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“Piper was mistaken,” Liam said, smoothing Kiernan’s faux pax with Canadian niceness.
Mrs. Applebaum turned her gaze to Piper. Her eyes held a Mama-bear-squatting-over-her-cub fervor. “I’m sure she was.”
Giggles came from the right. Dahlia and her sorority sisters formed a half circle around the bride and were posing with fake, throw-pillow-sized strawberries.
Dahlia waved wildly to the guys, motioning them over.
“What does she want?” Mikah asked.
“Bro, let’s meet the ladies.” Kiernan walked toward the sorority alumni like he’d been lassoed by a bikini model in a liquor store.
Piper hung back while the men posed.
The women fawned and not fifteen minutes later, Dahlia escorted the players back to Piper. “Thank you so much for doing this. It’s time for the guys to take off now.”
Liam gazed back over his shoulder at the ladies. “I only got the one glass of champagne. And half of that was fruit.”
Kiernan gave him a thumbs-up in agreement. “Time to pop a cork.”
“Things are going so well.” Dahlia kept them moving toward the parking lot. “Let’s get you those drinks tomorrow. Limo will make the rounds to pick you up at nine a.m.”
* * *
The sun rose, ushering in Warren and Willow’s wedding. Piper didn’t want to stand out or draw any attention to herself on this special day, so she wore a demure powder-blue dress and felt confident with her choice as she climbed the church steps.
But she couldn’t say she felt good about attending. What had Dahlia been thinking? Watching her ex get hitched was going to be so awkward.
On one hand, walking in with a group of famous hockey guys made traveling under the radar impossible. Their height, their looks, and their overall presence drew scrutiny. On the other hand, they received all the attention instead of her.
Being here wouldn’t be so bad. Piper rubbed her arms.
Mikah threw his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “You’ve got this.”
That was nice, she’d take his support.
The usher came up to their group. His boutonniere consisted of a red rose, baby’s breath, and a tiny faux strawberry. “Bride or groom’s side?”
Considering she had a rabid dislike of both, the question truly stumped her. Piper did a quick scan for Dahlia. She was easy to spot, even from behind, because of the starburst bloom in the back of her blonde updo. She was on the right. “Groom’s please.”
The usher held out his arm.
Mikah stepped forward. “I’ve got her.”
He hadn’t earned the possessiveness, but she wasn’t fighting him today. They walked to their appointed aisle and slid onto the pew. Fine, today would go well, no one would point out that she shouldn’t be here.
The church filled, strains of classical music came on, and the ushers sat the parents. The moms wore muted strawberry-colored dresses, and the dads had matching bowties. Everything was high-end designer, cut and tailored to perfection.
Piper let out a breath. Okay, this was going better than expected, she hadn’t received a single pitying look.
The white-robed acolytes lit the candles. They posed for a photo and then went back down the steps in time with the string quartet’s classical song.
Everything was formal, just like any other wedding.
The preacher went to his lectern in front of the congregation. “Welcome, friends and family of Warren and Willow. What a blessed day.”
The air had the thick feeling that churches always had. What caused that? An expectation like Jesus might pop in at any moment? An awareness of sin? Did the congregation fear depravity-filled thought-bubbles forming over their heads revealing their human failings? Something.
Piper rocked her feet back and forth and tapped her fingertips on her knees. How much longer? She legit did not have the feels for Warren anymore but being here on his special day was odd. And she could smell strawberries. She hadn’t had such a huge whiff of them since last Valentine’s Day.
