Jett could have stepped off the cover of a GQ magazine, and now I’m second guessing my decision to forego professional makeup.
“You look beautiful, Poppy. As always,” Jett says, taking me in in the dress that I’m having to hold up, so it doesn’t fall. “I just wanted to go over everything with you for today, make a game plan.”
“Sure, but can you help me with the buttons first?” I turn around gesturing for him to do up the tiny, covered buttons the whole length of my spine.
There must be at least fifty of them, and the feeling of his fingers working them through the holes, the way his calloused fingertips sometimes brush the skin on my lower back, sends a shiver right through me.
When he finishes, his hands linger on the top button, as if not wanting to take his hands away from me. Hisfingers graze my ribs, my waist, my hip, as I turn around to face him. And then they find my hand and hold on.
“There,” he says. “Done.”
Maybe it’s my imagination, but I swear his eyelids look heavier than they did before.
“So, what did you want to go over?” I ask, but before he can answer, Wren waltzes through the door, coffees in hand. She just about drops the cardboard tray when she sees Jett.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” she scolds. “It’s bad luck. And you both need all the luck you can get to pull this stunt off. Get out.”
Jett’s gaze whips back to me, and he gives my hand a gentle squeeze before pulling away, the same way he did at the bowling alley–we’re in this together.
“See you at the altar, Pops.” He throws me a playful wink as he backs toward the door.
I silently scold my heart for the way it rolls forward in my chest.
I can’t getover how Brooke and the rest of Jett’s team managed to pull this off. My breath catches in my throat as I take it all in. The venue, which is normally booked out years in advance, even in winter, is stunning.
Dark, walnut chairs are set up flanking an aisle that ends right before Lake Louise, a stunning backdrop of rocky grey mountains blanketed in thick white snow. Bunches of white roses, matching the ones I hold in my hands, are tied to theaisle seats with dusty blue, velvet ribbon. Brooke would have had to pull about a thousand strings to make this wedding happen on such short notice.
But there’s something else, a kind of magic that I can’t quite place. It’s like the air itself is sparkling.
I pull my fur shawl tighter around my shoulders and adjust my bouquet in my hands. Soft music drifts up to where I’m standing, hidden behind an outcropping of evergreen trees at the top of a wooden staircase.
Down at the end of the aisle, I spot Jett, standing in his tux, and my heart flip flops. It’s only a matter of minutes now until he’s my husband.
Once everyone is seated, the processional music will start and the show will begin.
After that, life is going to happen in warp speed. Jett will be off for his first stop on the World Cup circuit, and I’ll be going with him—as hiswife.
“You ready?” Wren squeezes my bicep and I pull my eyes away from Jett to look at her.
“I think so,” I breathe, shifting my bouquet from one hand to the other. Wren doesn’t have time to say anything else in response, because the wedding coordinator who was talking into her headset is motioning that it’s time for Wren to start her walk down the aisle.
Now, I’m alone, and my pulse races.
We have a plan. This wedding will give me everything I’ve been working for. We’ll stay married for as long as it takes to secure my inheritance and then we’ll both be on our way. The most amicable divorce in history.
Then, I can go back to living my quiet, uncomplicated life.
I try to remind myself of what Wren told me the other day. It had worked at the bridal salon to quell my nerves, replaying her words in my mind.
Jett is on my team, we have a plan, and I’m doing this for Aunt Dahlia.
I just wish Aunt Dahlia could send me some sort of sign that I’m doing the right thing.
Wren is about halfway down the aisle now, and the wedding coordinator nudges my shoulder as the classical processional music fades into another song, but I’m frozen in place.
It’s an instrumental version of a familiar classic.
Moon River.
