Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Sophia’s heart almost stopped when Hunter came into the lobby. She stood up on trembling legs and he opened his arms. She walked into them, and he wrapped her up in a fierce hug. She could feel his heart pounding in unison with hers for a moment. Then he took a step back and kissed her. The passion was so hot between them that it eased her fear that he might be coming to tell her that he was backing out of the wedding.
He took another step back, took her hand in his, and led her to the sofa in the corner of the lobby. “We’ve got a lot to talk about and you need to be sitting. What I’ve got to tell you has still got my mind going in circles.”
Hunter was over six feet tall and broad shouldered, and he carried himself with confidence. His crystal-clear, blue eyes and blond hair made most women take a long look, but it was his brilliant smile that almost made them need drooling bibs. Sophia had been attracted to him from the beginning, but what she’d fallen in love with was his kind heart.
“Spit it out,” she said. “Nothing you say can come close to all the scenarios that have played through my mind since you called.”
“Big Red Oil has closed its doors. Neither of us has a job anymore. We don’t have severance pay or even a payroll check coming in next month. I’m not sure which of the company’s assets have been seized and frozen, so we will be putting in job applications instead of going on a fancy honeymoon,” he said and then took a breath.
“Seized and frozen?” she whispered as the news swirled around in her mind. She felt as if she was on that old, squeaky merry-go-round at the park where Mama Lizzy took them to play on Sunday afternoons after church.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “They borrowed millions for new ventures that didn’t pan out, and the banks foreclosed on the whole business. They’ve known it was coming since Christmas and have been scrambling to keep afloat, but it wasn’t possible. We were told to gather up our stuff and leave by five on Friday. I just couldn’t tell you on the phone.”
“Our condo?” she asked, hoping that after the wedding they could salvage that part of their plans.
Hunter shook his head. “Our apartment lease is up on the last day of this month, and because we don’t have jobs, we can’t afford the rent, and we sure can’t afford to buy a condo until we are employed and settled. I used part of our savings to have all our things moved to a storage unit. Thank God your grandmother insisted on having our wedding here or we’d have to postpone it. There’s no way we could have afforded to pay for a venue and everything else. I am so, so sorry, darlin’.”
Sophia couldn’t begin to take in all that news. She had worked for the oil company since the week after she graduated from college. She’d always planned to save more money, but somehow, by the end of the month, there wasn’t much left after she’d paid the rent on an expensive apartment in Houston and kept up with all her other bills.
Her mind stopped twirling. “I’ve barely got enough in savings for two months’ car payments and another six months of insurance,” she gasped.
“Me too,” Hunter admitted. “I’d planned to use our Christmas bonuses to pay off the credit card for our honeymoon.”
Tears filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Of all the things she had thought he might tell her, a disaster like this had never entered her mind. “What are we going to do?”
“Be glad that we’ve got skills, and hopefully we will be able to find jobs in our field fairly quickly,” Hunter answered. “Please, tell me that you’ll still marry me. I love you so much.”
“Of course I’ll marry you, and I know Mama Lizzy will let us live right here until we find something,” Sophia assured herself as much as him. “That’s the beauty of having a grandmother who owns a hotel. We’ll have a roof over our heads and Luther to cook for us.”
“How would you like the idea of putting out feelers in this area?” Hunter asked. “Living expenses wouldn’t be as high as they are in Houston.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” she answered. “I see Luther parking out front, and we need to talk menus for the rehearsal and reception with him. My mind is spinning around so fast that I can’t think about anything for more than five seconds. I need to catch my breath over this news before we make plans about where to live. You’ve known about it for a couple of days, but I’m just now getting hit with it. Didn’t you get any scuttlebutt about any of this from your dad?”
Hunter shook his head. “Not much. I thought he was teasing last week when he said he hoped I’d been saving a chunk of money. I figured he was just giving me fatherly advice.” He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m so sorry for having to unload such a mess on you. You shouldn’t be thinking about anything but flowers and wedding cake right now. I haven’t slept all weekend for worrying over what we are going to do and disappointing you about the honeymoon I promised.”
“A honeymoon can be anywhere, darlin’,” Sophia told him.
“We’ll find jobs and we’ll go on that trip for our tenth anniversary. We’ll pay for it in cash because we’re throwing away our credit cards. I’m never, ever letting us get in this kind of mess again.”
“I agree with you,” Sophia said. “No more living beyond our means.”
“Hello, Sophia, and hello, Hunter,” Luther said as he came into the hotel. “Is everyone in the kitchen?”
“Yes, they are,” she answered. “We will join you in a few minutes. Don’t start without us.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Luther said and waved over his shoulder. A tall, lanky man with a headful of thick, gray hair, he had been the chef at the Dogwood Inn ever since before Sophia and Clara were born. Back then, his hair had been jet black and he’d had fewer wrinkles than he did now. Looking back, Sophia wondered how he’d maintained his patience with her and Clara running around underfoot.
