Scarlett Rose's Arc

Chapter 23 of 57

Rose came back into the kitchen with the phone still in her hand. Her face was tight. Scarlett set down her coffee. "The pavilion double-booked April twenty-ninth," Rose said. "A corporate deposit came in the same day as ours. They want to know which contract came first before they cancel the other one." "Ours came first," Scarlett said. "I signed it in February." "They need the contract number. And the deposit date. She wants it in an hour or she goes with whoever calls back first." Maya looked up from the vow pages. "Where's your copy?" Scarlett stood. "The binder. It's in the nursery." The nursery had been the staging room for six weeks. Baby gifts stacked on the crib. Wedding samples on the dresser. Fabric swatches in the rocker. Scarlett pushed the door open and stopped. Rose came in behind her. "Okay. Okay. Where did you have it last?" "I don't know. I've been sick. Clayton was moving boxes." Maya started on the closet. Rose took the dresser. Scarlett knelt at the crib and pulled out a diaper box full of thank-you cards, a shoebox of ribbon samples, a folder of cake sketches. No binder. "One hour," Rose said. Clayton came to the door with the bloodhound at his heel. "What are we looking for." "White binder. Wedding." He thought for a second. "I moved a stack off the rocker last week. Put it in the greenhouse office so the paint fumes wouldn't get on it." Scarlett looked at him. "You moved my binder." "I told you." "You did not." "I said I put the papers somewhere safe." Rose was already at the back door. Scarlett followed her out through the wet grass. The glass house sat at the end of the path, citrus in bloom against the fixed pane. Clayton had built a small desk against the north wall for seed orders. The binder was on it, closed, dry, exactly where he'd left it. Scarlett opened it on the desk. Contract on top. Signature line dated February eleventh. Deposit receipt clipped behind it. She read the numbers to Rose, who read them into the phone. A long pause. Then Rose exhaled. "They're honoring ours. The corporate booking is out. Four o'clock, April twenty-ninth, still ours." Scarlett sat down on the edge of Clayton's desk. Her hand shook once and stopped. Maya came in behind them with the vow folder under her arm. "Venue's set," Rose said. Maya nodded. "Then we're done stopping." Clayton stood in the doorway. He didn't say anything. Scarlett closed the binder and held it against her chest. "Next time," she said to him, "tell me where you put my things." "Next time," he said, "don't keep them in a room full of paint." Rose laughed once, short, and pulled the pen from Maya's braid to check the last line off the list.