Chapter 11
JASON
It’s a perfect day to take one last trip to Steamboat before the season closes.
But where am I?
Racing from Boulder back to Colorado Springs to look at a wedding venue for my cousin and his high-maintenance fiancée. Marek fucking owes me. Way to ruin my weekend, buddy.
When I heard they would extend the ski season this year, I was so excited. But look how well that worked out. Saturdays are supposed to be fun days.
I don’t ask for much. I just need a place, a plan, a beautiful companion, and a bottle of liquor.
See? Straight forward, nice and easy. That keeps me satiated for an entire weekend. It really doesn’t take much to keep me happy and satisfied.
What’s abso-fucking-lutely not satisfying, is touring the grounds of the Broadmoor to scout the perfect place for a shotgun wedding.
“So, what’s wrong with Vegas again?” I suggest, half joking.
Eileen shrugs. “Nothing. It’s a great town. Lots of movies take place there. I don’t know why people hate on it so much.”
“But for a shotgun wedding or maybe eloping?” I clarify. “My assistant can make the reservations. I’ll get a plane. We’ll be there before six. There are plenty of venues. We could probably pick one on the spot.”
She laughs. Like seriously laughs for about a minute like I just said the funniest, most amazing joke in the history of jokes.
When she finally sobers up, she asks with that curious voice, “Did you run that idea by Charlie already?”
I rub the back of my neck sheepishly. “No.”
“Well if you do,” she says excited, and that excites me too. Finally, I found the solution to end this madness. “I want to be right there. I’ll have my camera ready.”
Is she mocking me?
I shoot her an unimpressed frown. “I’m not joking.”
“Me neither.” She shakes her head, laughing once again. “She’ll try to kill you right on the spot. That’s worth taping.”
“Oh, come on. It’s a great idea,” I insist.
“You’re talking about my sister,” she says, waving the wedding journal in my face. “She thinks the only wedding worth having is a wedding that’s as glamorous as a royal affair.”
“We could make Vegas glamorous,” I grumble.
“Mom wouldn’t like it either,” she continues, setting the faults of my awesome idea. “What about the guests? Would you fly all of them, pay for the accommodations and their expenses?”
Well, I can’t argue with that. I shrug. She smiles and looks back at the horizon. “I think either here or the Mountain View Terrace.
So, we’re back at planning the event. “What are you thinking?”
She hums. “I think the Mountain View Terrace would be perfect at sunset. Especially if we take this place up on that discount for doing Friday Morning instead of that evening or Saturday.”
That sounds reasonable. “Okay, but will her royal obnoxiousness, Princess Charlie, agree to that?”
Eileen snorts. “As long as it looks amazing on her Instagram account, I’m sure she’ll agree to that.”
She seems so sure of herself. But with all the bullshit we’ve been through and all the crap her sister’s put her through, I don’t want us to fuck this up.
“But is this the place?” I ask earnestly.
She looks around for a bit. Her eyes comb over every inch of this place so meticulously.
“What do you think?” I ask again, while she studies the landscape and compares it with the pictures.
She stands in the middle of the gazebo and looks left, right and then toward the mountains.
“Does it make you want to say I do?” she asks curiously.
I shake my head. “There’s nothing that would make me stand up in front of a bunch of people and say ‘I do.’”
Again, I don’t say.
“So, a smaller setting?” She doesn’t even look at me as she talks. She’s admiring the mountain view. “This isn’t too big. They said up to a hundred and thirty guests. We don’t have to invite everyone to the ceremony. We’ll take whatever they have for the reception.”
It’s still too many people, I think.
She turns back to me as if reading my fucking mind. “You’re being weirdly quiet. Still deciding about your ideal wedding?”
Instead of responding, I ask a question of my own. “Does this place make you want to tie your life to another person?”
She squints, craning her neck to look up at me. For a few beats, she remains quiet.
“I don’t know if this is the place,” she answers. “First I’d need the right guy. I’m not getting married to just anyone.”
“So, you’re still looking for him?”
She turns to look at me and flashes this smile she has on her face so fucking much. There’s such tenderness in those eyes. Her face, and that smile, just soothes me.
“I’m too busy to get a haircut let alone date someone who isn't worth my time,” she says with a soft voice. “But you know, I wouldn’t marry someone just because of a broken condom.”
“Like your sister,” I say what she’s trying to avoid.
She shrugs.
“I look at her and Marek, and I’m just not feeling it” she says, taking the scene in one more time before walking toward me. “Wouldn’t you want to organize the most important day of your life?”
“I think they're busy trying to score a house,” I say, knowing they were with Jack and Emmeline earlier today.
Marek is visiting everyone who would be willing to listen to him. I just don’t think he’ll find what Charlie is looking for. A brand new four-bedroom home—free of charge.
“When I find a guy worth shit,” Eileen says. “I don’t want to be worried about a wedding or where we’re going to live.”
The air is thin here. It goes well with the crisp afternoon air. Eileen is cool but calloused when it comes to love. I wonder if it's a family trait and she's just a gold digger.
So, I prod a little. “What if he can only afford a studio, doesn’t have a car, and can’t afford to pay for the wedding of your dreams?”
“Maybe that’s why 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce,” she answers.
“People get married all the time for all the wrong reasons. You do it because you’ve come to realize that someone cares enough to see your bullshit and love you anyway.
If you’re too concerned about her looks, her job, where she lives. .. you're wasting your time.”
She sighs. “I don’t think that many weddings are about love. They're a convoluted status symbol. If you want it so badly, just elope.”
My eyebrows shoot up. Well fuck, I wasn't expecting that. “What if you can afford the wedding of your dreams?”
She gives me an impish smile. “Then, I’ll think about inviting a few people and do something small. Ten, fifteen people from each side of the family. You seem like the kind of guy that would let her do everything, and pay for it. You like to please people.”
Now she’s analyzing me. Sweetheart, you don’t know me at all.
“And why the fuck would I do that?” I ask defensively.
That last statement doesn’t sit well. We don’t know each other, and she just assumes—not that she’s wrong about it.
“Middle child,” she responds. “We have the tendency to make everyone happy, right?”
Well, she got me there, didn’t she?
“Maybe I would help her organize it.” I let my gaze wander around anywhere but in her direction. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Come on,” she says inviting me to stand right by the gazebo. “Let’s try this out.”
“Try it?”
“Duh, we need to test drive this place.” She extends her hand wiggling her fingers as she calls me to her. “What do you think?”
I take her hand. It's warm. Her grip soft, yet firm. She feels so familiar. I don’t know what it is that I’m waiting for as I stand right in front of her. She squeezes my hand, kinda like she's saying “chill the fuck out.”
Reluctantly, I take a deep breath. This place smells like pine with hints of hazelnut and cherry? Warm and bright, just like her. Her eyes stare at me curiously. Then, she nudges me to stare at the horizon again.
“Could you?” she whispers with a chuckle. “Doesn’t it make you want to fall stupidly in love?”
The sky goes on forever. Just like her laugh. My breath catches. I almost forgot what it’s like being up here, waiting for something that’ll never come to pass.
I swallow thickly, terrified of how she made my heart beat faster. “Yeah.”