Page 78 of In Love with Lewis Prescott
Lewis grabs an apple from the bowl on the island and takes a bite. “What were you saying?”
“I was going to ask if you—”
Again my phone blares with a call from Naomi. “Sorry, hang on.” I answer it. “Hey, what’s up?”
I can barely understand her, she’s speaking so fast.
“Whoa, slow down. What happened? Are you okay?”
Her breath comes out in a shudder. “No. I’m not okay. We don’t have a wedding venue anymore.”
“What? How is that possible?”
She goes into panicked, fast-talking mode again, but I catch the gist of what she says. Some water main burst, flooding the San Francisco Mint and a handful of other buildings on that block. As a result, the venue sustained a ton of water damage and had to cancel all events for the next two weeks for repairs—including Naomi and Simon’s wedding, which is this weekend.
“I just... I don’t know what to do, Harper.”
The quiver in her tone makes me want to hug her.
“Simon and I have been calling places all over the city since we got the news this morning, but it honestly seems like there are zero other venue options for us this close to our wedding date—none that we can afford anyway.”
My mind races to think of something, anything comforting to say, but I can’t come up with anything other than the standard, “It’s gonna be okay. I promise. We’ll figure something out.”
She sniffles. “The wedding’s in four days, Harper. I have no... I don’t even... God, I can’t even think straight...”
Her voice breaks just before I hear Simon’s muffled voice in the background.
“Hey. Come here.”
More muffled sounds echo from her end of the line, like he’s hugging her.
“I’ll marry you anywhere, Naomi. In the middle of a street, in a landfill, in a fast-food drive-through. I couldn’t give less of a crap where we do it. All I care about is the fact that I get to be with you for the rest of my life.”
My eyes tear up as I listen to Simon. Naomi sniffles, and the two of them exchange sweet words.
I tug a fist through my hair, my mind racing to figure out a solution to this impossible problem. Then I notice Lewis staring at me, concern etched in his frown.
“Everything okay?” he whispers.
“Not really,” I whisper back.
I cover the mouthpiece of my phone and quickly explain the situation to him.
“Shit, that’s nuts.”
“I’m racking my brain, but I can’t think of a single place they could do it. I mean, it’s a small wedding. They’re only having, like, thirty guests—just my and Naomi’s family, Simon’s family, and a few friends. You’d think there’d be at least one place in all of San Francisco that could host them.”
Lewis’s gaze turns focused as he glances around. Hands on his hips, he starts to spin in a circle, as if he’s surveying the room.
He pivots to me. “What if they got married here?”
I almost laugh. “What?”
“You said it’s only thirty people, right? You could easily fit that many people in this space, since it’s an open-concept design.”
He walks into the living room near the fireplace. “We could only fit twenty chairs in front of the fireplace, but if everyone else was okay standing for the ceremony, it could work. And I know there’s a lot of tools lying around, but we can get those cleared out and do a quick clean of the space. We could even get a bunch of candles and string up some lights for decorations. That might look nice.” He gestures to the ceiling.
My mouth is agape as I observe Lewis taking command of the situation like he’s some sort of secret wedding planner. Naomi starts to speak again, but I tell her to hold on.
