Page 2 of On Thin Ice (Calgary Mounties #1)

Chapter Two

EVERYTHING OKAY WITH YOU GUYS?

Adele

Watching my cousin get married is supposed to be a joyous occasion, right?

Especially when she basically gave me free rein to plan the fanciest wedding imaginable with an unlimited budget.

But when my own fiancé has been acting weird for months and the groom has suddenly developed stage fright, I’m kind of over it all.

“How is Seth? Should I go and check on him?” Kylie asks from the make-up chair.

We’re behind schedule, which is giving me anxiety, but Kylie is as cool as can be, after a bit of pre-wedding jitters earlier. At least one half of the happy couple is handling today fine.

“He’s fine. Lincoln has him under control,” I reply, not wanting to divulge Seth’s harebrained scheme to get married on a boat in the middle of the Pacific.

Kylie might just let him do it, and I’ve put too much work into this wedding (while avoiding thinking about my own) to allow the groom to derail my plans.

I’m not one hundred percent sure that Lincoln can handle him, but he has a proven track record of getting Seth to do things he doesn’t want to do, so I guess I’ll have to trust the oversized, stupidly hot man-child.

Planning this wedding was meant to be the beginning of my event planning career, but I’m starting to think that I’m not as cut out for this industry as I once thought.

After years of working for the family tour company, I’d decided to go to university to study tourism and ended up falling in love with event management.

But the reality of it has me questioning everything.

I’m an organized person, but this wedding has taken its toll on me.

Or maybe it’s just because it’s a wedding and I’m not entirely sure I want one of my own…

“What’s Ben doing?” Kylie asks, turning her face back towards the make-up artist so that she can apply the finishing touches to her flawless skin.

“No idea. I haven’t spoken to him since he went for a run this morning,” I reply, inspecting my fingernails closely.

“Is everything okay with you guys?” she asks, and I know I’ve done a crappy job of hiding my unhappiness.

I shrug. “I guess.”

“Adele.” The way she says my name gives me no choice but to meet her worried gaze in the mirror.

Everyone says that we look like sisters, but I don’t really see it.

She’s possibly one of the most beautiful women I know, and that’s saying something, because I know a lot of hockey WAG’s these days, some of whom are actual supermodels.

But Kylie is naturally stunning, with long dark brown hair that hangs in waves down her back, emerald green eyes and a perfect hour-glass figure.

I know I’m not ugly, and have often been told how attractive I am, but it’s hard not to feel inadequate when you’re constantly surrounded by women who have access to all the professional services to keep them looking beautiful round the clock.

I have to spend a lot of time in front of the mirror to pull off my trademark dark brown waves and smokey-eyed smoulder, while Kylie just rolls out of bed and gets on with her day, oblivious to the envious looks of the rest of the Calgary Mounties WAG’s.

If I was a bitter person, I’d be jealous of the fairy-tale life she leads these days, but she went through a lot to get here.

So instead, I’m just doing everything in my power to make sure her wedding goes off without a hitch.

“No need to worry yourself, cousin. All is good in my world,” I reply, plastering on a smile and hoping that will be enough to placate her.

Her other bridesmaid, Brianna Boyd, smiles at me from the second make up chair.

“You’ve done such a good job with everything this week, Adele.

I’m sure it’s given you so many ideas for your own big day.

” Her accent is stronger than Kylie’s is these days, and I know if she wasn’t married to the ridiculously hot Jake, the single players on the Mounties would be clambering all over each other just to spend a moment in the pretty blonde’s presence.

All I’ve worked out is that I never want to do this myself, I think to myself while plastering on a smile.

I can’t say that out loud, though. I’ve barely been able to admit it to myself, so saying it out loud will just make it all real.

The engagement ring on my finger has become a deadweight, reminding me I really need to work out what I want to do with my life.

Ben has been pressuring me to set a date, but something inside is holding me back.

“Yeah, it’s definitely been an experience,” I say, moving towards the cream dress hanging from the curtain rod behind Brianna. “Now, it’s time to get Kylie into this stunning dress and get downstairs for photos.” I take the dress down and turn back to face them both.

The make-up artists stand back to admire their handiwork for a moment, before Kylie’s mother, Cara, bustles into the room, ready to help her eldest daughter get into the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen and marry the man of her dreams.

The maid of honour, Tara, finally reappears after disappearing to drain the life out of herself - aka milk herself for her cute but super loud baby - and the four of us set about making sure Kylie’s hair and makeup remains untouched while stepping into her dress.

I’ve only met Kylie’s Australian friends a few times, but they all seem really nice.

I have to admit, though, I’m a little smug about the fact that I get her full time these days.

When she moved to Calgary a few years ago, I was super excited to get to know my Australian cousin better after all these years apart, and now she’s become my best friend.

The only downside is having to share her with Seth.

And Lincoln, to a degree. He goes where Seth goes, and that means I have to spend a lot of time with the tall, charming, far too confident right-winger.

Both guys are old friends with Ben, which used to be a good thing. But with how I’ve been feeling lately, it’s starting to seem like far too many areas of my life are overlapping.

Once Cara is done with the stupid number of buttons on the back of the dress and the photographer has taken the required photos, we step back to admire Kylie, the picture-perfect bride.

Cara calls my two youngest cousins, Emma and Dayna, into the room while wiping away a tear.

The twins are six years younger than Kylie and me, and I’ve never really spent much time with them, but it’s nice to see that they are excited for their sister as well.

I can relate to Cara’s tears. It’s hard not to become emotional when my favourite person in the world is about to get the happily ever after she deserves.

