Chapter 4

Manager Ortiz's office was warm and quiet, the desk lamp still glowing over the stack of folders. Vivian sat in the same chair she had used before, her hands folded in her lap, the silver brooch at her collar catching the amber light.

He had made a call to the hotel while she waited. Now he set down his phone and looked at her across the desk.

"The farewell brunch is booked under the same corporate account as the honeymoon suite," he said. "Your name is on the reservation. The contract states that a cancellation request must be received by six a.m. tomorrow to receive a full refund, but the reservation itself can be voided at any time."

"Voided," she repeated.

"Yes. Meaning the brunch does not happen, but the deposit may not be fully refunded at this hour."

She nodded, counting the implications. "How much is the deposit?"

"Five hundred dollars."

"That's acceptable."

Manager Ortiz picked up his pen and began filling out another form. The ink scratched across the paper, the only sound in the quiet office besides the faint drip of a coffee maker somewhere down the corridor.

"How long have you been the manager here?" Vivian asked.

"Eleven years."

"You've seen weddings like this before."

He did not look up from the form. "I have seen weddings end in many ways, Mrs. Hartley. Arguments. Cold feet. One unfortunate incident with a father of the bride and a fondant cake." He set the pen down. "But I have never seen a mother-in-law cancel her own son's wedding night before the cake was cut."

She almost smiled. "There's a first for everything."

He slid the form across the desk. "This withdraws authorization for the farewell brunch. Sign here."

She signed without reading it. She had read the original contract when she booked it, and she knew exactly what this one said.

Manager Ortiz filed the form in the folder and closed it.

"The bus still runs at nine a.m.," he said. "The hotel cannot cancel that at this hour without a penalty fee I would not recommend paying."