Hunter stood up and pulled Sophia up beside him. “We have to tell your grandmother.”
“She will try to fix and micromanage, the way she always does,” Sophia whispered.
Hunter dropped her hand and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
* * *
Clara could tell by the expression on her sister’s face that whatever news Hunter had brought, it wasn’t good. Sophia had been crying, and Hunter, bless his heart—the meaning of the saying would be determined later—looked like he had seen a ghost or lost his best friend. The man had better hope he hadn’t caused her sister pain. Clara might not like Sophia most of the time, but she loved her, and she would not abide anyone hurting her.
She raised her eyebrows, and Sophia barely shook her head. She mouthed the word, Later, and then sat down in the chair that Hunter had pulled out for her.
“Okay, we’re all here. Glad you could come early, Hunter,” Lizzy said. “Y’all start throwing ideas out for the rehearsal dinner. We’ll get that all settled and then move on to the reception.”
“Shrimp alfredo,” Sophia said.
“Chicken parmesan,” Clara suggested.
Lizzy nodded in agreement. “How about we do a buffet for the rehearsal dinner with those two choices for the entrée and serve thick slices of Luther’s homemade Italian bread and a salad with them? Then we could have a cheesecake dessert bar.
“Do you have any other ideas, Hunter?” Lizzy eyed him.
Elizabeth Delaney had always been able to read people, which made Clara wonder exactly what her grandmother was seeing right at that moment. Was she ready to throw him out, or would she sympathize with whatever problem he had brought up from Houston?
After a pause Hunter shook his head. “That all sounds wonderful.”
“Then is it a go?” Luther wrote down what they’d said and then looked up. “I can make the mini cheesecakes a few days ahead of time and freeze them. Is this set in stone, or do we need to think about it? Do we move on to the reception now?”
“I was thinking that your glazed ham and smoked turkey breast might be good for the two entrées, with all the sides that go with what we usually serve up for Easter dinner,” Lizzy said. “If y’all have any other ideas, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“Well, Easter is the next day after the wedding, so we could always use the leftovers for dinner that day,” Luther said.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Lizzy said. “So, are we all good with that? Hunter?”
“It all sounds delicious,” Hunter said.
Clara had forgotten that Easter was the day after the wedding. Surely the Richmond family wouldn’t expect her and Trevor to be at a big family gathering. Granted, they were planning to spend their honeymoon in their new home at the ranch, but she had hoped they could have one day all to themselves.
“Clara?” Lizzy’s demanding voice jerked her into the present.
“Sorry.” She almost blushed. “I was woolgathering about the next day being Easter Sunday. You know how much Trevor and I both love your ham and turkey, Luther. I’ll speak for both of us. We are all in with this,” she answered.
“Well, I don’t expect you girls to race downstairs that morning to see what’s in your Easter baskets,” Lizzy said with a chuckle. “I imagine you’ll drive out of here that evening and I won’t see you for weeks or months.”
“Hey, now,” Clara scolded. “I’ll pop in as often as I can.”
“Until I sell this place and move into a retirement home, or until I decide to live on a cruise ship. I put the pencil to the paper and found that I can go on one cruise after another and live cheaper than I can in one of those fancy-schmancy retirement villages. Marlene and I’ve been talking about it for a while now,” Lizzy explained.
Clara didn’t argue, but a cold chill chased down her spine at the thought of her grandmother being out of the country on a ship all the time, or even moving into a retirement home. Then she thought about the Delaney family not owning the Dogwood Inn. Fear settled in her chest when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to pull her suitcase into the lobby anytime she wanted and go up to her old bedroom. She refused to let the tears building up behind her eyes tumble down her cheeks.
“Please, don’t sell the hotel,” she whispered.
“Why would I keep it?” Lizzy asked. “I’m past retirement age. I’ve devoted my life to this place, raised you girls here, and you’ve gone on to live your lives. I’m not complaining. The Dogwood Inn has been good to me, and I’ll be able to go anywhere I please and do what I want. But I’ve got to admit I hate to see it go to a corporation that will probably raze it and build a condo complex. They’ll cut down the dogwood trees and put a swimming pool in the place where the courtyard is. My grandparents built this place and ran it until they died. My daddy inherited it and raised me here until he passed away. I was twenty when I inherited it, but I picked up the reins and did well enough. Luther’s daddy was the chef back then, and we had all kinds of fancy folks coming and going. In those days everyone dressed in their finest cocktail attire for supper, but not so much anymore.”
Clara had heard the story dozens of times, but that day the words pricked her heart. She had never even thought of inheriting the hotel someday. She’d gone to college, gotten a business degree in finance, and come home to work for a bank in Palestine.
What if . . .she thought, but stopped the question before it even formed. She couldn’t change horses in the middle of the river, as Mama Lizzy had warned her so many times.
And you can’t ride a horse with only one butt, Clara remembered hearing too often to count. That meant that she had chosen her path and it was too late to change her course now.
Or was it?