Chapter Eleven
Sabrina
“DON’T YOU FEEL LIKE IT’S kind of sacrilegious to have a bachelorette party on a Sunday night?” I asked Mia as we walked up the stairs to the second floor of the lodge where the spa was located. My sister had seen Crazy Rich Asians one too many times and wanted to re-create the massage scene. So, soon I would be lying naked on a table, covered with only a sheet to separate me from ten other nude women and eleven massage therapists, most of whom Soren had brought in specially for the occasion because my parents only had a few on staff, including my sister. The amount of money the man had astounded me and made me even more suspicious of him.
My sleuthing wasn’t going so well, other than I now had definitive confirmation that he wasn’t Norwegian. I was quite proud of myself for coming up with the cake-tasting plan and seamlessly working bunads and apple wine into the conversation, neither of which he seemed to understand the significance of in Norwegian culture.
“It does feel a little wrong,” Mia whispered. “But this is Lexi.”
Lexi had always been, let’s say, bratty, spoiled, self-centered. You get the picture. I mean, I love her. Obviously I do. I wouldn’t go to all this trouble to find some solid evidence to save her from marrying Soren if I didn’t. I prayed to find something before Saturday. When I asked Daddy about his thoughts on the groom, he’d responded, “You know my opinion doesn’t hold weight in these matters, and your sister will make her own decisions regardless.” Well, she could marry a psycho for all we knew. Even the idiot, Cash, had a bad feeling about the guy.
And then there was the audacity of that jerk agreeing to be in the wedding, although I couldn’t deny he would look freaking fantastic in a tuxedo. Somehow, he’d even managed to win over Genevieve last night, going on and on about our time in France and how I’d taught him how to bake. Really, it was mostly kissing lessons in the kitchen, and he was more of the teacher there. Holy heavens, could the man kiss. But that was neither here nor there because we were never kissing again, and I was going to ignore him. And little did he know he’d only given me more incentive to stop this wedding by agreeing to be part of it. No way would I walk down the aisle with him.
“On a brighter note. How are things going with you and Drew?”
Mia gave me a knowing grin. “You know us—it’s never going anywhere.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re both stubborn, and the man told me he couldn’t love me more than he loved Charming Cove.”
“I don’t know if that’s true. But do you want to move back home to Tennessee?” I asked uneasily. She and Drew had been practically inseparable, and no one made her smile like he did.
“Does it make me a bad person if I say no?”
“Of course not.”
“You know I love it here, but it’s nice not having our family all up in our business all the time. And even though I know my mama would never admit it, I think she’s proud of me for getting out of this town and making something of myself. Drew doesn’t get that. Not that there’s anything wrong with staying at home—it’s just we could never do here what we do in Park City.”
This was true. The resort was the biggest draw around, and the restaurant handled any catering needs for all the events that took place on the property.
“Why does love have to be so complicated?” I sighed.
She nudged me as we made it to the second floor. “Are you saying you’re in love with Cash?”
“Noooo,” I exaggerated way too much. Sure, I’d been in love with him, but I’d be foolish to be in love with him now. Not only had Cash left me, but I wasn’t even sure he was entirely human. Why couldn’t I take a photo of him? It was possible he was a vampire, except he didn’t wither and die in the sun, and neither crosses nor garlic seemed to bother him. Strike that theory.
Mia grabbed my arm and sincerely asked, “Are you sure? I mean, the man is oh so fine, and the way he was looking at you last night with such intense tenderness was really sweet. Don’t get me wrong: I still hate the guy for leaving you like he did, but if you wanted to change your mind about him, I would try to change my mind too.”
I wrapped my arms around Mia. “I won’t be changing my mind about him, but thank you for being here with me. You’re my sanity.”
Mia squeezed me tight. “You know I’m here for you, but no more baking extravaganzas unless it’s more layers for the wedding cake.”
I felt bad about yesterday, but I had to do something to check out Soren. At least we were able to knock out most of the layers for the wedding cake and freeze them until we began assembling the cake on Friday. Well, hopefully by Friday Soren would be out of the picture. Sadly, even if I proved he wasn’t who he said he was, I had a feeling Lexi was going to hate me for ruining her wedding. They appeared to be very into each other, and he spoiled Lexi, which she loved.
