Chapter 9
Charlotte
“Where did he go?” Josie asks, looking around for Gavin as soon as he shows us to the main lobby of the resort.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I say, approaching the front desk.
The resort is made up of a little village of cabin-like buildings.
It isn’t quaint. If ski resorts were rated in stars like hotels, this one is a five for sure.
There are vaulted ceilings, leather furniture, a coffee shop, a gift shop, a mini-bar, multiple gas fireplaces, and that’s just in the main building.
I also spotted more than one restaurant, a rental store, an actual store, a brewery, and of course the cabins for staying in. I mean, this place is stacked.
“Welcome to Snowcap Summit,” a woman in a Patagonia jacket smiles from behind the desk. “Checking in?”
“No, I am actually here to meet with Holly Wentz,” I answer.
“Oh yes, the bride! Are you Charlotte?” she asks.
“Yes,” I smile, finally feeling like I am getting somewhere.
“She is in the coffee shop to the right. This wedding sounds like it’s going to be out of this world,” she beams.
“We hope so!” Josie says.
My wallet hopes so too.
We walk over to Summit Sips, the coffee shop, and my eyes scan the room. I see her almost immediately. She’s sitting in the back at a table by herself. Her eyes light up when she sees me and she waves.
“Charlotte!?” she beams.
“Yes,” I smile back. Before I can even walk over to her table, she bounces out of her chair and dashes in my direction, throwing her arms around me.
Holly is probably around 5’5” with a beautiful curvy body.
Her wildly curly dirty blonde hair reaches the middle of her back.
Even though it’s only twelve degrees outside, she is wearing shorts, a hoodie, a knitted headband, and snow boots.
“Aren’t you cold?” Josie asks bluntly.
It’s cold in Colorado. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been thin, but I am always cold. I’m cold just looking at her. She has a warm personality, though. Maybe that helps.
“Nah,” she playfully waves. “I’m from Juneau.”
“Alaska?” Josie asks.
“Yes!”
“That’s awesome,” Josie says.
And it is awesome because Alaska isn’t LA or New York City. Everything about this girl tells me that despite the money involved, she will not be a Bridezilla. Thank the Lord.
After we grab coffee, we sit down and start going over things. Holly tells us how she met her fiancé, and that it was love at first sight and fate. They haven’t been together for very long, but knew they were meant to be together forever. They want to travel the world.
“Sorry, I know I am spewing a lot of info at you right now,” she laughs. “I’m just really excited.”
“We are too,” I tell her, and Josie agrees, giving me a look so subtle only a best friend could read it.
Honestly, if there is anything I am good at, it’s being a social chameleon.
I am a salesperson at the end of the day, and while I do love the details, I also love the money.
It took me a long time to get to where I am in the industry.
“Oh, my fiancé just walked in!” She says, waving at someone behind me.
I have my back to the entrance of the coffee shop.
I’m glad the groom is involved. It’s easier to plan a wedding when you know the dynamic of the couple.
It also gives you fair warning if they’re going to clash on anything.
It’s nice to know how many back-up plans I need to prepare in case they don’t agree on something.
“Hey baby!” she squeals, standing up to throw her arms around him. He hugs and burrows his face in her mess of hair. I don’t have to see his face to recognize him. And the second my brain makes that connection, my heart drops through a trapdoor in my stomach and my jaw hits the floor.
Josie gives me an odd look, but as he pulls away from the cling of Holly’s grasp, Josie recognizes him too and gasps. Luckily, they don’t hear.
“Charlotte, this is Ben, my fiancé. Ben, this is–”
“Char…Charlotte,” he says, the surprise screaming in his eyes, but he’s able to snap his mouth shut in a tight smile and hold out a hand.
He almost called me “Charlie.” The name only he used to call me.
Actually, he refused to call me Charlotte, although I wasn’t really a fan of Charlie.
I mean, I don’t even look like a Charlie.
“Hello,” I say, praying to God that my hand is shaking less than my voice and that Holly doesn’t recognize either.
“She’s the wedding planner!” Holly exclaims.
“You don’t say…” his voice trails off.
“And I’m the photographer, Josie,” Josie says, and I love her. I love her so much. Because while me and Ben are flipping through the pages of our expressions, scrambling to find poker faces, Josie is going on about all things photography.
It gives me a moment to gather myself. It also gives Ben and me a moment to exchange a tiny, discreet, and solid glance. One that says something very specific—
Not. One. Word.
Should I tell Holly right now that we are exes? Maybe? But I can’t; I need this job, and I mean need. No one except Josie knows why I need the money so badly. If I had to guess, based on Ben’s expression, he has a reason for not wanting to blow this either.
“I know it’s a bit crazy,” Holly says. “But we really, truly want the all-inclusive package. Like we said, we have no budget. So anything you think is good, we are game. Between the triathlon coming up and me moving into his apartment and everything else, we don’t have time to plan a wedding ourselves.
Especially considering how quickly we want to tie the knot!
Isn’t that right, Benny Bear?” she asks, planting a kiss on his cheek.
Ben blushes and looks down at the floor.
He looks like he wants to hide under the table.
