Page 56 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
‘Aren’t you coming?’
He shook his head. ‘The van’s not locked.’ That was his excuse anyway. She looked ready to protest, so he continued, ‘Go get warm and then talk to him. You can work it out, the two of you. It’s not your wedding day yet. He’s allowed to see you.’
She nodded, placated, but what she said next made him grit his teeth. ‘And you can wait here for Carla – and the mistletoe. I’m sure Ginny will need help hanging it.’
He waved off Alessandra and the groomsmen as the sled leapt forward. After they’d disappeared into the gloom on the other side of the stream, he shivered, stomping his feet to keep warm. Even inside his new boots, his toes were turning numb. He considered retreating into the van and closing the door, but it was cold in there as well, so he kept moving instead. He hoped Kira would notice what he’d put himself through because he wanted to talk to her, if he could still speak through his chattering teeth.
‘What are you still doing here?’
With the wind whipping in his ears, he hadn’t heard Kira approaching. She trudged over to the van, shoving the box of decorations inside and locking up. He didn’t answer her question, preoccupied by her belligerent tone.
The buzz of the snowmobile reached his ears again and he glanced warily at Carla and Tonya before leaning close and saying, ‘I was waiting for you.’
He let that sink in, watching surprise and pleasure give way to dismay on her face. She’d kissed him – kissed him, in a way no one else in his life had ever kissed him. But she seemed keen to forget it had ever happened, pretend she’d never felt anything.
‘Did Alessandra tell you to wait for Carla?’
He suspected her flat tone might hide jealousy, but he wanted that too much to trust his judgement. ‘Yes, but?—’
Norbert roared back into the car park, the layer of ice in his moustache even thicker than before. He shook Kira’s hand.
‘I’m glad you made it. There’s some food for Yolanda to warm for you later, but Katy had to go and collect her children and I don’t want to make any more trips up after this.’
Mattia frowned, glancing between Kira and the concierge in alarm.
‘Thanks. What about tomorrow?’ she asked. ‘The forecast is clear, but what state will the road be in? Are we going to be able to get down?’
Norbert grimaced. ‘I’ll organise you a snow groomer, just to be safe.’
Mattia’s mind wandered, picturing a snow groomer as a dapper older man with slicked-back hair and a wide selection of razors for shaving snowmen, before he remembered it was the hulking vehicle that had taken them down the slopes to the restaurant yesterday.
‘Okay, thanks,’ Kira responded.
‘Where’s the other one?’ Norbert asked gruffly, gesturing just below his lip to indicate Ginny’s piercing. Mattia’s gaze shot to Kira’s in alarm.
She muttered a curse and rummaged for her phone. ‘Give me a second to find out where she is.’
‘This cannot be happening!’ Ginny whined over the line. Kira heard a thud that was probably her colleague banging a hand on the steering wheel. ‘I’m not going to make it. The traffic isn’t moving and I’m only just out of Mayrhofen.’
Kira pulled the phone from her ear to check the time. There were barely two hours of daylight left. ‘Okay, Ginny, listen up. Turn around and go back to Mayrhofen.’
‘What? There’s a wedding tomorrow!’
‘I haven’t forgotten,’ she said drily. ‘But I’m a guide, remember, and this is a snow emergency, not a wedding emergency.’ The kind of emergency she could actually deal with.
Ginny took a deep breath. ‘Right. You’re right.’
‘I don’t want to risk you getting stuck on the road in the middle of nowhere this afternoon. Find a hotel in Mayrhofen and keep warm. Overnight, the snowploughs will clear the roads and you’ll get here in plenty of time. Norbert has said he’ll arrange a snow groomer, so you’ll be able to catch a lift back up.’ At least she hoped so. If she ended up in charge of this wedding, she didn’t want to know what might go wrong. But ensuring Ginny stayed safe was a bigger priority even than the vows.
‘A snow groomer?’ Ginny said. ‘But I booked reindeer. Alessandra wanted to arrive at her wedding in a sleigh with reindeer. They’re coming all the way from?—’
‘I’m sorry, Ginny, but I doubt Alessandra is getting her reindeer,’ Kira said tightly.
‘This is such a dis?—’
‘It’ll make a great story once it’s all over,’ she assured Ginny – another mountaineering dictum that she didn’t exactly trust in this context.
‘I could tell my grandchildren,’ she said with a chuckle, ‘if I ever meet someone to have the children with,’ she added with a groan. ‘Isn’t this just my rotten luck? I haven’t kissed anyone in a year and now I’m up to my neck in mistletoe – all alone!’
