Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
I kept watching his reactions as I told him, “She is. It’s actually her third marriage, but they’ve turned it into a complete spectacle. They rented out an entire upscale lodge on a private island off the coast of British Columbia. His family is old money, so it’s all very snobby and high society.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“It sounds like torture, and if it was anyone but my little sister, I’d definitely blow it off.”
“Why are you going a week early?”
“I rented a cabin for a few days to give me a quiet place to work. I’d hoped the change of scenery might inspire me and help with my burnout. But also, my sister and her wedding planner can’t fly out until two days before the wedding, and they wanted someone close by, in case there are any last-minute issues with the venue or any of the vendors.”
Daniel’s wheels were definitely turning. He chewed his lower lip for a moment, and then he said, “A cabin sounds amazing. Actually, all of it does. I can’t even imagine such a thing, a high society wedding on a private island.”
“It’s going to be a train wreck, with a lot of very spoiled people in a semi-rustic setting.”
“Why did the couple pick that location?”
“The groom’s grandparents are from Vancouver, and I guess he spent summers at this lodge as a kid, so it’s sentimental to him. Since my sister’s trying to make nice with her new in-laws, she decided to hold the wedding there. His family is rich and powerful enough that a lot of spoiled city dwellers are willing to make the trek out into the wilderness, rather than miss the social event of the season.”
Daniel was chewing his lip again. After a moment, he ventured, “So, I suppose you already have a date for the wedding.”
“I don’t, actually. Ginny was supposed to be my plus-one, but it turns out she has a big client flying in from Japan that weekend to look at properties. She’s in commercial real estate, and this client wants to open the first international branch of his restaurant chain. He has all of these really specific requests, so what he should do is build a place from the ground up to suit his needs. But that’s challenging in San Francisco. Real estate is way too expensive to do a complete tear-down, so what most people end up doing is retrofitting existing spaces.”
It was funny to watch the concern on Daniel’s face as I steered the conversation further and further from the topic of the wedding. The more I rambled, the more agitated he became. I barely even knew what I was talking about, but I kept going, just to see what he’d do.
Finally, he blurted, “Would you like some company at the cabin? I know we just met and all, but we could turn it into an incredible writing retreat. I can only imagine how much we’d get done if we were someplace quiet, without any distractions.”
Well-played. Instead of going straight for an invitation to the wedding, he was trying the writing angle.
“Maybe. I’ll think about it and let you know.”
He nodded. “No hurry or anything. My schedule is wide open, and I can be ready to go at a moment’s notice.” He glanced at me, then quickly directed his gaze to his hands, which were fidgeting with the cheap pen. “As long as I was already there, maybe I could be your date to the wedding. It can be a drag to go to things like that on your own, since everyone else is coupled up.”
And there it was. I left it at a noncommittal, “It’s certainly something to think about.”
He tried to hide the fact that he was flustered by nodding and offering me a smile. Then he stuck the notebook in front of his face and pretended to read what he’d written, but I suspected he was actually taking a moment to regroup.
It would have been easy enough to ask him what was going on, but my trust was a little shaken at that point, and I wasn’t sure he’d give me a straight answer. All of that seemed to confirm Ginny’s suspicions—Daniel had an ulterior motive for getting close to me, and it had something to do with the wedding.
Not that I believed for even a moment that he was a criminal and up to something illegal. I trusted my instincts, and they were telling me he was a good person.
But attending that wedding was important to him for some reason. Maybe I wouldn’t have picked up on it if Ginny hadn’t planted the seed, but now it really seemed like something was up. His plan had probably been to wait until he felt the timing was right, and then casually work coming with me into the conversation. But I’d thrown a wrench in the works by bringing it up first.