“Well, I think we should start with photography,” Josie hops in the ring and tags me out. Thank God. “That way we know what to work around. I have some samples here of the packages. Why don’t you two take a look at them, and Charlotte and I will give you a moment?”
“Perfect!” Holly claps her hands together, and they sit at the table. Josie and I shuffle off. We barely make it out of the coffee shop before she snorts.
“Benny Bear?” she chuckles.
But I don’t think it’s funny.
“What are the odds?” I whine as we sit down by the fireplace furthest from the happy couple. “I know I’m not exactly the luckiest person, but are you kidding?”
“At least he was good at faking it,” Josie offers. “Besides, you’re over him, right?”
“Yeah,” I pout.
“Over him enough to see him with another woman?” she asks.
I nod.
“Over him enough that all those zeros are worth it? I mean, they are literally buying your most expensive package. Has anyone ever bought your most expensive package?”
“Only that wedding in Vail,” I say.
“Exactly. It’ll be okay. I have faith in you,” she says.
I hope she’s right. I look over at Holly and Ben again, and I’m not so sure.
It’s not that I’m not over him; I am. But that doesn’t mean that seeing him with someone isn’t still hard, especially someone like that.
She couldn’t be more my opposite, which only solidifies just how wrong I was for him.
She has more charisma in one lock of her hair than I do in my entire body.
I nod, even though I’m not so sure. Either way, I’m going to have to be sure because after literally only two minutes of fast talking, flipping through portfolio pages and nodding, then smiling and kissing, they close the book and head our way.
Holly is practically skipping, but Ben is doing more of a hands-in-pockets saunter.
“We are going with the Platinum,” she says, handing the book back to Josie, whose eyes light up like sequins. It’s her most expensive package.
“Amazing!” Josie smiles. “I can’t wait.”
“Neither can we!” she says, hugging us both. As she does, my eyes fall on Ben again, who gives me an apologetic look.
“Alright, well, I think I need to meet with the resort owner,” I say. I really need a break from this to clear my head.
“Of course!” Holly says.
“I need to go over a couple of things with you,” Josie tells her. “I’d like to tour the place for visuals so I can make sure your package is personalized.”
“Oh, I love that! Benny, don’t you love that?
” she asks, and the word drips over my nerves like honey.
Honey that’s sweet enough to make my teeth hurt.
Never once in our relationship did I call him Benny, but I’m not a nickname kind of person.
It’s part of why I never really got used to him calling me Charlie.
I wanted to be okay with him calling me Charlie, maybe even like it.
But I was and am a Charlotte, and Charlotte needs to get away from Benny.
“I know!” Holly says. “Why don’t you take Charlotte to the office, and I’ll go with Josie. We can meet in the middle and discuss all the things?”
“Works for me,” Josie says, clearly more focused on the words platinum package than the SOS glares shooting from my eyeballs.
“Perfect!” Holly says, and with that, they’re gone, leaving me and Ben to actual awkwardness. But as soon as they are gone, we both start talking at the same time.
“Charlie, I am so sorry…”
“How is Holly your fiancée?” I blurt out.
“Listen, I’m just as surprised as you are,” he says. “She didn’t tell me your name. She just said she found a wedding planner.”
“How are we going to do this?” I ask.
“I understand if you don’t want the job,” he says.
“No, no,” I shake my head. “I want the job. I need the job. I mean no offense, but where did you two get an unlimited budget? Are you loaded? Is she loaded?”
“My dad is,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets.
His dad. That’s right. I think it was mentioned somewhere in my emails with Holly that the groom’s father was footing the bill. Dots connect so rapidly, it’s actually giving me motion sickness.
“She likes you,” Ben says, and I snort.
“She wouldn’t if she knew who I am,” I say.
“I’ve never said anything bad about you, Charlie.
Charlotte,” Ben says, and the worst part is, I believe him.
Ben might have been a jerk the way he ended things, but he’s not a liar.
I’m sure most people would believe that with how fast he moved on that he was cheating on me, but I also don’t believe that. Ben truly is that whimsical.
“I just mean, she really wants you to plan our wedding,” he goes on. “And honestly, I do too. I mean, shit, if anyone can do it, it’s you,” he chuckles, but the statement hurts a little. It’s not meant to be a jab, but it still stings.
You’re not the girl he’d want to date, but you are the girl he’d choose to plan out his happily ever after.
I shake the words loose from my head like screws and bolts. I don’t need to function properly. Spare thoughts in a spotlessly organized brain.
“Alright. But she can’t know,” I tell him.
“Oh, trust me, I couldn’t agree more.”
“Which means you have to call me Charlotte. If you say Charlie—”
“I know, I know,” he nods.
We approach the office that I assume belongs to the owner, and Ben salutes me. “Good luck,” he says. “He’s a more charming version of me.”
I give him an odd look, but Ben walks off. I’m still confused about what or who he is talking about as I push the door open. I stop, and suddenly it hits me. It’s like an entire overhead shelf of things giving out and burying me alive.
“Gavin,” I say.
He smirks from behind the desk. His desk. Not only is Gavin Ben’s dad, and Ben’s wedding is the wedding I am planning, but Gavin is the owner of the resort the wedding is being held at.
Excuse my language, but fuck my life.