“This better be important,” he barked into the phone.
He listened for a moment and then sat up in bed. “Fuck. I’m on my way.”
The phone was barely swiped off, and he was climbing out of bed.
“What happened?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a flood.” He grabbed his pants from the floor and yanked them on. “In the damn construction area—on the one night we didn’t have a crew working around the clock because the wood floors were being finished.”
“Oh, shit.” I climbed out of bed and scrambled for my clothes. Weston was already tugging on his shirt by the time I located anything of mine.
He walked over and kissed the top of my head. “Take your time. I’ll run up and start damage control.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Fifteen minutes later, I joined Weston in the ballroom. Sam Bolton was already there, and it looked like he’d come straight from bed, too. All of the overhead lights were off, and both men were using their phone flashlights. I could see their faces but not really the extent of the damage—though the sloshing sound the water made as I walked gave me a hint that things weren’t good.
“Hey,” I said. “What happened?”
Sam shook his head and pointed to the ceiling. “Water main busted. It must’ve happened right after we left based on the amount of water all over the place. Floor refinishers put the topcoat of sealant on last night, which needed to dry for at least twelve hours, so the place had been empty since five o’clock. Can’t step on the floors while they’re wet. So we locked the door and told security to skip checking in on their normal rounds.”
“I thought we replaced the rusty pipes.”
“We did. Not sure what happened, but you can be damn sure I’ll be getting to the bottom of it. Had to be a poorly done soldering job or something. Bob Maxwell, the owner of the plumbing company, is already on his way over.”
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“Besides the plumbing work, a lot of the electric got wet, so that’s going to need to be changed out. The floors hadn’t been sealed yet, so most likely all that wood is going to warp and will need to come up. Not to mention, new sheetrock and insulation.”
I blew out a loud breath. “Damn… We were barely going to make it for the first event scheduled as it was. And the mayor and his niece are coming to see her venue next Monday. ”
Sam Bolton rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m so sorry. I’ve worked with this plumbing contractor for more than twenty years and never had a problem. Obviously I have insurance to cover everything, and we’ll do our best to get things back on track. But I’m afraid Sophia’s right. This is going to throw us off our completion date. I don’t know by how much yet, but we’ll do our very best.”
Weston had been pretty quiet until now. He put his hands on his hips and spoke to Sam. “I’m going to call Ken Sullivan and ask him to come over and take a look at things.”
Sam opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. “Ken Sullivan from Tri-State Contracting? Why?”
“Because I want to know what happened here, and I need some assurance that someone around here knows what they’re doing.”
“Weston…” Sam said. “I realize you’re upset, but I can assure you I know what I’m doing. I’ve been at this for forty years, and I’ve worked with the Sterling family for almost as long.”
“Exactly my point. You haven’t worked with the Lockwood family. I don’t know how things usually run for you firsthand, so I’m going to bring in my own team to make sure whatever is going on here won’t happen again.”
Sam puffed his cheeks and blew out an audible breath. “Fine.”
Rather than argue with Weston in front of Sam, I waited until we were out in the hall alone.
“I think you’re overreacting,” I said as the door closed behind us.
“A pipe should not burst like that unless it freezes. If it was my contractor who caused this mess, you’d be the first one questioning whether he was incompetent.”
I put my hands on my hips. “By questioning my contractor’s competency, you’re also questioning my competency in hiring people.”
“Don’t get bent out of shape over this, Sophia. It’s business.”
“Whatever…” I waved a dismissive hand at him.
Weston tilted his head toward the elevator bank down the hall. “I’m going to get coffee and then run to my room for a quick shower. Do you want me to pick you up something?”
I shook my head. “I’ll get my own.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
***
The day only got worse after that.
As expected, my father didn’t take the news about the flood very well. He basically called me incompetent, as if I’d installed the pipe incorrectly and not a contractor that he, himself, had been using for decades. Then while I was upstairs with Sam and the plumber, I tripped over a tool on the floor and my iPhone went flying from my hands. It slammed into a pile of debris that had fallen from the ceiling and now no longer turned on. After that, the legal team learned of a new lawsuit just filed against the hotel, which we needed to somehow value in the next day or two in order to factor that into our bid price. And to top it all off, Liam had left two messages on my office phone. So when Weston let himself into my office at four o’clock, I was in no mood.
“If you’re coming to tell me how incompetent I am again, just turn around and let yourself back out.”
Weston walked to my desk and extended an envelope. “Actually, I was coming to give you this.”
Inside were two tickets. “Drunk Shakespeare? What is this?”
“It’s a show here in the City. A bunch of actors get together. One of them downs at least five shots of whiskey, and then they attempt to act out Shakespeare.”
I laughed. “Are you serious?”
“Yep. Figured it might be the only play the two of us would both enjoy.”
I caught the date on the tickets. The play was almost a month and a half from now. My anger was quickly replaced with that warm feeling once again. I looked up at him. “When did you buy these?”
“A few days ago. They were just delivered by messenger, so I figured I’d use them as a white flag.”
“You bought us tickets to an event a few months away before we’d even had a discussion about our future?”
“You’re the only one who needed that discussion to make things formal, Soph.”
I stood, walked around my desk, and wrapped my hands around his neck. “Why don’t you go lock the door…”
Weston flashed a cocky smile. “Already did on my way in, sweetheart.”
***
I tucked my blouse into my skirt and turned my back to Weston. “That works better than Xanax,” I said over my shoulder. “Zip me, please.”
He zipped my skirt and pushed my hair to the side to kiss my neck. “Happy to be of service. What’s on your agenda for the rest of the afternoon?”
I turned and smoothed down my clothes. “We have that conference call with Elizabeth, the hotel’s attorney, in a little while about the new lawsuit. I’d planned on running to the store to get a new cell. I dropped it earlier, and now it won’t turn on.” I looked at my watch. “But I don’t think I’m going to have time. I don’t want to miss the start of the call, and there’s usually a line at Verizon ”