Page 27 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
Kira spoke casually. ‘It’s been a very long time,’ she said to Rav. Glancing from Ginny to Alessandra, she explained, ‘We went to school together. Bournemouth College. I did not have blue hair back then.’ She chuckled, but Mattia wasn’t convinced.
The moment at the hotel, when he’d made her tell him about her hair, there’d been something in her voice.
‘You’re an adventure guide. That’s so cool,’ Rav said. ‘You always were sportier than all of us. We’ll have to catch up.’
‘Does that mean she knows?—?’
Before the groom could finish his question, the servers entered with the main course – schnitzel or a fried potato dish with a side of pickled red cabbage – and snagged Joe’s attention away from Kira. She released a long breath through pursed lips, her expression blank.
‘It’s sweet that Joe wants to spend so much time with Alessandra, don’t you think?’
Mattia wrenched his eyes from Kira to find Carla watching him brightly. He didn’t want to talk to Carla. He wanted to bustle Kira down the hallway and into a cupboard and ask her what was going on. Hopefully, they’d get locked in the cupboard for a few hours at least. Maybe he could redo the knot of her blouse for her.
But he wasn’t locked in a cupboard with Kira. He was stranded with Carla who cut a piece of her schnitzel carefully, placing it into her mouth with as much care as she’d taken with the soup.
‘I can’t believe she’s getting married in three days.’ Carla’s eyes were misty. ‘It’s going to be such a beautiful wedding.’
With one more glance at the not-wedding planner with her shadowed eyes, full of secrets, he imagined Kira did not agree.
11
Kira would have much preferred to be trapped literally between a rock and a hard place. The groom’s talkative mother was relating in some detail her recent group tour on the Camino de Santiago. Rav’s curious looks warned her not to stray from her current conversational partner, so she was stuck racking her brain for polite responses when she knew nothing about the topic, but Nadine assumed she knew every turn and waymarker.
Dessert was finally over and Kira only needed to hold out for another few minutes, she guessed, before she could escape back to her room and hope Ginny didn’t ask too many questions. She’d got through an excruciating dinner. Another few minutes wouldn’t kill her.
‘In the first half, it rained and rained all day – my God. Luckily, they don’t advertise this route as a walk in the park, because it was such a challenge, we weren’t certain we wanted to go on. But you must have done the route a hundred times, in your job!’
Between the squeeze in her chest at how out of place she felt, the panic about Rav letting slip something she’d rather the wedding party – and especially Ginny – didn’t know, and the lingering tenderness Mattia had inflicted on her, Kira wasn’t sure she wanted to go on either. Thinking of a response was almost impossible.
‘Erm, I’ve never done it actually.’
‘You haven’t? Oh my! You absolutely must! Such a challenge, and so spiritual.’
‘My spiritual challenges involve a helmet and ropes and vertical camping. I’m not really a pilgrimage type.’
Nadine’s expression suggested Kira had punched her in the face. Shit, she hadn’t meant to insult anybody. People outside the climbing community rarely appreciated the scale of the challenges. How she wished she could escape this dinner and climb something instead.
‘I mean, the Camino is great, if that’s what you?—’
‘Kira!’ Ginny’s slightly panicked voice rose over the sound of Kira digging herself into a very deep hole. ‘We were just talking about confetti.’
She suspected her confused grimace wasn’t helping the situation, but her game face was slipping. ‘That’s just littering. Why is it even a thing?’
Complete silence greeted that statement. Kira should just wander farther into this valley until she found an actually isolated cabin, and spend the rest of her days there. It would be better than attending any more weddings. Better for everyone.
‘It’s Italian tradition,’ the bride eventually spluttered.
‘Well, in that case…’ Kira didn’t quite manage to keep her sarcastic comment under her breath.
‘Um, we have biodegradable confetti. Don’t worry,’ Ginny said with a laugh that no one would believe was natural. ‘We’re all glad the old tradition of rice was adapted so it’s not dangerous for pigeons.’
More silence. By the look on her face, Ginny would hyperventilate in about ten seconds.
‘These traditions really need to be updated sometimes. Like that garter one, where the groom takes it off with his teeth. Urgh.’ Kira shuddered, only to notice Ginny’s face going from white to red. ‘Oh God, you’re not planning to do that one, are you?’
‘It symbolises… fertility,’ Alessandra said, her expression pinched with dismay.
Crawling out of her skin at this table of people from another planet, Kira struggled to sit still, her gaze darting around the room – and finding Mattia, his eyes trained on her. Warmth rushed up her chest, but it squeezed too, knowing she shouldn’t be feeling anything when she looked at him.
