Winter Wedding Bells. Jennifer Snow
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her hips.
“We’re here for a few months before touring. How did you know?” he asked, taken aback.
“I think my mother might have mentioned it.” Oddly, guilt flashed in her eyes before she dropped them.
“I didn’t know she followed winter sports.” Now that he had stopped moving, the cold air settled over his arms, raising bumps.
She put on a smile that wasn’t really a smile. “Who knows what my mother’s into lately,” she mused, her voice far away.
“Who knows what anyone’s into,” he muttered. Julie. Getting married. The concept gnawed at his gut. Why was this bugging him?
Her smile faded as he peered at her and he cursed himself for that revealing slip. “So when’s the wedding? I would have thought you’d have it at home.” He only partially succeeded in keeping the bitterness out of his voice. She’d never been willing to leave Connecticut for him...
Water under the bridge.
She slowly raised her downcast gaze. “I’m getting married at the Mirror Lake Lodge on Christmas Eve.”
His eyes flew to her left hand, a lump on her ring finger visible beneath her glove. “Congratulations. Who’s the lucky guy?” A very lucky guy, he had to admit, staring at her lovely face.
“Mason Stanton. He’s a doctor in my father’s practice.” Something lay across her voice, a long shadow. In the gray light, her skin looked pale. Not exactly a glowing bride. Then again, he supposed standing outside in below-freezing temperatures wouldn’t put him in the mood to gush, either. Especially with an ex.
“Sounds like you got what you wanted, then.” After four years together, and almost another year of long distance waiting, he’d finally realized they didn’t want the same things.
“Yes.” She rubbed her arms and jumped a little, her breath a foggy mist. The whine of Ski-Doos grew louder as a pair of the machines flashed by, deep in the woods. “How about you. Married?”
“No. Haven’t met the right lady.” He felt a pang of regret when he saw her slight wince. “Plus, I’m never in one place long enough. The team’s tour schedule is demanding, though it’s nice when we settle here for training.”
“It’s hard to imagine you ever staying in one place,” she quipped, her eyes searching his.
“It’s hard to imagine you leaving one.”
An electric charge singed the air and neither looked away. After a moment she coughed lightly into her glove, her eyes skittering sideways. “People change.”
“Not as much as we think,” he observed grimly. Something made him want to call her out. Her stubborn denial of the facts, the way she balked at risk, never took chances—on him or anything—it jabbed under his breastbone. Hard.
Her politeness melted. Suddenly there was fire in her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
When he spoke, white puffs accentuated every word. “Come on, Julie... Marrying a doctor like your father? One who also lives in Connecticut and works in your family’s practice? What kind of change is that?”
Obviously she wanted a rerun of her childhood. Not the life he’d offered her when he’d taken a sports chiropractic and strength-training position with a Swiss team all those years ago.
Julie’s face froze, and slowly, imperceptibly, her body shrank back. “You don’t know anything about me anymore.”
He grimaced and wished he could take back that pointless rant. “You’re right. This is stupid. I’m—I’m happy for you. Glad we met up.” He dropped to one knee and tightened an unraveled shoelace, hiding his face.
Julie let out a long, shuddering breath. “Me, too. So do you live in Lake Placid?”
“I just sold my apartment, so I’m staying at the Mirror Lake Lodge until my condo is finished. It’s a new construction near Mount Van Hoevenberg. An easy commute to work.” He forced a neutral tone. Made himself take it down a notch. They weren’t new exes quibbling over who took custody of the dog.
The winter sun emerged through its cloud coverage and pierced the thick boughs around them, throwing patterns of light across her delicate profile, her skin tight around her mouth. “So you’re staying here?”
“It’s not like I’ll be in your way.” In fact, now that he knew she’d be getting married there, he’d spend more time than ever at the Olympics office or on the mountain. Anywhere but near the woman who’d found the happiness she’d denied him.
Her gold-toned skin grew pink. “I wasn’t worried about that.” The nose curl. Again. “It’s good seeing you.”
She turned back toward the trail curve, ready to disappear from his life again. And he’d let her now as he had before. It’d been the right choice when he’d made it years ago.
“Same. Good luck with everything.”
Her brows lowered and she nodded slowly. As if she needed that luck. Or was that just his imagination again? Darn it. She was happy. Leave her be.
Leave them both be.
With a wave, she jogged off. He watched the long-legged strides that carried her away, an emptiness rising in him as she vanished around the corner. Odd as it’d been to see her here after so long, it felt as though they’d picked up right where they’d left off...and that wasn’t a good place.
He didn’t miss her. So why was it so hard to watch her go?
* * *
LATER THAT EVENING, Julie pressed a hand to her rumbling stomach and looked up from her red rice cake entrée at a loud clanging sound beside her. Mason stood, trim and dapper in a pin-striped suit, pinging his cake fork against his wineglass. He looked as though he belonged in the elegant Teddy Roosevelt era in which Mirror Lake Lodge’s The View restaurant had been built. She tried imagining him in the outdoors, sweating despite the cold, exertion brightening his eyes the way it had Austin’s. She failed.
Austin... Mason... How similar their names were. Was that a coincidence or another connection to Austin she’d repressed? It still rankled that she’d somehow picked the one wedding venue where she might cross paths with her moving target of an ex. It couldn’t mean anything, surely.
She pressed her lips together and shook off her traitorous thoughts. She’d left her ex on the trail. He had no place here.
Hickory panels reached from floor to ceiling and surrounded massive inlaid fireplaces that popped and crackled at either end of the long, elegant room. A moose head mounted above one mantel was reflected in the large Victorian mirror atop the opposite hearth. Christmas trees in each corner fragranced the air with fresh evergreen, the merry glow of their miniature lights competing with the carved pineapple and scrolled chandeliers. This long-anticipated event should feel as special as it looked, but her run-in with Austin had shaken her confidence.
Mason wasn’t an extension of her old life as Austin had suggested. She’d expected her ex to be impressed with her big news, maybe feel regretful that he’d given up on her so quickly. Instead, he’d pointed out how little she’d changed. Told her she still played it safe.
Completely wrong.
She glanced between her father and Mason and mutinously buttered a bread roll.
Way off base.
Mason cleared his throat and raised his glass higher, clanging.
Oblivious, the relatives invited to this private dinner continued to chatter. They sat on upholstered chairs around cloth-covered tables that broke up the red-and-white-diamond pattern on the carpet. Julie met her mother’s eyes across the table, her expression as surprised as Julie felt. Her father, on the other hand, rubbed his bald patch in that way he did whenever he got excited.