Page 72 of Love and Other Trials
“What happened?”
Ariel’s shocked cry had Dax lengthening his strides and walking around the women. He’d been hanging back out of courtesy, but Ariel needed him. When he reached them, Tiffany had sunk down in her red heels until she was crouching near the ground, as if she couldn’t stand up any longer. He could see why.
“The maintenance crew said the sprinkler system backed up,” the bride-to-be said hoarsely.
Dax gazed at the wreckage before him, nearly rocking back on his heels, and he was used to watching the wreckage caused in flying incidents. “Holy shit—excuse me, ladies,” he remembered to say by way of an apology.
But like his grandpa said, if there was ever a time to call a spade a spade…
Mud pits were oozing in what had been a grassy area that earlier would have made Augusta and the Masters proud. He knew they were thinking it had to be the curse, and they might be right. Or it could simply be a sign from God that this wedding was not supposed to happen. Wasn’t this coming after Tiffany had disappeared last night and sought out her ex?
“Oh, Ariel,” Tiffany moaned, looking up with bleak eyes. “What are we going to do? The maintenance manager said it would be impossible to fix before the wedding.”
He watched Ariel almost slump in defeat. That he could not abide. He came over to join them, the other women hanging back, their dramatic whispers audible.
Ariel turned to look at him, and she nodded briefly before putting an arm around her sister. “Run us through the situation, Tiffany. Then we’ll figure out a plan.”
Her sister moaned again before practically throwing herself at Ariel, making Sherlock take a few steps off and plunk down on the ground. “They found it like this sometime late morning. After calling in the groundskeeper and then someone from the irrigation company, they told me they still don’t even know where the leak is. They can’t fix anything until that happens.”
Dax knew he should feel relieved. The wedding was looking like it wasn’t going to happen. Except Ariel was pale, and she looked almost as heartbroken as her sister. God, he felt conflicted. “What’s the plan for finding the leak?” he asked.
Tiffany pinched the bridge of her nose. “A crew is supposed to be coming from the company with special equipment, but they said finding the leak won’t matter. The ground will need to dry out, and it would be impossible for that to happen before the wedding. The resort’s event manager tried to call you to explain we might need to move the wedding site—the lodge is too small—but then she clammed up and said it would be difficult to do since it’s so last minute and it’s high wedding season.”
This is what he’d wanted since she’d hit on him, and yet there was no victory in it. “Where’s Rob?”
“He went for a run after talking to both the maintenance guys and the irrigation person.” She pushed her platinum blond hair behind her ear, looking pale and in shock. “He said he was going to punch something if he didn’t run it off.”
Dax couldn’t blame him. This was a shitshow with not much to be done. He glanced at Ariel, who was biting her lip, clearly still trying to think her way out of the impossible.
“Ariel, if there’s anyone who can figure out what to do, it’s you.” Tiffany started crying, and while Dax knew the situation was horrible, he couldn’t help but think he’d never met a woman who cried as much as she did. “You know how much I wanted to get married here.”
The crying grew louder. Ariel comforted her sister. Dax stalked out onto the field, stepping around mud pits, examining the problem. Sherlock followed him, sniffing the ground and making a circle, his tail pointed in the direction of their trouble.
It was bad. FUBAR bad. Why in the hell wasn’t Rob here? Maybe he was taking it as a sign too? He rubbed the back of his neck. Jesus!
Ariel appeared beside him, her little body tight with tension. “Can you believe it? This kind of thing just doesn’t happen to other people.”
He thought of all the weddings in his family. They’d all been happy and disaster-free. Not even a drop of rain to mar them. “What are the chances of finding another venue that’s going to make Tiffany happy?” he made himself ask.
Her blue eyes narrowed. “Zero, although I’ll try, but that’s assuming anything worth having is available. It’s May in Charleston, the wedding capital of the South. Good luck there. We’d have to find a barn last minute on someone’s property to rent and then…”
She left the details hanging. It was Wednesday. They were starting to set up for the wedding on Friday.
“Okay…” he said. “So that’s one possibility.”
“A really far-off one.” She faced him and pressed a hand to her forehead. “I just have to find a solution, Dax. I have to make this work!”
He gently took her by the shoulders. “Honey, maybe this is a sign that things aren’t meant to be. I don’t know a lot about curses, but coming on the heels of Tiffany disappearing last night?—”
“Dax! I won’t get my grandma’s house if Tiffany doesn’t get married.”
“What?”
She lowered her hand slowly, biting her lip. “I didn’t want to tell you because… Oh God! Where do I start? Because you already think badly of her. Plus, how do you spin a story about your sister blackmailing you to be her wedding planner with your grandma’s house? Which was supposed to be mine anyway before Mother gave Tiffany the deed and cooked up this scheme.”
Dax couldn’t believe this. “Wait! Your sister is blackmailing you?”
Sherlock gave a whine as Ariel nodded stiffly. “I know it sounds bad, and itisbad.”
