across the lobby? She was looking up at the golden sphere slowly rotating like one of those old disco balls. Had the thing hypnotized her?
Avery knew she was gawking like a tourist. She couldn't help it; Utopia was incredible. The lobby was gigantic, the floors a
shiny, ebony marble. Above her, hanging from the gilded dome was a glistening orb. She couldn't take her gaze off it. Was it
real gold? It must have cost the owners a fortune, she thought.
She turned to her right and stopped again. One entire wall was a waterfall, and in the center of the gathering pool was a statue of Atlas. Another smaller sphere was perched on his shoulder. Both the sculpture and the bubbling waterfall were meant to impress the guests willing to pay a fortune to be pampered in such an environment, and in Avery's estimation, the owners got the job done.
Shaking her head over the expense of it all, she pulled up the strap of the old, hand-me-down Gucci backpack Carrie had given her, and crossed the lobby to the reception desk. A man about her age wearing a name tag labeled 'Oliver' stood behind the granite counter waiting to welcome her. His smile was dazzling, his teeth astonishingly white. Freakishly so. He or his dentist had obviously overdone the bleach job, and his artificially tanned face only made his teeth more prominent. She tried not to stare as
she gave him her name and leaned against the cool counter while he pulled up her reservation on the built-in computer screen.
Oliver's smile blessedly vanished. 'Oh, dear.'
'Excuse me?'
He wasn't looking at her now, but stared intently at the screen when he said, 'Your reservation was canceled, Miss Delaney.'
'No, that has to be a mistake. I didn't cancel.'
'According to my computer, you canceled. It's noted right here,' he added, pointing to his screen, which she couldn't possibly see unless she pole-vaulted over the countertop.
'That's wrong.'
'The computer's never wrong. You called Utopia at…' He was trying to pull up the exact time she called in.
'Oliver,' she said. Her impatience was brimming in her voice. 'I didn't cancel. In fact, I called to tell reception I would be a day late.'
'Yes, you did,' he agreed, pointing to the screen once again. 'But then you called again and canceled.'
'No, I didn't,'' she insisted.
'But my computer-'
She interrupted him before he could tell her his computer was infallible again. 'Why don't you just book me into another room. Anything will do.'
She lifted her backpack and placed it on the counter. She began to dig through it looking for her billfold so she could give Oliver her credit card. Against her wishes, the week had been paid for by her aunt, but Avery wanted the charges transferred to her card.
Oliver, she noticed, had stopped typing. 'Is something wrong?' she asked.
He coughed delicately and finally looked at her. 'I'm afraid it won't be possible to book you into another room, and unfortunately, the room you canceled has already been assigned to another guest. We're at a hundred percent occupancy,' he continued. 'I'll be happy to put you on our waiting list, but I must warn you. There's little chance of an opening. Our guests book months in advance.'
'I'm certain my aunt was able to reserve a room for me here,' she protested. 'If there had been a problem I'm sure she would have told me.'
He was frantically typing again. Then he stopped and nodded. 'Yes, we were able to accommodate you because of another cancellation. That is peculiar,' he added. 'Our guests rarely cancel at the last minute.'
He frowned as he said the last, as though by canceling, he thought she had committed a terrible breach in etiquette.
'But I didn't cancel,' she said. Lord, this was frustrating. 'I'm joining my aunt here,' she explained. 'She checked in yesterday afternoon or early evening. Could you give me her room number? Her name's Carolyn Salvetti.'
'I'm sorry, but we aren't allowed to give out the room numbers of our guests.'
Of course he couldn't. She knew that. 'Please call her room. I'm sure she'll be able to clear up this misunderstanding. She might have decided that I should stay with her.'
Oliver looked relieved that the problem would be solved and he could get rid of her. Fortunately, there weren't any other guests waiting in line to check in. He flashed her another startling smile and said, 'I'm sure that's what must have happened. Guests simply do not cancel at the last minute the way you did.'
She had the sudden urge to grab him by his shoulders and shake him until he admitted the spa had screwed up. Gritting her teeth
to keep from saying something she would regret, she spelled the name Salvetti and waited.
'I know that name,' he said.
'You do?'
He nodded. 'A gentleman was in here yesterday asking for your aunt. He was very disappointed she wasn't here.' He started typing, but a couple of seconds later, he was frowning again.
'Is there a problem?' she asked, knowing full well there was.
'There are no problems at Utopia,' he said, and it was such a quick, automatic response she thought he'd been programmed to
say those very words. 'We do occasionally have minor inconveniences.'
Give me a break. 'All right. Explain the minor inconvenience.'
'Mrs. Salvetti canceled.'
'No, she didn't.'
Oliver's shoulders slumped. She knew what he was thinking. Here we go again.
'I'm afraid Mrs. Salvetti did cancel. It is odd, I'll agree. It's so rare to get two last-minute cancellations like this. Of course, you're both members of the same family, so I guess we could say it was really only one last-minute cancellation for two rooms.'
'Listen to me. My aunt didn't cancel. She called me from the Aspen airport yesterday.'
'Perhaps something came up at the last minute and she had to return home,' he suggested.
'Something's very wrong.'
'It's right here in my computer, Miss Delaney. Your aunt called yesterday afternoon.'
What in the world was going on? As much as Avery wanted to continue to argue with Oliver, she knew it wouldn't solve
anything. She wasn't sure what to do now. If an emergency had come up at work and Carrie had had to return to Los Angeles, she would have called. She wouldn't have left Avery hanging like this. Oh, God, what if something had happened to her or Uncle Tony? What if there had been an accident?
Calm down, she told herself. If anything bad had happened to either Carrie or Tony, one or the other would have called her.
Avery began searching her backpack for her phone. She would get hold of Carrie on her cell phone right this minute and find
out what was going on.
She pulled out her Day-Timer and her billfold, clutched them in her right hand, and kept searching for her phone with her other hand. The damned thing always ended up on the bottom. 'My aunt didn't cancel,' she muttered. Then, more to herself than Oliver, she added, 'There must have been a crisis at work. That's all I can think of to make Carrie turn around and go back home.'
'Oh, your friend's back.' Oliver didn't sound very cheerful.
'I'm sorry?'
'Your friend… he's coming this way. Maybe he can clear up this misunderstanding.'
She didn't know what he was talking about. She didn't have any friends meeting her here. She turned around to see whom
