeves. Which meant instead of a tall, lean guy in a tux, he looked a lot more like rock star bad boy Reb Union with his tattoos and muscles. Not surprisingly, that guy was a hell of a lot more intimidating than pretty boy Reb.

“I took them at their word.” The wedding planner looked like she was going to break down in tears, which meant it was time for me to intervene.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” I said. “We’ll come back to it later, but right now, we need to make sure this doesn’t ruin Savannah and Jace’s wedding.”

Reb still looked pissed, so I stepped up and wrapped both of my arms around his, leaning into him. Some of his tension bled away, and his features softened as he looked down at me.

“We have a plan,” I said to him before turning back to the wedding planner. “We’ve got it from here. Jace and Savannah will contact you in a week or so to go over what happened. I’d make sure you have all of your paperwork in order.”

She looked from me to Reb, and then back again, before nodding once and scurrying away.

“We have a plan?” Reb asked.

---