Page 36 of Reckless

“I can’t believe this place is available,” I said.

He didn’t answer. I turned my head to see what he was doing, and I caught him staring at me over the car’s ceiling with a tortured look on his face.

“What now?” I growled. “Visiting venues is no longer fun? Even your attention span can’t be that short.”

I didn’t receive the snarky comment I was expecting. Only silence as he stared at me some more. I felt uncomfortable, exposed.

“What?” I asked again with a shaky voice, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer to that question.

“Nothing,” he finally tore his gaze away from mine. “Let’s go find someone.”

He rounded the car. I thought he was going to continue ahead, leaving me behind, but he stopped and waited with his hands in his pockets. He looked…strange to say the least. Confused. I opened my mouth to ask him if he was okay, this time in a normal, polite way, but an old lady opened the door of the small cottage we were standing in front of.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Hello,” I extended my hand in her direction. “I’m Hannah Spencer. I called about half an hour ago.”

“Oh, yes, dear. That was me on the phone. Come on in.” It was so beautiful outside that I kind of wanted to stay there, but I couldn’t torment the poor woman and make her stay up on her feet. She looked way too old to walk us around the property. “And who is this handsome man?” she asked Tyler even though the question sounded like she was asking me.

“Tyler Hartley,” he said and offered his elbow to her. “Nice to meet you.”

She slid her small, wrinkled hand around his arm and let him escort her to a chair.

“Are you alone in here?” he asked.

“Why, dear? Do you plan on taking advantage of me?”

I could swear she batted her lashes at him, and I choked on my own saliva. Tyler released his signature grin, the one that could charm a dead woman, and sat right next to her.

“Depends on your husband’s whereabouts,” he pointed at her wedding band and played along.

“He’s six feet under,” she said with a huge smile on her face. That woman was crazy. No wonder the two of them clicked.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, and she waved her hand in the air as if it was no big deal.

“He died of a heart attack twenty years ago. What do you kids need?”

“We are organizing a wedding. We need a venue.” I had already told her that over the phone, but I wasn’t sure she remembered. Tyler shot me an exasperated look. He wasn’t happy I was making statements like that. I could already hear his voice in my head mansplaining to me that no one asked us to do anything. I also suspected the wordwemade him cringe internally. “I can already imagine the wedding tent outside.”

“Oh, yes, dear. I can show you some pictures. Honey,” she patted Tyler on the forearm. “Give me that album over there.”

She pointed at a huge photo album on the table at arm’s length away from him. I sat down on her other side as she started flipping through pictures. Half an hour later she had shown us every decoration they had ever made.

“It really looks amazing,” I wanted to stir the conversation in a more important direction. The available date they had. “You said on the phone there is one Saturday in August that no one had booked yet.”

“Oh, yes, dear,” she took a notebook from the table. “My daughter handles the reservations on the computer, but I make her scribble it down on paper for me. I can’t use that thing. Ah, there it is,” she said. “Saturday. August fifteenth.”

“Oh, God,” I resisted the urge to squeal in delight. Tyler would make fun of me the entire drive back home.

I looked at him to share my excitement. His eyes were already on me, but he shook his head with a soft smile on his face. I frowned and he pointed with a finger to the still open notebook. That available date in August was a year from now.

I pulled my phone out and checked the date in my calendar. Fifteenth of August. A Friday.

Shit.

“Do you want it?” she asked.

We both shook our heads simultaneously, but Tyler was the one explaining.

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