My chest squeezed tight. I hadn’t seen her in three years, and I’d spent most of that time trying not to remember the way she’d looked at me the night I’d almost kissed her. It hadn’t been my finest moment. Snow had been falling soft and silent around us, her eyes bright like she could see straight through me. I’d pulled back before my mouth reached hers, like the good friend I was supposed to be.
Then I deployed again and told myself it hadn’t mattered.
But standing outside the ballroom door, seeing her in person again, I knew I’d been lying to myself.
She stood and turned toward the door. When she saw me, she froze like a deer who’d just heard a twig snap nearby.
“Hayes?” Her voice carried across the empty ballroom.
“Hey, Sidney.” My own voice came out low, like it had to claw its way past all the things I shouldn’t be thinking about my best friend’s little sister.
She blinked, then stood a little straighter, her shoulders squaring like I’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t. “I didn’t know you’d be here this early.”
“I figured I’d beat the crowd.”
“Well… you succeeded.” Her gaze flicked over me, quick and assessing, before sliding away like she hadn’t just ripped open my chest with one look. “The wedding party isn’t checking in until the twenty-third.”
I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck, more nervous around her than I’d ever been on a mission. “I had some time to kill. What are you doing here?”
“I’m the planner. This is actually my first official event under my new company, Bluebird Events.”
Something in my chest tightened. I hadn’t expected her to still be here, let alone building something of her own from the ground up. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. And just for a second, I saw her the way she’d looked at me that night on the porch, like she already knew who I could be if I ever stopped running.
“That’s great. If anyone can make it work, it’s you,” I said.
“I hope so.” Her shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “First, I have to pull off Harper and Rand’s wedding.”
Her tone was neutral and professional, like the heat between us hadn’t almost set fire to the snow once upon a time.
“Seems like you’ve got it handled.” I gestured toward the notebooks at her feet.
“I do.” She gave me a slight smile, the kind she might offer a stranger. “Well, welcome to the lodge.”
“Thanks.”
For a moment, neither of us moved. The air stretched taut between us, humming with the weight of all the words I couldn’t say. Then she bent to pick up her notebooks, and the moment changed.
I made myself walk away.
Back in the lobby, the fire popped and the Christmas tree glittered and someone laughed too loud, but all I heard wasthe faint echo of her voice saying my name like it still meant something.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked out into the cold night, telling myself it didn’t.
CHAPTER 2
SIDNEY
The alarmon my phone buzzed at six a.m., but I was already awake.
I’d been lying in the dark for an hour, mentally walking through everything I needed to get done and trying to convince my stomach to undo all the knots. This wedding had to be perfect. I wouldn’t get a second chance. Harper was counting on me, and the future of Bluebird Events literally depended on it.
The weight of it pressed on my ribs like a too-tight seatbelt.
I shoved back the comforter and swung my feet onto the floor. The room was still dark and a little chilly, but I moved on autopilot, because I didn’t have time to waste. By seven, I was dressed in black leggings and a chunky sweater, my hair twisted up in a clip, and standing in the ballroom with my notebook held against my chest.
The space felt too big and empty in the early morning light coming through the windows. The chandeliers were dimmed to golden embers, the echoes of my boot soles the only sound. I walked the perimeter of the room, measuring out table placements and marking the floor with squares of painter’s tape.
The scent of pine from the giant Christmas tree in the lobby lingered. Though the ballroom was beautiful, it felt cold andneutral. With everything I had planned, that would change. By the time I was done, the room would be transformed into a gold-and-white winter wonderland with velvet-draped tables, gold Chiavari chairs, and candlelight glinting off crystal stemware while snow fell outside the giant windows.
