Chapter 27
Gavin
“You really don’t have to do this,” Charlotte protests as I carry her from the snowmobile to her cabin.
She took a nasty spill on the slope, well, the bunny hill, and while it seemed like a soft landing, I do feel like it was my fault.
I was the one after all who encouraged her to slip on a set of skis in the first place.
“You were limping when you got up,” I say as I turn sideways to get through the door. She’s a tiny little thing, but ski boots are rather bulky, making it hard for her to bend her legs.
“Well, it is kind of hard to walk in skis,” she tells me. “Seriously, Gavin. Josie should be back from the slopes soon, and if I need anything, she can take care of me.”
“Josie?” I ask, setting Charlotte down on the bed. “Pretty sure I saw her and Jordan heading off to the brewery. From the looks of it, she’s going to be gone for a while.”
“You don’t know Josie,” she laughs.
“Yeah, but I know Jordan. He’s my son’s slickest friend,” I laugh, and Charlotte’s eyes widen. “But he’s a nice guy too, don’t worry.”
“Right,” she rolls her eyes. “You were supposed to be a nice guy too, and look what happened with us.”
I can’t help but grin at that, and I sit down on the bed with her. “I never claimed to be nice.” I tell her, crawling closer to her.
“What are you doing?” she whispers through a smile. “Someone is going to see.”
“You think people are peeking through the windows now?” I ask.
“I’m just saying. Ben is here, and it’s just not a good idea to…What are you doing?” she asks as I get off the bed and close the blinds.
“Giving us more privacy,” I say.
“Gavin! We can’t fool around!”
“Who said anything about fooling around?” I ask, crawling back on the bed and lying on my side to face her.
“Really?” she asks. “You have no ulterior motive whatsoever right now?”
“Actually, no,” I say, propping myself up on one elbow and using the other to brush her hair away from her face. It’s the most disheveled she’s ever looked. It’s probably because she just went ass up in the snow. At the same time, she looks wildly attractive. “You look beautiful,” I say.
“What?” she asks with a laugh.
“You look beautiful,” I repeat. “I did not bring you here to fool around. I am here to make sure you are okay.”
“I’m fine,” she says. “I just feel stupid. I had no business putting those skis on.”
“No, you didn’t. If I had known just how bad you were at it, I would have never let you go out there,” I agree with her, and she swats me on the arm, making me laugh.
Then she yawns and lays her head down.
“I really am okay. You don’t have to stay,” she says.
“Just a little longer,” I tell her, pulling the blanket over her. “It’s my job to make sure everyone on my resort is safe.”
“Mmm…” she murmurs, and a moment later, she’s out.
She’s right. In the interest of us not getting caught together, I really should leave, but I don’t. I lay my head down, and I fall asleep with her.
When I wake up the next morning at the crack of dawn, it’s the first time I’ve ever done the walk of shame without actually sleeping with the person the night before. It’s also the first time I have held my breath while tiptoeing since I was a kid.
Luckily, I make it back to my cabin before anyone sees me…I think.
“Hey,” Ben’s voice comes from behind me just as I go to push my door open, and I nearly jump out of my skin.
“Jesus, you scared me, kid,” I say with a nervous laugh. “What the hell are you doing up at this hour?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” he says.
“Cold feet?” I ask.
“About Holly? You kidding?” he asks. “No, I just…I had other thoughts, I guess.”
“What kind of thoughts?” I ask. He doesn’t seem suspicious of anything, so I switch hats and go into dad mode.
“I always thought she’d be here, you know?” he says. I nod as my heart tightens in my chest.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “Yeah, I get it.”
“Sometimes I wake up and I still can’t believe she’s gone,” he says.
“I get that. I feel it every day,” I admit. “Then I see her smile on your face or her sarcasm in Madison, and I feel like I still have pieces of her with me here. Even if I could do without the sarcasm at times.”
Ben laughs with a sniff. “Yeah. Totally.”
“It’s going to be a great wedding,” I say, gripping his shoulder. “You’ve got the best of everything: location, food, drinks, family and friends. And the wedding planner Holly hired is on point.”
Ben’s smile fades just slightly. “Yeah, she’s good at what she does,” he says. It’s almost as if he had to search for the words.
“Not to mention an incredible bride,” I say. “You really picked well.”
“I think so too,” he nods, and it’s quiet for a moment before he looks over at me. “What about you? You think you’ll ever find someone special again?”
Charlotte’s face immediately flashes into my mind.
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I say.
“Well, I hope you do,” Ben says. “I think Mom would want it for you too.”
My throat strains at that, and I nod in response.
“You want to grab a cup of coffee?” he asks.
“I think I’m going to shower,” I say, thumbing towards my cabin door. “Long day ahead of us.”
“Yeah, Holly said we are doing dance lessons,” he says, and I laugh.
Then I turn to go inside, but just as I push the door open, he stops me. “Aren’t you wearing the same thing you had on yesterday? At the slopes?”
I stop, look down, and don’t know what to say.
“I…uh…”
Ben grins. “I heard there was a bonfire last night and a couple people got lucky. See? Getting back on the saddle isn’t so hard, is it?”
“I…yeah…”
“What happens in the mountains stays in the mountains.” He chuckles and walks away.
Jesus Christ.
If he only knew.
