Donna Alward - Best Man For The Wedding Planner

In five years of planning weddings, there hadn’t been a situation she couldn’t handle or remedy, most times without the bride and groom or the guests even guessing that anything had gone awry. Crisis management was something she was good at, and the time crunch of the wedding day barely ruffled her feathers.

“The wedding party arrives today, and we’re going out for some fun tonight,” Holly said, her posture much more relaxed as they walked to the door of the massive ballroom. “I think I might need it.”

“No bachelor party or bachelorette?”

Holly shook her head. “We decided against it. Pete’s best man is coming in from Toronto, and my maid of honor is pregnant, and the rest of the wedding party is all from Calgary and we went out a while ago.” A blush colored her cheeks, and Adele wondered why. A crazy hen night, perhaps? “Anyway, we’re just going to head into town for some dinner and maybe a few drinks. Keep it low-key.”

Considering the wedding was definitely not low-key, Adele was surprised. But low-key in Banff could still be pricey, and Pete and Holly weren’t sparing any expense. It was one of the most lavish weddings Adele had ever planned.

“Sounds lovely,” she replied as they stopped just inside the door. Adele reached for her coat; tomorrow and the next day would be incredibly long and right now she wanted to head home, respond to some emails and phone calls from her in-house office, and then have a glass of wine and some dinner and fall into bed.

She shrugged into her heavy coat and reached inside the pocket for gloves. At least the happy couple had decided on a January wedding and Holly wasn’t being married at Christmas. That might have been a little too hokey. Holly had indeed wanted red as her color at first, but Adele had shown her some photos of other weddings and convinced her to go with navy and silver. Far less predictable, especially now that the holiday decorations were down. Instead of red and green, they could use the cool blues to focus on snowflakes and winter.

“Oh!” Holly stopped and turned back. “I meant to ask you about the ice sculptures. Is there any way we can make them last longer? It would be so neat to have them last all the way through the evening.”

The sculptures weren’t huge and unless they were put outside, they would melt at a pace consistent with the temperature of the room. “We’ll put them out at the last possible minute,” Adele assured her. “But it depends on the heat of the room. That’s one thing I can’t control,” she advised, and put her handbag over her shoulder. “It’s a huge room, but the temp goes up when it’s filled with people.”

Holly looked disappointed, but didn’t persist, much to Adele’s relief. They were just making their way to the lobby when Holly gave a squeal and picked up her pace.

“Lisa! Dan!”

Adele was adjusting her purse strap, but when she finally looked up, her heart froze and her feet stopped moving. Holly skipped forward and hugged first the woman, and then the man standing in a tan wool coat with one hand on the handle of his suitcase and a garment bag over his other arm.

Dan. Just saying his name in her head made her heart squeeze a little. Daniel Brimicombe. Of all the Dans in Toronto, he had to be the best man. It was too far-fetched to be even comical, but here he was, in the flesh, smiling widely for the bride. The man Adele had once planned to marry. The one who’d whispered plans in her ear in the dark.

The man whose heart she’d broken...and in the breaking of it, broke her own.

Best man Dan.

Adele Hawthorne, wedding planner extraordinaire, solver of problems and manager of crises, stood rooted to the spot with her mouth dropped open and her hands hanging uselessly at her sides. This was one wrinkle that she hadn’t seen coming.

“Did you come from the airport together? How smart! Come on, meet my wedding planner. She’s amazing.”

Adele heard the words and tried to unscramble the mess that was her brain. Dan hadn’t noticed her yet, thankfully. She was still trying to recover, and it was difficult because he hadn’t changed at all. Oh, sure, there was a slight maturity in his face but really...it was like it had been eight days rather than eight years since they’d seen each other. Dark, perfect hair, just a little stubble on his chin, and the way his coat fit on his shoulders...as if it had been specifically tailored for his build.

He’d always carried himself with that calm confidence. She’d envied it back then. Still did.

And then he adjusted his garment bag, turned around and saw her.

His face paled. “Delly?”

Her throat tightened. Damn. He’d used his old nickname for her, and that made it a hundred times worse. She wasn’t Delly. Not anymore.

“You know Adele? Oh, my God, that’s so weird!” Holly seemed totally unaware of the shock rippling between Adele and Dan, though Lisa—whom Adele knew was one of the bridesmaids—seemed to be cluing in.

Dan recovered first, and the color came back in his cheeks as he smiled. The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We knew each other in university. I haven’t seen her in eight years.”

Eight years, seven months and a couple of weeks, if they were going to be exact about it.

“Hi, Dan. It’s good to see you.” It wasn’t a lie. It was a huge mess, but it was good to see him. What had happened hadn’t been his fault. He’d done nothing wrong.

His eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe she’d said such a thing, and then he nodded. “Likewise.”

Holly finally sensed the tension and stepped in, looking back and forth at them with a small wrinkle between her eyebrows. “You should see the job she’s done putting all this together. I would have been so lost.” She smiled, but it had a worried edge to it.

Lisa held out her hand. “Hi, I’m one of the bridesmaids. Did you help find the dresses? Because I love mine.”

“Oh, I’m glad,” Adele answered, smiling through her anxiety. “There’ll be a seamstress here tomorrow for any last-minute alterations.” She chanced a look at Dan. “For the groomsmen, too. In case anything needs adjusting.”

“Great.”

The rock in the pit of her stomach got heavier.

“Listen,” Holly said, “why don’t you two catch up? Dan, we’re having dinner in town tonight. I’m sure Pete’s given you the details.”

“Actually, he hasn’t, and I’d like to get settled and make a few phone calls before we go out. There are a few things I forgot to tell my assistant before I left.”

Assistant. She didn’t even know what he’d done after he’d finished his business degree.

Plus, he’d basically just said that he had no interest in talking to her at all. Not that she deserved any consideration. She’d never told him the real reason why she’d broken off their relationship, only that she didn’t feel the same anymore. It had been a lie, but at the time she felt it was the kindest thing to say.

As the trio walked away toward the elevators, Adele swallowed the lump in her throat. It hadn’t been a complete lie, after all. She hadn’t felt the same after she’d left her doctor’s office. Her feelings for Dan hadn’t changed, but her feelings about herself and her place in his life had.

The word cancer tended to do that. Especially paired with the word infertility . She’d known he’d be better off without her.

* * *

Dan had to stop gritting his teeth so tightly. If he didn’t, he was going to give himself a toothache, a headache or both.

But seeing Adele this afternoon had been so unexpected that he hadn’t had any time to think or prepare. It had just hit him— wham —right in the solar plexus.