Jennifer Snow - Winter Wedding Bells - The Kiss / The Wish / The Promise

She ran a finger under her wristband, her teeth appearing on her bottom lip. “I’m...uh...getting married.”

Her eyes swerved to his for a brief moment, and her brows rose, challenging. In the distance, a raven’s caw echoed.

“Congratulations.” His overloud voice startled a cardinal from its perch, the bird’s flight a scarlet slash against the snowy landscape. After tracking its path, their gazes met again, then slid away. A chill ran through his heart. Julie? Married? But that meant taking a leap of faith...something she’d never been willing to do for him. “You must be happy.”

“Of course!” Her short, straight nose curled the way it always had when she fibbed. Funny how he remembered little things like that. He stepped close enough to see the faint, crosshatch scars beneath her right eye. The result of a tree house fall when she was ten, he recalled.

“Of course,” he repeated, reeling. Why was this news affecting him? He’d moved on long ago.

There was a long, electrifying pause before a brittle silence descended.

“Well. This isn’t even a little bit uncomfortable,” she observed at last, her full lips in a wry twist. For the first time, she met his gaze straight on and the impact made his lungs close up. Wariness curled like smoke in Julie’s eyes, but her expression hadn’t changed.

“Nah. Not at all,” he replied when his breath returned. He was intrigued, despite himself. With the lodge close, his escape route was steps away, yet he was seized by the desire to linger. He’d missed her sarcastic, quirky personality, he realized. What harm could come from a few exchanged words? They were nothing to each other now.

“Are you training here?” She laced her fingers into a hammock that swung in front of her hips.

“We’re here for a few months before touring. How did you know?” he asked, taken aback.

“I think my mother might have mentioned it.” Oddly, guilt flashed in her eyes before she dropped them.

“I didn’t know she followed winter sports.” Now that he had stopped moving, the cold air settled over his arms, raising bumps.

She put on a smile that wasn’t really a smile. “Who knows what my mother’s into lately,” she mused, her voice far away.

“Who knows what anyone’s into,” he muttered. Julie. Getting married. The concept gnawed at his gut. Why was this bugging him?

Her smile faded as he peered at her and he cursed himself for that revealing slip. “So when’s the wedding? I would have thought you’d have it at home.” He only partially succeeded in keeping the bitterness out of his voice. She’d never been willing to leave Connecticut for him...

Water under the bridge.

She slowly raised her downcast gaze. “I’m getting married at the Mirror Lake Lodge on Christmas Eve.”

His eyes flew to her left hand, a lump on her ring finger visible beneath her glove. “Congratulations. Who’s the lucky guy?” A very lucky guy, he had to admit, staring at her lovely face.

“Mason Stanton. He’s a doctor in my father’s practice.” Something lay across her voice, a long shadow. In the gray light, her skin looked pale. Not exactly a glowing bride. Then again, he supposed standing outside in below-freezing temperatures wouldn’t put him in the mood to gush, either. Especially with an ex.

“Sounds like you got what you wanted, then.” After four years together, and almost another year of long distance waiting, he’d finally realized they didn’t want the same things.

“Yes.” She rubbed her arms and jumped a little, her breath a foggy mist. The whine of Ski-Doos grew louder as a pair of the machines flashed by, deep in the woods. “How about you. Married?”

“No. Haven’t met the right lady.” He felt a pang of regret when he saw her slight wince. “Plus, I’m never in one place long enough. The team’s tour schedule is demanding, though it’s nice when we settle here for training.”

“It’s hard to imagine you ever staying in one place,” she quipped, her eyes searching his.

“It’s hard to imagine you leaving one.”

An electric charge singed the air and neither looked away. After a moment she coughed lightly into her glove, her eyes skittering sideways. “People change.”

“Not as much as we think,” he observed grimly. Something made him want to call her out. Her stubborn denial of the facts, the way she balked at risk, never took chances—on him or anything—it jabbed under his breastbone. Hard.

Her politeness melted. Suddenly there was fire in her eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

When he spoke, white puffs accentuated every word. “Come on, Julie... Marrying a doctor like your father? One who also lives in Connecticut and works in your family’s practice? What kind of change is that?”

Obviously she wanted a rerun of her childhood. Not the life he’d offered her when he’d taken a sports chiropractic and strength-training position with a Swiss team all those years ago.

Julie’s face froze, and slowly, imperceptibly, her body shrank back. “You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

He grimaced and wished he could take back that pointless rant. “You’re right. This is stupid. I’m—I’m happy for you. Glad we met up.” He dropped to one knee and tightened an unraveled shoelace, hiding his face.

Julie let out a long, shuddering breath. “Me, too. So do you live in Lake Placid?”

“I just sold my apartment, so I’m staying at the Mirror Lake Lodge until my condo is finished. It’s a new construction near Mount Van Hoevenberg. An easy commute to work.” He forced a neutral tone. Made himself take it down a notch. They weren’t new exes quibbling over who took custody of the dog.

The winter sun emerged through its cloud coverage and pierced the thick boughs around them, throwing patterns of light across her delicate profile, her skin tight around her mouth. “So you’re staying here?”

“It’s not like I’ll be in your way.” In fact, now that he knew she’d be getting married there, he’d spend more time than ever at the Olympics office or on the mountain. Anywhere but near the woman who’d found the happiness she’d denied him.

Her gold-toned skin grew pink. “I wasn’t worried about that.” The nose curl. Again. “It’s good seeing you.”

She turned back toward the trail curve, ready to disappear from his life again. And he’d let her now as he had before. It’d been the right choice when he’d made it years ago.

“Same. Good luck with everything.”

Her brows lowered and she nodded slowly. As if she needed that luck. Or was that just his imagination again? Darn it. She was happy. Leave her be.

Leave them both be.

With a wave, she jogged off. He watched the long-legged strides that carried her away, an emptiness rising in him as she vanished around the corner. Odd as it’d been to see her here after so long, it felt as though they’d picked up right where they’d left off...and that wasn’t a good place.

He didn’t miss her. So why was it so hard to watch her go?

* * *

LATER THAT EVENING, Julie pressed a hand to her rumbling stomach and looked up from her red rice cake entrée at a loud clanging sound beside her. Mason stood, trim and dapper in a pin-striped suit, pinging his cake fork against his wineglass. He looked as though he belonged in the elegant Teddy Roosevelt era in which Mirror Lake Lodge’s The View restaurant had been built. She tried imagining him in the outdoors, sweating despite the cold, exertion brightening his eyes the way it had Austin’s. She failed.

Austin... Mason... How similar their names were. Was that a coincidence or another connection to Austin she’d repressed? It still rankled that she’d somehow picked the one wedding venue where she might cross paths with her moving target of an ex. It couldn’t mean anything, surely.