Page 1 of Love to Prove You Wrong

Chapter One

“There’s a duck in the lobby. A living, quacking duck!”

Uh-oh. Not this again.

Diane’s panicked voice reached the reception area of the Old Pine Cove Inn moments before she came bursting in. I plastered on my biggest smile and waited for the rest of her tirade.

She threw her hands in the air while pinning Carter and me down with an ominous look. “Well, you heard me. Don’t just stand there like idiots. Do something.”

“There’s no need to panic. It’s a duck, not a lion,” Carter said, not looking up from the list of guest reservations he was checking.

Diane rubbed her temples with her well-manicured fingers. A big sigh escaped her mouth as she shook her head. It reminded me of the kind of sigh my cousin utters when her toddler insists on having his sandwich cut into squares, then refuses to eat it.

“I don’t care what it is. Animals don’t belong inside an inn. It’s unsanitary. If this duck doesn’t get removed from the premises soon, I can’t have Asher’s wedding here. What if everyone contracts some nasty disease? We’ve got seventy people coming from out of town. Seventy!”

“I promise you it won’t happen again. I apologize, and so does Duckota,” I said.

I stepped away from the front desk and made my way to the lobby where Duckota was frolicking around like the happy duck she was.

“It has a name?” Diane’s raised eyebrow told me how ridiculous she thought it was to name a duck.

“She sure does,” I said and threw her a weak smile. What was wrong with naming an animal? Dogs and cats got named by their owners. There was no reason ducks should be left behind.

I crouched down behind one of the lounge chairs to get to Duckota’s hiding place. She probably took shelter in the secluded spot after hearing Diane’s panicked screams. I couldn’t blame Duckota, though. Anyone would be scared of Diane when they heard her throw one of her famous tantrums. In fact, I was scared of her myself from time to time.

After a mere ten seconds of chasing Duckota, I got a hold of her. “There. She won’t escape anytime soon, I promise.”

Diane gave me a curt nod before returning her attention to Lilian, the wedding planner. At least now that Duckota was being removed from the lobby, Diane wouldn’t have anything to complain about anymore.

“Addy dear, just a minor remark.”

Okay, maybe there was something else. I should’ve known.

I turned around to face Diane, the duck getting restless in my hands.

“Yes?”

The old lady pointed to the framed photographs of my dad and me that I’d hung above the fireplace. “Those pictures will have to go. No one wants to look at someone else’s family photos at a wedding.”

“Sure, no problem,” I said with a smile, even though I could feel my jaw tightening. I probably shouldn’t have let her rearrange the inn’s interior, but this wedding was too important to argue over small details.

Right on cue, Duckota started quacking. I rushed her outside to put her back in the fenced area I had built for her in the backyard. It was nothing fancy, but it did the trick. Or at least, it was supposed to. I couldn’t figure out how she managed to escape every day. When I’d found her near the fountain in the town square a few weeks earlier, I saw her wing was injured. The vet had told me the duck would never be able to fly again, yet somehow, she kept finding a way out of her enclosure.

Unfortunately, the commotion after running into Diane had been a bit too much for my sweet duck. As soon as she was back outside, she pooped in my hands. Great, just what I needed.

I wiped my hands on a patch of grass.

“Now listen to me carefully, Duckota. No more escaping. We don’t want to lose our best customer, now do we?” I said while snapping the lock shut.

Gosh, now I was talking to a duck? Maybe I needed to get out more. That was easier said than done, though. Between running the inn and managing employees, there was hardly any time left to go out and mingle. Let alone mingle and find a boyfriend.

I got back inside, making a beeline for the employees’ bathroom. After a royal amount of soap and water, I got the duck poop and its accompanying smell off my hands.

When I joined Carter at the reception desk, I threw him a look. “Was it really necessary to tell Diane not to panic? You could’ve just reassured her that we would take care of the duck.”

He shrugged. “It’s a duck, Addy. None of the other guests have complained about having Duckota around. In fact, they all love her.”

“I’m aware of that, but you know what Diane’s like.”

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