Prologue
Rosie Baker
“Itold you.” I laughed, leaning my head against her shoulder and loving the sound of Ember’s laughter.Gosh, I love being right.
“You really did. Are you part witch? Psychic perhaps?” That made me laugh harder, so hard tears formed in my eyes. “Because how the hell you would manifest me meeting someone in the middle of a blizzard is beyond me,” Ember continued with awe mid-chuckle.
“To be fair, I hadn’t planned on a blizzard hitting Sugarloaf.”
“True,” she agreed, looking at me. “You know what this means, right?”
“What’s that?” I asked, even though I had a feeling I knew where she was going to take this.
“It’s your turn now.” Yup. That’s where she was going.If only it were that easy!
“Oh god,” I groaned, shaking my head. I’d heard this. A lot. Not just from Tabitha, Abby, and now Ember, but my mom and three sisters.
And as slightly jealous as I might feel when I saw my friends with their guys, wishing I could find what they found, I didn’t think love and a happily ever after were in the cards for me.
“We made a deal,” she reminded me. I didn’t react. I had a feeling this was coming.
“Em—“
“Here.” She turned and grabbed an envelope I had somehow missed from her coffee table. “This is for you.”
“What is…” I opened the envelope and laughed, loudly, ending with a very unladylike snort. “You didn’t.” I glanced at her.
“A deal is a deal.” She shrugged, slightly smug.
“We were supposed to go together.” I pouted, ignoring all the other things we all used to do together that we wouldn’t be able to do now.And it’s all your fault thanks to your let’s-put-ourselves-out-there idea,a voice in my head reminded me.
“I know. And you said if I met someone, I would have to pay your entrance fee, so… it’s all paid for and set up. Speed dating at the ski resort the week before Valentine’s Day.”
“Em—“
“I got you.” I stared at the ticket in my hand like it was going to jump up and bite me.
“I don’t know about this, Em. I was honestly joking about?—“
“Abby says that this event is bigger than anything she could have anticipated. People from all over the world have signed up for this thing.” I made a face I couldn’t hide. That was what I was worried about.
“Ember, I don’t think I’m a speed dating kind of girl.” I sighed. Men from all over the world would have seen me on the cover of a magazine or two and automatically assume they knew everything there was to know about me and skip right over me. Or be interested in me for the absolutely wrong reason.
“Whose idea was it back at Halloween for us to try something new?”
“Mine, but?—“
“And whose idea was it to get out of our comfort zone?” she kept going.
“Mine, Em, but?—“
“And who said we should start living because our twenties were flying past us?” Yup, this was all my fault.
“Me.” My big mouth always got me into trouble!
“So… do this. Have fun. You never know where a spark might come to life.” She gave me a well-practiced look, one she knew I couldn’t deny. Asher was definitely in trouble with her!
“A spark?” I shook my head with a self-depreciating smile. “Love at first… spark?” I chuckled roughly and lay back on the couch.