I’m pretty sure my older brother, Jordan, hasn’t even noticed I’m engaged, so I can’t imagine him getting tearful over me in a wedding dress.

He’s too busy with his own family to notice much, though .

“Where’s Will?” Kylie asks her sisters, peering around them to try to catch a glimpse of her older brother.

“He went downstairs with the guys for photos,” Tara says as she moves towards the table where all our bouquets are neatly laid out.

Will is the other groomsman alongside Seth’s long-time teammate, Dean, and is the only non-hockey player on that side of the aisle.

If he cared about hockey, I’m sure he’d feel intimidated, but he’s got the whole laid back Aussie surfer dude persona about him, so it’s not fazed him much.

I’ve noticed more than a few of the Canadian female guests checking him out.

They see enough hockey players back home that he’s the novelty here.

But I’m pretty sure he’s still hung up on his high school sweetheart who abandoned him a few years ago, so good luck with that one, ladies.

“Thank god. Guess that means there are no more tantrums about bow ties and getting on a boat,” I say, forgetting that I’d kept those details from Kylie.

My cousin turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “What’s this now?”

“It’s nothing. Everything is fine. But the ties have now been removed from their attire,” Tara says, shooting me a wary look.

“What? They…” Air escapes my nose while I try to wrap my head around this change in plans. “You know what… Whatever. At least they’re downstairs now.”

“You ladies ready to get this over with?” Uncle Jeremy strides into the room, clapping his hands and looking very handsome in his suit.

Will is basically his carbon copy, and I’d seen more than a few of those same women checking him out, until they realized he was the father of the bride and very happily married.

Although he’s been in Australia for over thirty years, he’s still not lost his Canadian accent, which is refreshing amongst all these Aussie accents surrounding me right now.

“Yep. Let’s get this show on the road,” Kylie says, a nervous smile playing across her lips.

We gather everything we need together and head out the door, ready for a day of love and happiness.

An hour later, the celebrant from the resort, Aleki, is standing between Kylie and Seth.

He’s a tiny little Tahitian man dwarfed by the lumberjack Canadians to his left, but he has managed to put the groom’s nerves at ease with his patient and calm tone.

“Repeat after me. I, Seth Colin James-Davidson.”

“I, Seth Colin James-Davidson,” Seth repeats, holding Kylie’s gaze with his own.

“Take you, Kylie Louise Anderson, to be my lawful wife.”

“Take you, Kylie Louise Anderson, to be my lawful wife.” His voice shakes and I can feel a tiny tear forming when Kylie squeezes his hand and smiles up at him.

We’ve already made it through the butterfly release part of the ceremony, and the colourful insects are flapping around us, settling on the flowers in our bouquets and the guys’ boutonnieres.

Lincoln looks less than impressed when one flaps too close to his face, his eye twitching as he glances down at the pretty blue one perched on the flower attached to his suit jacket.

Doing my best to hide my amusement at his apparent bug fear I knew nothing about, I decide to save that bit of information for a later date.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ben watching me, his blue eyes scanning my face intently, and a small bubble of annoyance blooms in my chest. I’m sure he’s watching to make sure I am happy about this joyous occasion.

Searching for a hint that I actually intend to follow through with our own wedding after a year of pushing it aside.

I mentally shake myself out of my thoughts to concentrate while Kylie says her own vows. Once they’ve exchanged their rings, Aleki pronounces them husband and wife, and everyone applauds as Seth pulls Kylie into his arms and kisses her deeply.

This is what love is meant to look like. The fact that I can’t even muster up a little enthusiasm for my own nuptials should probably be a sign that I’m not the marrying type, but I can at least appreciate how right these two are for each other.

Not sure I can say the same for myself and Ben, though.

After the groom sets the grinning bride back down on her high-heeled feet, they shuffle off to the side to do all the legal stuff, and I can feel some of the stress I’ve been feeling dissipate.

This part went off without a hitch, so hopefully we can make it through the reception with no dramas, and I can focus on drinking too many cocktails and dancing the night away while studiously avoiding being alone with my fiancé.

Once the documents are all signed, I fall into place next to Dean as we follow Brianna, Will, Tara and Lincoln back down the aisle. Once we’re all out of sight of the rest of the guests, we wait for the photographers to give us directions, and Dean gives me a wink.

“Looking hot, Adele.”

The Mounties goalie is a shameless flirt and never misses a chance to try and get into my pants, even though he knows I’m engaged.

Pretty sure he’s worked out that I’m not happy and is just trying to bait me into admitting it.

But still, it’s nice to feel seen occasionally, and I know I’m playing with fire each time I play into it, rather than shutting him down.

“You shine up nice, yourself, Thomas,” I reply, snagging a glass of champagne off the little table that has been set up for us.

Lincoln steps up beside me as I take a large sip, plucking the glass from my hand to take his own mouthful.

“Uh, excuse me, there’s like a dozen glasses on that table. That was mine,” I say, frowning.

“Yeah, but I wanted that one,” he replies, shooting me a cheeky grin.

Ugh, why does he have to be so annoyingly good-looking?

Dean watches us both, looking from one to the other like a spectator at a tennis match. “What is this? What’s going on here?”

“Nothing,” Lincoln replies with a shrug.

I’m pretty sure it was his way of telling me to ease up on the drinking, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I bite back my annoyance, though, determined not to pull any focus from the happy couple.

Just need to make it through the next few hours and then can go back to attempting to work out my own issues.

Moments later, the photographers start arranging us in various poses, and I try to ignore Ben’s eyes on me from the entryway of the outdoor area where the rest of the guests are milling around.

I really need a drink…