Chapter 3
3
Oscar
Three months later
Everything was not perfect.
As Cam, Cian and I approached the yacht club, aka our perfect wedding venue, the sun glinted off the ocean. Brightly coloured boats bobbed calmly in their moorings and the gentle knock of fiberglass hulls against wooden docks was a calming melody that did nothing to settle the churning in my gut at the sight of the florist and event coordinator leaning by the front entrance.
They should have been deep into set-up, seeing as we were only two hours out from go time.
“Hey guys, what’s happening?” I asked cautiously, shifting my suit bag from my shoulder to drape over my forearm. While Mia had been up at the crack of dawn for hair appointments, make-up and all the other preparations that went into her bridal appearance, I didn’t trust myself to put the suit on for another half an hour at least. Sure, I wore suits all the time during the hockey season, but this felt different. Like I could jinx myself, and the wedding, if I didn’t wait to get ready until the last minute. Which felt like a stupid thought at nine o’clock this morning when I first made the decision.
Now? Not so much.
The florist flicked his cigarette at the back wheel of his truck while Allie, our event manager, turned a worried smile on us.
“So, it seems the venue has double booked the room for your ceremony. They’re saying they can still accommodate the reception in a smaller conference room, but the space won’t be available for setup until seven o’clock tonight. I’m so sorry, Oscar. I don’t know how this happened. We double checked the booking last week and they didn’t mention anything then, but this morning they’re insistent that they have no record of it.” Her eyes shone with the promise of tears, and I looked away quickly before my own eyes filled up. I hated being a sympathy crier, dammit.
Okay. Focus on a solution. We had no venue for the ceremony.
“Can you lean on them for an earlier time for setup? Cam, go with her and see what you can do. If we have a space to come back to then we just need to find somewhere else for the ceremony.”
Cian pulled his cell from his pocket and started tapping away.
“On it.”
Thank god I had my boys with me. I could handle this with their help. Mia deserved the perfect wedding, and I sure as shit wanted to make it happen for her.
Cam and Allie went into the venue and I tried to remember to take long, slow breaths to avoid going full Groomzilla on the staff who had been more than happy to take an exorbitant amount for a deposit, but apparently couldn’t read a calendar.
“We’ll figure this out,” Cian said, clapping my shoulder with one hand while the other continued to scroll.
“I don’t know if anywhere would have a space at this late notice, but what about somewhere outside? There’s a beach down the road that looks really nice.”
“What about seagulls?” Even the thought of being that close to the ocean made phantom gull-shrieks whisper in the back of my mind.
“I dunno, man. It looks pretty sheltered. You might be safe. Besides, do you really want to call Mia and tell her the wedding isn’t happening?”
The answer to that was hell no . Knowing my practical soon-to-be-wife, she’d likely turn around and insist we go to the courthouse. She deserved better than that.
“Let’s go check out the beach as soon as Cam is back.”
A few minutes later, we were on the road having shared our plan and tasked Allie with sourcing chairs. Cam had worked his magic and confirmed the reception space for an entire hour earlier.
“If the ceremony is at three and runs for an hour, that gives us a two hour window until we can get into the space.”
“Add half an hour for set up. Cam interrupted my mental math.
“Fine. Two and a half hours until we can be in the space. We can encourage the guests to head up to the public bar area while they wait and if the club has anything to say about it, they can bite me. They put us in this mess.”
I gripped the steering wheel tight, catching Cian’s stare out of the corner of my eye.
“What?”
“Nothing, man. I just didn’t know you could get this level of stressed off the ice.”
This was highly unusual for me, but today was important.
In the back seat, Cam snorted.
“We’re talking about something to do with Mia.”
Cian, asshole that he was, snapped his fingers and pointed a finger as my childhood best friend.
“Touche.”
“I hate you both,” I muttered, turning onto a dirt road and stopping short at the sight of a heavy chain in the way.
“I got it,” Cian announced. He jumped out of the car and cleared the way, dropping the chain off to the side where it wouldn’t get in anyone else’s way.
“It’s kinda dangerous to have it swinging there like that, isn’t it? Like, what if we didn’t see it and wrecked the car?” he said, sliding back into the front passenger seat.
It was a good point, so I made sure to go slow, steering down the long road to a sheltered cove that would make a perfect spot for Mia and I to say our vows.
Golden sand, littered with chunks of driftwood, stretched down to blue green waves that washed gently along the shore. The breeze was fresh with just a little salty bite to it, and I breathed deeply as I imagined the space with rows of seating holding our nearest and dearest while Mia and I pledged our lives to each other. In just hours, that vision would be reality, and I couldn’t wait.
Best of all, the sand was perfectly smooth. No hint of a seagull’s footprint marred the surface, and there was no sound beyond the soft hiss of the waves.
“How soon can we get set up?”
I turned to Cian, my grin dropping away at the sight of two uniformed men stomping over the sand.
“Hands where we can see them!”
All three of us reached for the sky like we were in a black and white western movie.
“Is there a problem here, Officers?” Cian asked, frowning at the service issued sidearms that were pointed directly at us.
“Are you giving me attitude, kid?”
“What?” Cian’s arms dropped, his face a picture of confusion.
The officer seemed to have taken an instant dislike to my friend and reacted to his confusion with unbridled aggression.
“Get your hands where I can see them.” He stomped forward, gun leveled at Cian’s chest.
“You’re all under arrest for trespassing. So keep your fucking mouths shut unless you want to make things worse for yourselves.”
We took the officer’s advice and kept quiet as the three of us were cuffed and escorted away from our perfect location and into the waiting cop car.
The backseat was unforgivably small with three athletes taking up the space, but the cops didn’t take kindly to the suggestion that one of us sit in the front instead, so I dropped my head back on a sigh, hoping we could get this misunderstanding sorted out quickly once we got to the station.
The day had looked so bright to start.
I could only pray things were going better for Mia.
And that we could use our phone call to find someone to bail us out in time for the wedding.