“I can’t help it. This place is insane.” I open the sliding glass door and step onto the balcony and gaze out at the water, which is the color of sapphires. “This view is unreal.”
“Yo, Connors! You sneaky little shit.”
We both turn around when we hear Xander hollering from across the house. He and Sophie walk in with their suitcases.
“You got here first so you could steal the best bedroom, didn’t you?” Xander jokes.
Camden grins. “You know it.”
Xander tosses his Bashers baseball cap at Camden, but Camden catches it easily.
“You’ve got goalie reflexes. You’ve been hanging out with Blomdahl too much,” Xander says.
I greet Xander and Sophie with a hug.
“Don’t worry. This house has seven master suites. All the couples will get a kickass room,” Camden says.
“Where did you find this place? It’s incredible,” Sophie says as she gazes out the window at the lake.
“It belongs to the family of one of my college teammates,” Camden says. “They own a bunch of luxury rental properties, and this is one of their places. When I found out that Bella and Blomdahl were getting married here, I reached out to them to see if I could rent the place.”
He walks into the massive chef’s kitchen, decked out with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances.
He opens the fridge and pumps his fist. “They left us some goodies.”
He pulls out a twelve-pack of beer and two bottles of sparkling wine.
“We’re gonna need more than that this weekend,” Xander says. “And Blomdahl’s gonna want Scotch.
“We’ll head to the liquor store once everyone’s here,” Camden says. He holds up the bottle of wine. “Can I pour you a glass, ladies?”
Sophie and I say yes. He pours us two flutes of wine, hands them to us, then tosses Xander a can of beer.
We sip our drinks on the balcony overlooking the lake and wait for the other couples to arrive. It’s not long before Del and Ingrid, Theo and Maya, Sam and Dakota, and Ryker and Madeline join us.
When Blomdahl and Bella walk in, everyone cheers.
“The future Mr. and Mrs. Blomdahl have arrived!” Xander hollers.
We all greet them and pour them drinks.
“Sorry we don’t have any Scotch,” Camden says to Blomdahl.
Blomdahl pulls out a flask from his pocket. “No worries. I always come prepared.”
Everyone chuckles. We all hold up our drinks and toast.
“I just wanna thank you guys for coming a few days before our wedding to celebrate,” Blomdahl says to the group. “I know we don’t get a lot of time off and you all have families and friends that you need to make time for, so it means a lot that you’d spend these next few days with us.”
Xander claps him on the shoulder. “Of course, man. We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Everyone nods along.
Blomdahl juts his chin at Camden. “And a huge thanks to you, Connors, for getting us this sweet-ass place. Holy shit, this is nice.”
Camden grins and raises his beer at Blomdahl.
When we finish our drinks, the guys make a plan to drive into town to the nearest liquor store. I join the ladies as they get ready to head to the grocery store to buy food for the next few days.
