Page 22 of A Winter Wedding Adventure (Adventure Weddings #2)
‘She finally beat you, huh?’
Ginny looked up from where she’d been scowling at her laptop, propped on the bed in front of her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve been muttering to yourself about kissing for the past ten minutes. Will you finally admit you’re annoyed about all the special requirements for this wedding?’
‘I’m not annoyed,’ she insisted, making Kira laugh, ‘as much as it feels like a personal affront to be sourcing a heap of mistletoe when I haven’t been kissed in…
’ She counted on her fingers, but quickly gave up.
‘Anyway, getting enough mistletoe at such short notice won’t be easy.
I had already ordered a couple of bunches for the church, because it’s always nice for a winter wedding, but I’m not sure how much more I’m going to be able to get my hands on.
I don’t suppose you have a sickle and know a grove of oak trees nearby? ’
‘No. Which is what you should tell Alessandra.’
Ginny glanced at her with another smile. ‘You’re probably right. Can you teach me how to say that?’
‘N-o,’ Kira repeated.
‘It really is the magic I need in my life,’ Ginny said drily.
‘But to be honest, I’d rather be out there collecting mistletoe for you than stuck with this group much longer,’ Kira grumbled.
She’d been in a better mood before dinner, probably because her own kissing clock had been put back to zero – her whole love life had been put back to zero after that halting, exploratory kiss.
But then she’d spent dinner listening to Rav defending Christian until she wanted to hit him – or hit Christian, since Rav stammered half-heartedly through his friend’s excuses.
She couldn’t shake the feeling she was going to ruin this wedding – in a more serious manner than through a lack of mistletoe.
‘Aren’t you usually stuck with groups in your job?’ Ginny asked. ‘I assume you can’t escape to a nice hotel room after a day with them either.’
‘No, but people are nicer when they’re expecting challenge and hardship. For a wedding, the challenges and hardships are a nasty surprise.’
Ginny chuckled, always so bright, even when Alessandra was pushing her to her limit.
‘Do you want me to help?’ Kira offered.
Ginny shook her head. ‘You’ve got an important job tomorrow, getting Joe to ski away his jitters.’
‘He has jitters?’ Kira asked doubtfully. She’d only seen his confident swagger and superior taunts.
‘Oh, yeah,’ Ginny said with a roll of her eyes. ‘This is why it’s good to get to know the couple before the big day. Alessandra is actually really sweet and Joe dotes on her, he just thinks he needs to pretend he’s certain.’
‘Shouldn’t he be certain at this point? It’s kind of difficult to back out now.’ Unease dug in and made itself comfortable in her stomach. If Joe backed out now… He might need a good kick up the arse tomorrow, not a ski tour. Alessandra would be mortified – crushed.
‘Everyone’s uncertain about their wedding two days before,’ Ginny said with a shrug. ‘You just learn to accept it and make an attempt anyway.’
Kira frowned. ‘That’s not very romantic of you. What about all the true love and soulmate crap?’
‘That’ll come, don’t worry. But doubts are normal – healthy even. Ignoring doubts is where couples tend to hit problems.’
Kira fell silent, further conversation crowded out by her own thoughts. She’d always hoped her healthy scepticism would save her from any further romantic mishaps that would crush her heart – and decimate her pride. But if doubts were normal, then hers were nothing special.
She blinked back the twinge of feelings she’d been pushing away since Mattia had found her at the bouldering wall that afternoon. She shouldn’t have kissed him to distract herself from the messy situation with old memories and present challenges. But he was a lovely distraction, her fallen angel.
‘Ginny, do you think men find me intimidating?’ she asked before she’d thought the question through.
‘Definitely,’ Ginny replied without even looking up from her screen. ‘I’m a little jealous. It must be so handy on a night out – no losers trying out their cheesy pick-up lines when you just want to drink and dance.’
Kira stared at her colleague – her friend? – uncomprehendingly. ‘You’re jealous? I thought you wanted a boyfriend.’
‘I do, but not a dude asking if I have a map because he got lost in my eyes,’ she said in a mock male voice, all while tapping at her keyboard and squinting at the screen.
‘Someone seriously said that to you?’
‘God, it happens all the time. Such losers.’
Kira chuckled. ‘I think your complaints about being single are a little feeble. Sounds like you have guys falling over themselves to go out with you.’
‘Oh, I go on dates, don’t you worry. But after two or three, they just never call, or they send me a polite text or something. You wouldn’t have to waste your time with those losers. Only brave ones approach you.’
Brave ones and… Mattia with his self-destructive tendencies and sensitive hearing for her weaknesses.
‘You have a point,’ Kira said, resisting a smile. ‘If the other option is two or three boring dates for nothing, I’d rather skip to the sex.’
