Gus walks over and pushes his face between our legs. We both laugh.
“Looks like Gus wants in on this hug.” Camden leans down and pats the side of his belly.
Just then, the doorbell rings. Camden heads to the front door to answer it.
“Surprise!” a chorus of voices shouts.
I look over and see all of Camden’s teammates from the group bachelor party walking inside, along with a group of women I don’t recognize.
“What are you guys doing here?” Camden says.
“We’re throwing you and your missus a bachelor-bachelorette party.”
Chapter 15
Ellie
“We’re doing it backwards since you’re already married,” Xander says to Camden. “But we couldn’t let you go without a proper bachelor party since you threw us one.”
Xander turns to me. “We invited our ladies to join too, so you wouldn’t be stuck with just us dudes.”
A petite woman with strawberry blonde hair comes up to me. Her smile is warm. “You must be Ellie. I’m Sophie, Xander’s fiancée.”
She pulls me into a hug, then she introduces me to all the other ladies—Dakota, Bella, Maya, Ingrid, and Madeline. They’re all significant others of Camden’s teammates.
“It’s so great to meet you all,” I say, quietly hoping I don’t mess up their names.
I’m a little nervous them since I don’t know them, but I’m also excited. I don’t have many close friends because of all the years I spent in and out of hospitals and because of how much I work now. It’ll be fun to go out with a group of women my age.
“Thank you for planning this,” I say to them.
“We’re happy to,” Ingrid says as she and Maya unload a bunch of wine and champagne flutes onto the kitchen island. The guys unpack a bunch of beer and liquor too.
Ingrid pops some champagne bottles open and pours us all champagne. The guys stand around the kitchen while sipping their drinks. The ladies and I head to the living room to sit and chat. They all fuss over Gus, who’s loving the attention.
I find out that Ingrid, Sophie, and Madeline work for the team, while Maya, Bella, and Dakota have careers outside of hockey.
When I find out that Bella is the owner of one of my favorite coffee shops in all of Denver, I gasp.
“I am in love with your cafe! Best coffee I’ve ever had,” I say.
She beams. “Oh, I adore you for saying that.”
And when I find out that Sophie is a doctor, my jaw unhinges.
“No way. You look like a college student,” I say.
She just chuckles. “I get that a lot.”
“My best friend is a genius,” Dakota says. She wraps her arm around Sophie and hugs her. Sophie flashes a flustered grin and shakes her head.
“It’s true,” Dakota says. “She went to medical school when she was a teenager.”
“That’s amazing,” I say.
“Aww thanks,” Sophie says. “But Madeline’s the amazing one with her Olympic bronze medal.”
My jaw drops. “Wait, I knew you looked familiar. You’re Madeline Macer, the figure skater.”
