That’s about what I figured. My fingers massage the bridge of my nose. I can already feel a headache starting to form. What kind of catastrophe is happening now? “My buddy sent those words to me in a message, but he hasn’t replied back. I have a feeling something else went wrong with my upcoming wedding.”
Rick glances around the empty reception area. “Do you need to go home and see what it is?”
“I don’t want to leave you in a bind,” I reply. Being a burden is something I never want to do… In my work or personal life.
“Hold on,” he puts his hand up in a stay gesture. “Is it okay if Reaf leaves early today?” He asks the empty room, and I shake my head at his antics. Even though we aren’t close, I’m happy I work for someone with a sense of humor. “Really, though. Go home, take care of the crisis, and I’ll see you tomorrow. We aren’t going to have anyone else come in, and there’s only one car on the lift. I’ve got it covered.”
“Thank you, sir,” my hand reaches out to shake his.
“No problem. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all of my years, it’s that if the wife isn’t happy, nobody is.” He pats my back. “Now, get out of here.”
I look at his left hand. There’s no ring, and I’m wondering if he learned that the hard way. I don’t take too long do dwell on it. Instead, I run back to the break room to grab my things and head to Tonya’s house. If Travis isn’t answering his phone after that message, it’s almost a guarantee that everyone was called over there. I’m sure at Darcy’s insistence. I wish she could have broken down everything for Tonya before this week. There’s no doubt my fiancee’s stress level wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand.
* * *
Travis is standing on the front porch when I pull up to the curb with his phone in his hand. As soon as he sees me, he puts it in his pocket. “Dude, I thought you were never going to get here.”
“I sent you a text asking what happened. You didn’t respond,” I argue.
“Sorry, man,” he shrugs. “I was trying to help Cami. Tonya is in there losing her shit. The church had some sort of pipe burst and it flooded.”
“Okay.” Not fully understanding what he’s trying to say, I reach past him to walk inside. But he grabs my arm.
“That means you can’t get married there this weekend. The person they hired to replace the floors won’t be there until early next week.”
“Oh, shit.” There are no other words. I knew whatever happened was going to be bad, but I didn’t realizehowbad. “How bad is it?”
He winces, not wanting to tell me. When I stare him down, he finally answers. “She’s thinking about postponing the wedding.”
That’s worse than the church flooding. And without even saying anything to me. On that note, why wasn’t I the first person she called about the church flooding? Walking around Travis, I push the door open.
He stops me once again. “Cami and Darcy have been calling around all day to find a new venue, but they haven’t had much luck. Go easy on her. I think this is one of those last straw moments for her. I know we’ll figure something out.”
Go easy on her? She didn’t even tell me we had a problem. Instead she shouldered it all by herself. How are we supposed to make a marriage work if we don’t communicate? I mean I’m not going to go in there and raise hell, even if a part of me is disappointed she didn’t turn to me. But I can’t pretend that I’m okay with it either. “I know we will.”
Travis closes the door behind us, and I walk toward the kitchen. It’s where the raised voices are coming from. I can hear Cami trying to talk Tonya down. My girl looks defeated. As if she can’t take one more piece of bad news.
She doesn’t see me as I come in, having turned toward the glass door that faces the backyard. I wrap my arms around her waist, and whisper into her ear. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find another place.”
She turns around, stunned. Eyes, and mouth, wide open. “Reaf,” she exclaims. “I-I thought you were at work.”
“I was, but a little birdie told me I was needed here.”
She rounds on Cami. “Did you call him?”
“No,” Cami backs up. “I didn’t call anyone except for the venues on my list.”
Tonya’s gaze cuts to Darcy. “It wasn’t me.”
Travis finally speaks up. “I texted him.”
“Why?” Tonya whines. “I was handling it.”
Travis steps closer to us. “No, you weren’t. You were going to postpone it.” He waves his hand toward me. “You didn’t even tell him about what happened. You both need to decide on things. Just because the bride picks out most of the things doesn’t mean you get to make all the final decisions. You both need to decide what’s going to happen.”
I’ve never seen Travis speak so passionately about something. But I also know where he’s coming from. Even though we were both raised without fathers, his mom wasn’t much of a mom either. I respect him even more for sticking up for me.
“Thanks, Travis,” I nod in his direction. “But I’ve got it from here.” I gently turn Tonya until she’s facing me. “I know there hasn’t been any luck with the places y’all have called, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait to get married.”