The New Year's Wish by Dani-Lyn Alexander Page B

her neck and he leaned toward her. Slowly.
    Ring . . .
    He jerked back, tearing his gaze forcefully from hers.
    I am going to murder somebody.
    Garrett busied himself, shoving folders into his briefcase. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
    Her gaze lingered on him a moment longer. “Sure.” May as well. She fished the phone out of her bag and looked to see who had just ruined her life. “Hmmm . . . that’s weird.”
    Garrett glanced at her but quickly turned away.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œHi, Olivia.”
    â€œHi, George. What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Silence met her from the other end, and she pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the screen to see if she’d lost the connection. “Are you there?”
    â€œI’m here.” He sucked in a breath that echoed loudly through the line. “Olivia. I’m really sorry about this.”
    Oh . . . no. No, no, no.
    â€œI’ve had to cancel your New Year’s Eve party.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about, George? I booked that over a month ago. You can’t just cancel it.” Olivia’s pulse hammered through her head, keeping time with the pounding of the headache that had settled there. What am I going to do? George’s frantic apologies finally broke through the haze of fear enveloping her, and she struggled to focus her attention on what he was saying. Maybe she could find a way to salvage this.
    â€œSenator Gordon found out about it and squashed the whole thing. I got a call from the owner about an hour ago, telling me to call you and apologize. He wanted me to tell you we’d accidentally overbooked.” George’s indignation found its way through the line.
    Olivia exhaled slowly. “Okay, George. It’s not your fault.” If Chip’s father wanted the party canceled, there was no way around it. Cresthollow wouldn’t be hosting her party. “Thank you for being honest with me.” She hurried through her good-byes, tossed the phone on the desk, and flopped back onto the chair.
    What could she do? The senator still placed the blame for Olivia and Chip’s breakup squarely on her shoulders. Of course, he didn’t know about George. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
    â€œIs something wrong?” Garrett was staring at her, concern etched in his frown.
    She blew out a breath. “That was George, from Cresthollow Country Club.” She paused, dreading the rest of the conversation, wishing desperately she didn’t have to deal with this. “They’ve canceled the New Year’s Eve party.” She winced as the full implication of those words slammed through her.
    â€œWhat do you mean? They won’t let you have it at the country club?”
    She bit her lip, hesitant to answer, and then sighed. “My father is very influential at Cresthollow, and George is an old . . . friend. I called George and asked him to set up the best New Year’s Eve party ever, and he agreed.” But Dad must not have as much pull as Senator Gordon .
    Garrett stiffened.
    â€œHe was taking care of everything. The venue, the food, the music . . .” Bile crept into the back of her throat.
    Garrett just stared at her.
    â€œSo you called Daddy and had him take care of it for you?” Anger poured from him in waves.
    Olivia bristled. Why is he so angry about this? What difference does it make who plans it as long as the Harrises have a great party? Besides, her father hadn’t had anything to do with it, really. The people at Cresthollow simply went out of their way to accommodate her because of his name. “That’s not fair. I got bulldozed into organizing this thing, and you know it. I just wanted it to be nice!”
    â€œI’m sorry, Olivia. I shouldn’t have said that.” The apology seemed sincere, yet there was still a distance between them that hadn’t been