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Her question caught him off guard. “No. What do you have in mind? Are we going to search for a new church?”
She shook her head. “I would like you and Angela to take the weekend off.”
“What?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “And do what?”
“You need to reassure your fiancée that you still love her while I stay here and make alternate wedding plans.”
He opened his mouth to question her, but then wordlessly closed it. Had she just said she was going to fix their wedding? As he replayed her words, he realized she had. “But Angela is never going to relax with the wedding plans in shambles.”
“That’s why I’m sending you two away for a long weekend. Starting today. As soon as you can pack, you are heading north to Sonoma, where a friend has a B&B.” She reached in her desk and produced a purple business card for Vines Entwined B&B.
“I don’t know.” He imagined Angela worrying and fretting the entire time. “I don’t think either one of us is in the mood for a B&B.”
“Trust me. This isn’t your typical B&B. Just give it a try. In the meantime, rest assured that I’ll create a special wedding for you both with your bride’s wishes in mind.”
“But how can you do it in such a short amount of time? We’ve been planning this wedding for a year now.”
“Because I don’t have to start from scratch. Most of the planning is still in place. The rest I’ll use my extensive list of contacts to piece together.”
“You don’t need anything from us?” He was certain what she was offering was too good to be true.
“I just need you two to recapture the happiness you had when you first became engaged. When you return, the problems with the wedding will be resolved.” Her voice was calm and confident.
“It doesn’t give you much time.” He wasn’t so sure she could deliver on what she promised. “What happens if you can’t do it?”
“That’s for me to worry about. You just need to focus on reminding yourselves of why you’re getting married. Do you think you can do that?”
The thought of leaving behind all of this wedding planning stuff and the inherent problems sounded good to him. But could he get Angela to agree?
She’d agreed.
It’d taken a lot of convincing, but now Angela sat in the passenger’s seat of Carter’s sports car as they traveled into California’s wine country. Thankfully, it wasn’t that far from the city because talk was nonexistent in the car.
She stared out the side window, but it wasn’t the scenery she saw—it was Carter canceling their wedding. The memory caused an ache in her chest. She’d thought he was all for them getting married, but when everything seemed to go wrong, he’d been the first to call things off.
Of course, he’d tried to explain away his words, but she couldn’t shake the uncertainty. Was their relationship as strong as she thought? Or had they drifted apart over the last year?
She vividly remembered how excited she’d been when Carter had proposed. She’d been so certain everything would work out for them, and they’d get their happily-ever-after. Maybe she’d let herself get too caught up in a fairy tale instead of the reality of the situation.
After all, she was a bookstore owner, not a member of a country club. She didn’t fit into Carter’s elite world. He’d always said it didn’t matter to him. He loved her just the way she was. But had that been realistic? She didn’t know what to think.
The only reason she’d agreed to this getaway weekend was that Carter had pleaded with her to give it some time before they made any decisions. And she’d agreed. They’d invested far too much of themselves into this relationship to end it so abruptly.
Off to the side of the road stood a painted wood sign with a green vine and purple grapes. It read:Welcome to the Vines Entwined B&B. This was the place. But there was nothing to see except a long gravel driveaway.
Carter turned onto it. The car bounced down the lane, and a little time later, a grand old mansion came into view. It definitely wasn’t the small B&B that Angela had in mind.
Carter turned to her. “Are you ready for this?”
She was having her doubts about this venture, but it was too late to back out now. “How bad can it be?”
After parking, they climbed the steps to a wide veranda that wrapped around the front. The ceiling fans turned slowly, generating a gentle breeze. White wicker furniture gave a place for one to sit and enjoy the view of the vines. Angela immediately found the place inviting. She didn’t know that it would save her relationship with Carter, but it was still a beautiful place.
“What do you think of it?” Carter asked.
“It’s nice. But a vacation isn’t what we need right now.”
Carter frowned. “We’ll see.”