* * *
“She should be here any moment,” Charlotte says, smiling at the wedding party. We are back in the event room, but all the tables have been moved out of the way to make room for dancing. “She just messaged me last night and said she might be a little late.”
“Why do we need a choreographer again?” Jordan asks, taking Josie by the hand and spinning her around, then pulling her back towards him again. “Some of us can dance just fine.”
“We need it choreo’d because we are doing specific dances,” Holly explains. “The bridesmaids and groomsmen together, mother daughter…”
“Father son,” I say, putting my arm around Ben.
“Yeah, you might not wanna hold your breath on that one,” he says, and everyone laughs. Everyone except Charlotte, that is. Her face has sunk like an ice cream cone in summer heat as she stares at her phone.
“That’s her now,” she says with feigned, forced optimism. “I’m just going to take this outside.”
Luckily, no one seems too worried, but I follow Charlotte out anyway because I know better. Plus, I’m curious.
“Crap. Crap, crap, crap,” she mutters as she paces in front of the fire pits.
“Is that PG swearing I hear?” I ask as I approach her.
“She’s not coming,” Charlotte blurts out.
“Who’s not coming?” I ask. Charlotte is wearing jeans that give her an ass that won’t quit.
And her sweater is low-cut enough in the front to showcase the fact that she has a very nice set of tits.
The girl’s gotta be wearing a push-up, because damn.
All that to say, I am a bit distracted from what we are talking about.
“Ramona’s not coming. The choreographer.
She just flaked on me, and we are supposed to have that room of people dancing in sync in a couple of days!
Now, we have no choreographer and we are in the mountains, so I can’t just pull another choreographer out of thin air.
By the way, the air up here really is thin, isn’t it?
I can’t breathe,” she gasps, pressing her hand to her chest.
“Whoa, whoa,” I smile, stepping closer. “It’s going to be okay. It’s not a crisis; we can figure something out.”
Before I can put an arm around her for reassurance, Charlotte pulls away and starts pacing again, this time with more flailing action. “It is a crisis! What are we going to do?”
“Surely you’ve dealt with things like this before. People not showing up or having to rearrange things,” I say.
“I have, but I’m usually not in the middle of nowhere. This is my first destination wedding,” she admits, biting her lip in shame. All I want to do is kiss her, but I don’t. I won’t. I can’t.
“Listen. We’ll figure it out. If there is anything Holly and Ben are, it’s flexible. We’ll just…do the Thriller dance or something,” I say.
“The Thriller dance?” she repeats back.
“...or something.”
“Is everything okay out here?” Ben asks, peeking his head out the door. We both look at Charlotte, and all she does is swallow. So I step in.
“Totally. We’re good. Right?” I ask with a nod, and she copies.
We head back inside, and I decide it’s best if I stay behind the wheel.
“So!” I say, clapping my hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“We’ve hit a bump in the road, but it’s only a small one.
The choreographer mixed up her dates and won’t be coming,” I say.
An audible awe sound fills the room. “I’m looking around and I see a lot of good-looking people.
Good-looking and talented people. I have no doubt we can come up with something! ”
“I’ll look at TikTok trends,” one of the bridesmaids says while pulling out her phone.
“See, look at that!” I say with a smile.
“I was hoping for something a little more original,” Holly says, and it’s the first time I’ve seen her fret. Her reaction to the choreographer's absence has a direct effect on Charlotte, and I see her fret as well.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask. “What is your vision?”
Jesus, listen to me.
I sound like the wedding planner. Considering the planner is currently out of commission due to short-circuiting, someone’s got to take over. I guess that someone is me.
“Well…I was hoping for some kind of east coast swing mixed with modern music,” Holly says, and I grin.
“Well then, you won’t be needing a choreographer anymore, anyway. We happen to have a couple in the house that can help with that,” I say.
“We do?” Holly beams.
“We do,” I answer, holding my hand out to Charlotte. At first, she just stares at me, then blinks. Then shakes her head. “Come on, you were great the other night when we were recruiting the band. Let’s show these kids how the Lindy Hop is done.”
Charlotte shoots me a look that clearly says, absolutely not. But when the room erupts in clapping and cheering, she has no choice but to take my hand.
It’s almost amusing how we fall into step and seem to predict each other’s movements as the music plays. It’s wild how well the song Cake By the Ocean works for the lindy and the bridesmaids and groomsmen song.
Holly chooses Uptown Funk for her dance with her dad. Ben and Holly copy mine and Charlotte’s footwork to figure out their dance. They chose Bruno Mars too, but decide on Treasure for their first dance.
After that, music continues to play, and everyone is dancing just for fun.
I can’t help the grin on my face as Charlotte goes from frazzled to carefree.
The same carefree way she was in my truck when we were stuck in traffic.
She’s as carefree as she was the night she thought multiple tequila shots were a good idea.
And as the song ends, I pull her against me before dipping her low and smirking down at her.
For a moment, it’s like there’s no one else in the room except us.
Until I realize there are indeed a lot of other people in the room, and they’re all watching us.
I pull her to her feet fast, and she clears her throat, going back to her tablet.
As I run my hand through my hair, I can see Elias chuckling.
I also see a look on Ben’s face that I can’t quite read.
I wonder if it’s true that the chemistry between Charlotte and me is actually strong enough to be noticeable.