“The key to the rental car." She traced her finger over a shiny metallic key. "I guess I'll have to post that back. And a lip balm and my twenty dollars emergency money.”
“You carry emergency money on your wedding day?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“Well, in this case it seems to have come in handy.” She folded the twenty dollars into a neat square. “I’ve always carried emergency money with me since college. A few of us had a night out and didn’t realize we had no money left over for cab fare. If it wasn’t for Lyndsey and her emergency twenty dollars, we wouldn’t have gotten home.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Good idea.” His eyes flickered with curiosity. “Anything else?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“No I.D?”
Maddie grimaced. “My handbag has my wallet with all my cards and I.D. All I wanted to do was get out of there, so I just grabbed the car key and ran.”
The girl at the counter called Garrett’s name. In less than a minute, he was back with their drinks and placed the mug of hot chocolate in front of her.
“Thanks.” She smiled at him, wrapping her hands around the warm cup. Her gaze fell on her hands. “Oh!” She hastily pulled off the pretty but modest diamond ring and stuffed it into her purse. In her race to get away from the resort, she’d forgotten she still wore her engagement ring. Right now, she didn’t want to look at it ever again.
Garrett watched her movements, but was silent for a moment. “So where are you from, Maddie ...?”
“Stanton.” Inhaling the heavenly aroma of chocolate and marshmallows, she busied herself with thoroughly stirring the white marshmallows into the hot chocolate, glad he hadn’t commented on her ring. Conscious of his eyes on her, she replied, “Portland, Oregon.”
“What made you decide to get married in Wyoming?”
“My father has an old friend who owns Meadow Flower Resort and owed him a favor. Dad thought it would be a good idea to hold the wedding here and have a mini-vacation as well.” She didn’t even want to think about her father's reaction to the canceled wedding.
Although her dad was a successful attorney with his own firm, he loved saving money when he could. With having the wedding at the resort, he’d saved on the cost of hotel rooms for immediate family, and all of the reception costs. And Howard had enthusiastically embraced the idea. Only now did she know why. It seemed her ex-fiancée would agree with just about anything her father suggested if it meant he was assured a partnership.
Garrett sipped his coffee. “What are you going to do now?”
Maddie shrugged before taking a welcome sip of her own drink. She hadn’t thought of anything except getting away from Howard, her parents and her mockery of a wedding.
“I’m definitely not going on my honeymoon alone. Since my parents hand-picked Howard, he can take them on the honeymoon.”
He scrutinized her face. “Where were you planning on going?”
Maddie spooned up a marshmallow, letting the soft, fluffy, vanilla goodness melt on her tongue before answering. “Greenland. Howard wanted to see the Barnacle Goose in its natural habitat.”
“Greenland?” He frowned.
“Two weeks.” She took a hasty sip of her drink. Why had she agreed to go to Greenland on her honeymoon? Because somehow she’d known that what she felt for Howard wasn’t the deep, true love she'd always thought she’d experience when she married. Agreeing to go to Greenland for their honeymoon had seemed to make Howard happy. But then she saw the honeymoon itinerary. And her doubts had intensified.
“I can’t go back,” she added, wrapping her hands around the warm mug. “Not yet, anyway. I’ve taken three weeks off from the library. Two for...” she spooned up another marshmallow, “...Greenland, and another week for unpacking.” At his inquiring gaze she elaborated, “All my stuff is in boxes at Howard’s.”
“I need some temporary help on the ranch." He watched her in a deceptively casual manner. "I was going to put an ad in the paper next week, but maybe you’d be interested.”
Surprised flickered across her face. “What kind of help?” she asked cautiously.#p#分页标题#e#
“I’m thinking of renting out a couple of cabins to tourists. They need to be cleaned from top to bottom before I can charge anyone to stay there. I’ll pay you the going rate, and you’ll have a place to stay.”
“For how long?”
He smiled. “Three weeks.”
Maddie stared at Garrett. He was offering her a way out of her current predicament. If she took him up on his job offer, she’d have somewhere to live for the next few weeks, as well as earning some much needed money. She’d be able to return to Portland afterwards with her head held high. One day, she might even look back at this episode in her life as a crazy adventure.