I had to ask myself: was I taking away her dream or preventing her worst nightmare? It was possible she’d never forgive me or even believe me if I presented cold hard facts to her, proving Soren was a liar. Honestly, I didn’t even know why I felt so driven to expose him. It was so not like me—I was a live-and-let-live kind of person. There’s less drama that way. But something was very wrong with this situation. I felt it deep inside, and it scared me.
“I promise, no more crazy baking days until we get home.”
“Good. Now let’s go get pampered.”
I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad to let Soren pay for someone to work out all the knots in my back—caused by him and this ridiculous wedding. And ... Cash. Not sure where he was, but he’d better not show up to the bachelorette party. Knowing my luck, Lexi had hired him to serve us snacks while shirtless. Would I ogle that chest? Oh yes, I would, but I would silently scold myself while doing so.
Mia and I were the last ones to arrive. All the other women in the bridal party were already in tiny silk terra-cotta-colored robes and sipping on fruity cocktails in the spa’s lobby. Lexi was in the center of it all, wearing a tiara while swaying and laughing as loud music blared. Like Nana would say, this wedding was getting too precious. I knew Mama thought Lexi should have asked me to be her maid of honor, but I wouldn’t have given her the experience Jade, her best friend, had offered her. I didn’t think big and loud like this.
Jade grabbed Mia and me and handed us our robes. “Hurry and put these on and meet us out on the terrace.”
“The terrace?” Mia questioned. “It’s only forty degrees outside.”
“We have heaters set up, duh. It was the only place big enough to accommodate all of us.”
I had wondered where we were all going to be. I figured they’d just crammed a few tables into the three different treatment rooms the spa had. Never could I have guessed Lexi would be serious about making this as close to the Crazy Rich Asians scene as possible. I should have known better.
Mia and I did as Jade instructed, although we murmured about it the entire time. Within a few minutes we exited the loudness of the spa, wearing our tiny robes and shivering on the terrace, where classical piano music serenaded us and eleven hulking massage therapists—both male and female—stared us down. Uh ... did Soren fly them in from a bodybuilding competition?
“Someone better crank up the heaters,” Mia complained out loud. I loved that about her.
Jade clucked her tongue. “They were just turned on, and the beds are heated, so you’ll be plenty warm.”
Tell that to my goose bumps. I wanted to crawl under the cover sheet on one of the beds, but I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted the hulking creatures touching me.
“Pick a table, ladies,” Jade shouted.
Mia and I ran to the beds at the end, near two large standing heaters, the kind restaurants use during the cold months so people can still enjoy patio dining. Unfortunately, two brutish-looking men walked over to our massage beds. Seriously, their biceps were as big as their heads.
When my massage therapist, whose name tag read Felix, pulled down the cover for me, I squeaked out, “Be gentle.” I tried to sound like I was teasing, but I meant it.
His stoic face didn’t move a muscle.
With great trepidation, I crawled onto the bed, and Felix pulled the sheet and blanket over me. “Feel free to take your robe off.”
Uh ... “Don’t you think we should have a conversation first?” I teased, trying to ease my nerves.
Once again, Felix failed to find me amusing. He just waited for me to get uncomfortable .
I shimmied out of my robe, making sure the sheet covering me didn’t move an inch. As soon as my robe was off, Felix became my new best friend when he placed hot stones on top of the covers. Instantly, I stopped shivering and let out a deep sigh.
Mia and I looked at each other and tried not to giggle at the position we’d found ourselves in.
“I’ll start with your feet and work my way up,” Felix informed me in his deep, rumbly, probably steroid-laced voice.
I nodded, thinking maybe I’d just have him work on my feet the entire time. Who didn’t love a good foot rub? You know who was excellent at giving foot rubs? Cash. Ugh. I needed to stop thinking about him.
The terrace quieted as soon as the massage therapists went to work. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about who was rubbing my feet, only that he was excellent at his job. Like wow, he had magic hands.
Unfortunately, the quiet didn’t last. Jade and several of the other bridesmaids asked Lexi to recount how she and Soren met, like we all hadn’t heard the story at least a dozen times. I’d heard it from Lexi at least three times since I’d arrived.