Ginny’s response was a peal of laughter. ‘Is that your motto: “skip to the sex”? I like it. That way, I’d at least get something out of it.’
‘Do you mean you go on all of these dates without making it that far?’
‘More times than you’d think,’ she groaned. ‘They’re all so nice – until they’re not interested any more.’
Kira snorted. ‘Well, the only people brave enough to come near me only want sex, so I don’t think there’s hope for either of us.’ Except that Mattia had come close. And she needed to stop thinking about how he went against everything she understood about relationships – and about herself .
Ginny was quiet for long enough that curiosity dragged Kira up out of her brooding. The wedding planner was watching her.
‘Hope? For what? I didn’t think you wanted… all this: love, commitment.’
‘I don’t want this : a wedding with more manoeuvres than a military exercise. These gestures don’t mean anything anyway.’ Even that time when she thought she did want love and commitment, the wedding fanfare hadn’t featured.
‘But you do want to fall in love?’ There was a hint of I was right ! in Ginny’s tone that made Kira uncomfortable.
‘I don’t know,’ Kira replied irritably. ‘Maybe it’s not always great being alone, but I can’t imagine someone…’
‘Was it a big shock for you when Andreas proposed to Sophie?’
Where had that come from?
‘Wait, don’t get prickly,’ Ginny back-pedalled. ‘I’m just annoyed Sophie’s out of the singles club too. I wasn’t insinuating anything else.’
Kira eyed her. ‘But you know?—’
‘I gather you have a history with Andreas, yes.’
‘A casual history. God knows I did not want anything more with him . Sophie’s got her work cut out for her.’
‘But they’re so wonderful together,’ Ginny said with a sigh. ‘Imagine pining for each other for eight years !’
‘It explains why he was a miserable git for eight years,’ Kira quipped.
Flopping back against her pillow, she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, noticing absently that the colour was fading back to the bleached dirty blonde under the blue.
So many layers… Her throat tight, she continued before she could talk herself out of it.
‘But you’re right. Andreas was supposed to be like me.
Relationships weren’t for us. Then Sophie comes in and everything changes.
Now they’re getting married . I’ll be left with Laurie the cock-up, misanthropic Rhys, poor old Willard and the eternally grieving Toni. ’
‘How horrible,’ Ginny said drily. ‘There’s still five of you. I’ve only got Reshma left – and she’s the big boss. Our admin support, Tita, is happily married and now Sophie… All of my friends are loved up. Just not me.’
Listening to Ginny, she couldn’t help thinking it was infinitely better to not want love, especially since Kira wasn’t certain she was still capable of it anyway, she’d spent so long denying the emotion existed.
‘But I’m fine alone,’ Kira insisted. ‘I don’t know why this stuff is suddenly getting to me. Too many weddings!’ Too many reminders of her biggest mistake.
‘Maybe I’m in the wrong job,’ Ginny moaned.
Kira glanced at her with an indulgent smile.
‘You are in exactly the right job.’ Considering all Ginny’s hard work to make everything perfect, Kira thought it might be wise to warn her about her slip-up with Mattia.
‘I should probably tell you about something that happened today. I have this irrational fear I’m going to ruin the wedding, when you are so amazing at this and you’ve put in so much effort. ’
Ginny’s grin was back in an instant, giving Kira the strangest urge to hug her. She really was under the influence of this wedding drug, thinking about hugging and kissing and handsome, clumsy opera singers.
Before Kira had a chance to continue, Ginny said, ‘It’s just frustrating that I go to so many weddings, but I can’t even get drunk and snog the groomsman!’ Her laugh echoed through the room once more. ‘Reshma would kill me!’
Kira’s smile faded. What would the head of I Do Destinations have to say about Kira’s lack of professionalism over the past two days? Mattia wasn’t technically a groomsman, but she had snogged him, as much as using that word for that kiss made her wince.
She would just have to make sure it didn’t happen again.
‘What did you want to tell me?’ Ginny asked when she’d recovered from her fit of laughter.
‘Uh—’ Kira’s mind raced. ‘Mattia nearly collapsed in the sauna and I saw him naked.’
‘Oh, my God, is nowhere safe for that man? Was he at least naked with Carla?’
‘No such luck,’ Kira said flatly.
‘How am I going to look after him tomorrow while you’re off razing the slopes?’
Kira eyed her. ‘Razing the slopes?’
‘Isn’t that what you cool kids say?’
‘No.’
Ginny shrugged. ‘Oh well, have fun anyway. Maybe you’ll get your jitters out of your system too.’
Kira opened her mouth to protest, but she did feel kind of jittery. Maybe that was why she’d kissed Mattia. Wedding stress. Nothing more. Nothing to lose her job over.
‘But don’t worry,’ Ginny continued. ‘You can’t ruin the wedding. The only people who can do that are the bride and groom – and maybe the weather, but that’s not a person.’