Page 24 of Give Me a Reason

CHAPTER SEVEN

Aria

After texting Finn last night, I fell asleep quickly. Knowing that he was worried about me made me feel safer despite the noise from the neighboring apartments and the occasional fight in the parking lot.

I woke up early, showered, and headed over to the venue. The Lances were getting married at one of the historic inns, and the reception was at a nearby restaurant. It wasn’t my favorite location. I preferred outdoor weddings, and Lily’s place was the perfect spot.

We’d have to deal with guests of the hotel and tourists outside. It made things more difficult. The building was historic, so the rooms were small. It was perfect for a smaller wedding, but the Lances had gone over their list many times, and I wasn’t clear on the final count.

I didn’t want to let Gia down. She’d tasked me with handling the logistics, which meant seeing to the number of chairs in the ceremony room and the seating chart. It had been stressful but exhilarating at the same time. She was trusting me with something. If I did a good job, maybe I could do more.

As I was counting chairs for the ceremony, Harper came up to me with her tablet. “The bride added more people to the guest list this morning.”

We almost always referred to our clients as the bride and groom when they weren’t around. It just made everything easier. “You’re kidding me.”

“I wouldn’t joke about that.”

I looked around the room, my mind racing, trying to figure out where we could fit a few more people.

“What’s wrong, ladies? Did the baker make chocolate cake instead of vanilla?” Finn asked.

Harper gasped. “Why would you even say that?”

I glared at him. As a group, we were superstitious. We didn’t like to suggest bad things happening. It was bad juju.

Finn looked from Harper to me, an easy smile on his face. “You guys are too easy.”

In the past, I would have come up with a good retort, but instead, I enjoyed the crinkle of Finn’s eyes when he smiled.

Finn raised a brow. “Really? Nothing from our resident sunshine?”

“We’re trying to figure out where to put the new people on the guest list.” I bit my lip, ignoring how his calling me sunshine made me feel gooey inside. He might have meant it to be a criticism, but it didn’t feel like it when he said it in that teasing voice of his. The one I wanted to sink into.

“It’s tight in here,” Finn remarked after looking at the setup.

“How many are we talking about?” I asked.

“Fifteen.”

Fifteen didn’t sound like a lot when you were talking about an outdoor wedding. But there was no chance we could fit more chairs in this room.

“You could put them in the hallway and have them stream it to their phones,” Finn said.

“That’s not a bad idea if we were talking about a church service, but this is a wedding. Everyone should have the same experience,” I said, my shoulders tight with tension. I was hoping this wedding would be smooth so that Gia would believe in me. If I could figure this out, maybe she would. “Are there any other rooms that we could switch the ceremony to?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

Harper scrolled through the images of the space on her tablet and tilted the screen toward me. “There is one more, but the hotel said there was an extra charge to use it. Honestly, they’d probably have to pay for both rooms at this point.”

“Can you check with the hotel and then run the extra charge by the bride’s father?” He was the one making the final decisions and writing the checks.

“Sure thing, boss.” Harper saluted me and walked away.

“Crisis averted,” Finn said as he set his guitar case against the front wall where he’d be performing.

I let out the breath I’d been holding. Maybe, just maybe this would work out. I went over to the spare room to gauge the size. It would be better, but we’d need to move the chairs and the arbor Harrison had already set up.

“You need help moving furniture?” Finn asked from the doorway.

I hadn’t even realized he’d followed me as I’d been so focused on the space. “I might. Don’t go far.”

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