“It’s complicated.” I waved a dismissive hand in her direction, wishing I could crack open the Redeye now.This wasn’t supposed to be this hard!Suddenly, I was distracted by the sound of the door opening again, bringing in a massive gust of wind, a channel of shimmering snow, and Nick. My knees buckled, making me lean on the counter for a moment.That’s never happened before. What an entrance that was! The glittering snow framed his way, making him look as if he was some movie star.
Our nervous eyes met, locking like they had so many times over the years, but yet everything was different. There were the expected specks of excitement he would get when he saw me after not seeing each other for a long time, but something else was there. Anticipation. Doubts?
“Here he is!” I exclaimed, gesturing toward Nick, who was now walking toward me. I honestly didn’t think for a moment that the wedding thing would happen, but it was fun to joke about it. Like just for the weekend, I could walk around on his arm and introduce him as my future husband. It brought little butterflies to my gut, that I hadn’t felt in years, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel slightly less lonely. I beamed back at my new friends and exclaimed, “This is my husband on hold.”
Alisa and Jack laughed while Nick grinned at his new title, halting his steps a foot shy of me. Then he stood sort of wobbly as if he wasn’t sure how to greet me. After swaying for a good ten seconds, he leaned in for a side hug. Hugging wasn’t new for us—but it felt extra squeezy. I returned the affection by linking arms as we lined up to glance back at Jack and Alisa.
“So, Nick,” I started, trying to bring him up to speed. “I was talking to this couple, and they are getting married this weekend.”
“Oh, congrats.” Nick nodded his head, taking his time to look at each of them individually.
“Yeah,” Alisa started, “Charlotte told us you don’t have a reception. That’s a shame that you don’t have anyone to celebrate with you.”
“You know,” Jack cut in, “You gave me a great idea. Our family isn’t coming in until tomorrow. Why don’t you two come to dinner with us tonight and we’ll celebrate with you.”
I trapped Nick’s eyes, trying to read his thoughts, but he looked intrigued and gave me raised brows, so I assumed that was a yes. “I think that would be great,” I answered for us both. “I mean, we don't have anything else to do tonight . . . ”
Supercharged-to-gouge-my-eyes-out light pulled me from my slumber, but before I even opened my lids, I heard a faint snoring that whistled on the inhale, and vibrated rumbles on the way out.
Everything was light.
And not like celestial light, because I knew angels had trumpets, not nose horns.
Blinding light bore down on my irises, forcing me to wince as I shifted my gaze towards the piping snoring. Nick was sleeping on the chair next to the bed I was lying in. Even with my eyes still fighting to stay open, I couldn’t miss him because his head was freshly shaved, and shining like it was recently waxed.
That’s odd.
So odd.
Next to my dad, Nick was the most strait-laced guy I had ever met, and he never had a hair out of place. He wasn’t the type of guy to shave his head. I studied his face, and realized that although he appeared fully asleep, the snoring wasnotcoming from him.
I leaned up on my arm, trying to get a better view, but then something else I’d seen before caught my eye and panic grew in my chest as my eyes traced my arm all the way to my shoulder, and I stared down at my body.
I was wearing my mother’s wedding dress!
Dad had insisted that I pack it “just in case.” Maybe I secretly hoped I would need it, but the sight of me wearing it, without recollection of why, was freaking me out! Not like I’m scared but more likeI’m-gonna-ugly-cryemotional.
I’d never even tried on a wedding dress in my life. Here I was wearing one, and not any random one, but my mother’s! Dad told me to wear the dress, butit wasn’t supposed to be like this!Fanning my face, fighting back the tears of emotion, as a distraction, I hyper-tuned to the mysterious snoring and forced myself to ignore the dress—for now. My eyes skirted to the side, dropping as the snoring seemed to come from the floor.
Like a spring was propelling it, my jaw plummeted, and I let out a scream of fright!A giant Saint Bernard was sleeping on the floor!It wasn’t so much the sight of a dog lying next to me that scared me—although that was terrifying—but it was what this dog was wearing that made ice run through my veins. A perfect little dog bowtie with clear-as-day letters printed on his back that read, “Best Man!”
“Nick,” I whisper-screamed from across the room. “Nick, wake up. I think we got married!”
five
Nick
Iassumeditwasanother fantasy like all the others I had about Charlotte. Still consumed by a light haze of sleep, I could hear her sweet voice calling to me with melodic chords like adorable birds fluttering their wings while chirping out, “Nick” and “Married.” My subconscious was teasing me—well more like tormenting me—pulling my mind to think of Charlotte and all that I wanted us to be.
Yet, as I came into consciousness, I noticed her sweet voice wasn’t that melodic, but more like screaming with panic intonations like I was on fire, which frankly, scared me. My adrenaline surged, and I shot straight to my feet, ready to grab Charlotte and run to safety.
As my head exploded with pressure like an overinflated tire, I scanned the room.
A hotel room. Not just any hotel room, but one with a long trail of rose petals from the door to the bed . . .
Usually, when we met in Mapleton, I stayed with my folks while she stayed at the lodge, so I had to admit, it was a little odd we’d shared a room. I wasn’t going to get totally hung up on that detail, though.
Across from me was a rather large cardboard Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, which looked surprisingly like the one I had seen in the window of the general store the other day. That was weird, but still nothing to get hung up on.
