Page 28 of Beached Wedding

“I only meant you compromise too quickly and Shane rarely does at all.”

“Youcompromise with him. All the time. I’ve seen it.”

His jaw hardened. “I pick my battles. When I believe I’m right, I’m a bigger hard-ass than he is and he knows it. He wasn’t getting married without signing that piece of paper, Ash. Neither of us would have got in that taxi if we hadn’t finalized it, let alone got on the airplane. I know that hurts to hear, but it’s the truth.”

“Doyou? Do you know how much I’m hurting right now?” I stared straight ahead after lobbing that cheap shot at him.

The harried person behind the desk finished with an elderly couple and smiled a greeting for me to approach.

“Hi. I’m trying to find Waiola. I left a voicemail, but do you know where I can find her?”

“She’s gone home for the day.” The clerk glanced at the clock. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I have to c-cancel—” My voice broke even though I’d sworn I wouldn’t get emotional anymore. “I have to cancel my wedding,” I blurted past the thorny weight in my chest.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The clerk offered an empathetic wrinkle of her brows.

Fox came to stand beside me. The clerk flicked him a confused, “Are you?—?”

“A friend.” He set his hand in the middle of my back.

All the feelings cascaded through me then. Anger, hurt, humiliation and annoyance at the sheer inconvenience of what I faced. Massive disappointment. I felt socheated. The one time I had tried to go after what I wanted,thiswas how it had pannedout. Ihadfought for this wedding, not just against Shane’s objections, but against Mom’s. I had had to rein in Whitney’s over-the-top suggestions and make room for Oliver and his son while setting up contingencies for Izzy’s wobbly commitment all while trying not to buckle to the guilt of abandoning Fliss. I had scrimped and double-checked everything with Sandy and worried myself sleepless about how to mesh all the personalities for an entire week, so everyone would come away feeling as though all this effort was worth it.

The one person I hadn’t worried about was Fox. He was always on my side, or so I had believed. He had helped me organize everything on the other end of my endless texts, always picking up my calls, willing to press Shane for answers, coordinating dates and making bookings.

Fox had rolled out the carpet to the edge of the cliff that I was currently falling off.

I wanted to smack him, I really did.

I also wanted to lean into him and bury my face in his chest and bawl my eyes out.

I let him talk for me as he asked, “What’s the procedure for something like this?”

“I’ll send an email to Events so they can inform Catering and everyone else. Waiola will be in touch to discuss whether any of your prepayment will be refunded.”

Pretty much what I had expected. Flame, meet savings. Wasn’t that a nice warm glow right before the stink of smoke and ashes choked out the sun?

“Thanks,” I managed to say and started to turn away.

Fox stayed at the counter.

“There’s also been a mix-up with my room.” He glanced reluctantly toward the line at the registration desk as he pulled his keycard from his wallet. “I was checked into her suite, but Ihave a reservation under Felix Wiley. Is that something you can help me with?”

My miserable sense of abandonment mushroomed.

“You want to cancel your reservation?” The woman began tapping keys. “Normally we’d charge you if it’s less than twenty-four hours, but we’re turning people away because of the conference.”

“Oh, no, I was?—”

“Wait.” I closed my eyes. “It’s your room, Fox. Stay in it. Cancel his reservation,” I told the woman. “I can move to the villa.”

“No. I want you to have the suite,” Fox said.

“You don’t want to pay for two rooms.” I knew he didn’t.

“I’d sleep on the beach to save twenty bucks, you know that,” Fox said wryly. “You need some space. I want to give you that, especially because this is my fault.”

“I know, but I won’t get any if I have that big room.” Fliss was probably already planning to move in. Once Whitney caught wind, she would try to shiftmeback into the villa and take that room for her and Oliver. I would probably let her.

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