Lexi was more than happy to gush about it. “Soren is such an adventurer, and he loves spelunking. And everyone knows we have one of the best cave systems in the world. He was doing a tour, and at the time I was totally into Shane, one of the tour guides, so I frequently joined his tours. I had no idea I would meet the love of my life this go-around.” She sighed. “It was so romantic. I almost slipped on the wet rocks while we were passing one of the underground waterfalls. He caught me, and it was love at first sight.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but couldn’t. It was kind of how I’d felt about Cash. There I went, thinking about him again.
“Soren said finding me was like discovering buried treasure.”
Several of the bridesmaids oohed and aahed.
Maybe it was kind of sweet, but something about Soren was fishy, so it tainted the entire story.
I hoped I would now be granted the privilege of going back to simply focusing on Felix’s heavenly touch. That was wishful thinking.
Lexi had the worst idea ever. “Let’s play truth or dare.”
What? No. The only sound you should hear during a massage is soothing music. Sadly, all the other women, excluding Mia and me, thought it was a great idea. Either that, or they were all afraid of Bridezilla. It was probably the latter.
So while Felix worked his magic, and I do mean magic, I had to listen to the cringiest confessions of all time. Nothing was out of bounds for Lexi to ask. Everything from Have you ever cheated on someone? to What’s the meanest thing you’ve ever done? to Who do you hate the mos t ? Let me just say I didn’t want to be friends with Lexi’s friends. One girl admitted to cheating, one to using sextortion, and Jade admitted to hating Lizzie in the group. I guess it was okay, because Lizzie said she hated Jade. I would have been in tears if someone had said that to me.
By the time my dear sister made it to me, I’d made up my mind to say dare. No way was I confessing anything to these vicious women. Not that I had any big secrets. I’d certainly never cheated on anyone, and the worst thing I’d managed to do was when we pranked our teachers in high school by wrapping all the chairs in bubble wrap. I still felt guilty about it.
“Okay, Sabrina,” Lexi evilly sang. “Truth or dare, big sister.”
“Dare.”
A hush went across the terrace.
Oh. Crap. Did these women know something I didn’t know? I figured the dare would be along the lines of I dare you to jump in the lake or something. But it was my sister, and she was in her Bridezilla era.
I stilled under the sheet, awaiting my fate.
“Ooh, dare.” Lexi sounded way too excited. She thought for a moment, which only made me more nervous.
Mia caught my eye and mouthed, This isn’t going to be good.
I groaned, and not because Felix was working his way up my calves—oh baby, did his hands play them like a fiddle.
Lexi finally decided my fate and announced with evil delight, “You need to ask Cash to borrow his underwear for ten minutes.”
Apparently, someone had been watching Mama’s old John Hughes collection. News flash: this wasn’t Sixteen Candles, I wasn’t Anthony Michael Hall, and Cash certainly wasn’t Molly Ringwald. “No,” I said simply.
“You have to,” Lexi whined. “Those are the rules.”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to.” Jade sighed. “That man is superfine.”
“And he obviously likes you,” Lexi added. “I’m doing you a favor, even though Soren isn’t all that happy he’s going to be in our wedding. He says there’s something weird about him he doesn’t like.”
Yeah, I bet there was. Maybe because Cash, for all his faults, could see right through Soren and his fake accent.
“Maybe he’s jealous,” Jade surmised. “I mean, compared to Cash, Soren is—”
“Soren is what?” Lexi snipped.
“Nothing.” Jade backed off, even though we all knew what she’d almost said: Cash was the sexiest, mostly human thing around. Still not sure of his origins.
“Listen, Soren is the handsomest, kindest man in the world. He puts up with me, and he makes all my dreams come true. And no one loves me like he does. He doesn’t care if I’m a brat sometimes or if I get grouchy. He’s perfect for me. So no one had better say anything bad about him,” Lexi warned.
Oh crap. She really did love him, and maybe he loved her too. But that still didn’t mean he was a good guy. It only meant my sister would never forgive me if I broke Soren and her apart. The question was, could I forgive myself if I didn’t? Agh! No one prepared me for this kind of drama. What was I to do?
“You’re getting Cash’s underwear, and you can thank me later,” Lexi snapped.
“Fine,” I accepted the challenge, only because I did need something from Cash—his help. I hoped his friends could get that background check. More importantly, I hoped Cash had some clean underwear available.