She opened the front doors and hurried into the main room. The first thing she noticed was Cooper, Jacob, and Lindsay standing together by the entryway, looking worried. Then she saw the floor of the venue, which was covered in water and chunks of plaster. She looked up at the ceiling, which had once been a beautiful antique tile design, and was now splitting and cracked and dripping water.
Jacob noticed her over his shoulder first. “Julia!” he said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Cooper and Lindsay turned around. Julia went straight for Cooper’s arms, wanting a hug and also wanting to hide the tears that had sprung into her eyes despite her best efforts.
“Faith told me about the pipe bursting,” Julia said after a moment, during which she’d managed to pull herself together. “I wanted to stop by and see how bad the damage is. I’m so sorry, Lindsay.”
“Well, we’re insured,” Lindsay said with a sigh, “but we can’t host any events until everything’s repaired. We’ll be losing money that way, that’s for sure.”
“You’ll make it up soon, don’t worry,” Cooper assured her. “This place is incredible. I know you’re going to get all kinds of bookings.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to repair everything?” Julia asked Jacob, wondering if the others could see the way her bottom lip was trembling.
Jacob shrugged. “I can’t know for sure until I get a look above the ceiling. This could be a really big job. If it’s something I can’t handle myself, who knows how long it’ll take the contractors to do it.”
“But everything is going to be fine,” Cooper said soothingly, turning to Julia as if he could read her mind. “There’s no need to panic. We’re going to figure this out.”
She forced a smile. “You’re right. No need to panic.”
She felt devastated, however. She felt as though her dreams of having the perfect wedding inside the beautiful venue had been dashed.
She stayed to talk with Lindsay, Cooper, and Jacob for a few more minutes. They all expressed their sympathy to Lindsay and offered to do whatever they could to help her. She thanked them, saying that the delay would allow her to focus on promoting her business and securing reservations for the next couple of years. Julia was glad to see that Lindsay was taking it all in stride and able to look on the bright side. She wished that she herself wasn’t consistently in danger of starting to cry again.
She finally glanced down at her watch and realized that her lunch break was long over.
“I’ve got to get back to the pub,” she apologized. “Keep me posted, would you?”
“We will,” Jacob assured her, and Cooper gave her another big hug before she slipped out the front doors.
On her drive back to the pub, she let herself cry a little. She felt a little silly, since she knew there were so many far more important things in life, but she couldn’t help feeling deeply disappointed by the unexpected setback. She’d fallen so in love with the beautiful venue.
By the time she returned to The Lighthouse Grill, it was packed with customers.
“You’re back!” Vivian said with relief, greeting her at the front doors. “We weren’t sure where you were. Could you jump onto waitressing during the rush?”
“Sure.” Julia did her best to look cheerful, since she didn’t want to tell her mother about the burst pipe and her deep disappointment yet. She would be in danger of starting to cry all over again, and she didn’t want that.
“Thank you, honey. Where were you?” Vivian asked as they walked back to the kitchen together.
“Oh—I ran out to say hello to Cooper quick. He was nearby.”
Vivian smiled and didn’t ask any more questions. Julia sighed as she donned an apron. She knew that waiting tables might be a good way to distract herself from her disappointment, but she felt as though she barely had enough mental or emotional energy for the job.
Come on, Owens,she thought,time to pull yourself together. Focus on the task at hand.
She forced herself to smile, which helped elevate her mood a little. Once she was out in the dining room assisting customers, her spirits were bolstered even more. It helped her to focus on something else, and to interact with friendly, familiar faces.
In the back of her mind, however, her disappointment lingered. She simply couldn’t believe that her dream venue had been wrecked so unexpectedly, and she wondered what on earth she and Cooper were going to do.
CHAPTER NINE
“I can’t believe we’re doing this!”
Dean laughed as his twin sister Hazel almost tackled him in a hug. They were meeting up on the sidewalk outside of Rosewood Beach’s jewelry store, and Hazel looked absolutely wild with happiness.
“My brother is going to propose to his girlfriend,” Hazel sang out, and Dean shushed her. They were in the center of town, and townsfolk and tourists were milling around everywhere. Across the street, some kids were playing with hula hoops in the town square, and Dean and Hazel kept being passed on the sidewalk by pedestrians carrying shopping bags or steaming cups of coffee.
“Someone Noelle knows might hear you,” Dean said, shaking his head at his twin.