Page 23 of The Spy Who Ghosted Me

“DON’T YOU FEEL LIKE IT’S kind of sacrilegious to have a bachelorette party on a Sunday night?” I asked Mia as we walked up the stairs to the second floor of the lodge where the spa was located. My sister had seen Crazy Rich Asians one too many times and wanted to re-create the massage scene. So, soon I would be lying naked on a table, covered with only a sheet to separate me from ten other nude women and eleven massage therapists, most of whom Soren had brought in specially for the occasion because my parents only had a few on staff, including my sister. The amount of money the man had astounded me and made me even more suspicious of him.

My sleuthing wasn’t going so well, other than I now had definitive confirmation that he wasn’t Norwegian. I was quite proud of myself for coming up with the cake-tasting plan and seamlessly working bunads and apple wine into the conversation, neither of which he seemed to understand the significance of in Norwegian culture.

“It does feel a little wrong,” Mia whispered. “But this is Lexi.”

Lexi had always been, let’s say, bratty, spoiled, self-centered. You get the picture. I mean, I love her. Obviously I do. I wouldn’t go to all this trouble to find some solid evidence to save her from marrying Soren if I didn’t. I prayed to find something before Saturday. When I asked Daddy about his thoughts on the groom, he’d responded, “You know my opinion doesn’t hold weight in these matters, and your sister will make her own decisions regardless.” Well, she could marry a psycho for all we knew. Even the idiot, Cash, had a bad feeling about the guy.

And then there was the audacity of that jerk agreeing to be in the wedding, although I couldn’t deny he would look freaking fantastic in a tuxedo. Somehow, he’d even managed to win over Genevieve last night, going on and on about our time in France and how I’d taught him how to bake. Really, it was mostly kissing lessons in the kitchen, and he was more of the teacher there. Holy heavens, could the man kiss. But that was neither here nor there because we were never kissing again, and I was going to ignore him. And little did he know he’d only given me more incentive to stop this wedding by agreeing to be part of it. No way would I walk down the aisle with him.

“On a brighter note. How are things going with you and Drew?”

Mia gave me a knowing grin. “You know us—it’s never going anywhere.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re both stubborn, and the man told me he couldn’t love me more than he loved Charming Cove.”

“I don’t know if that’s true. But do you want to move back home to Tennessee?” I asked uneasily. She and Drew had been practically inseparable, and no one made her smile like he did.

“Does it make me a bad person if I say no?”

“Of course not.”

“You know I love it here, but it’s nice not having our family all up in our business all the time. And even though I know my mama would never admit it, I think she’s proud of me for getting out of this town and making something of myself. Drew doesn’t get that. Not that there’s anything wrong with staying at home—it’s just we could never do here what we do in Park City.”

This was true. The resort was the biggest draw around, and the restaurant handled any catering needs for all the events that took place on the property.

“Why does love have to be so complicated?” I sighed.

She nudged me as we made it to the second floor. “Are you saying you’re in love with Cash?”

“Noooo,” I exaggerated way too much. Sure, I’d been in love with him, but I’d be foolish to be in love with him now. Not only had Cash left me, but I wasn’t even sure he was entirely human. Why couldn’t I take a photo of him? It was possible he was a vampire, except he didn’t wither and die in the sun, and neither crosses nor garlic seemed to bother him. Strike that theory.

Mia grabbed my arm and sincerely asked, “Are you sure? I mean, the man is oh so fine, and the way he was looking at you last night with such intense tenderness was really sweet. Don’t get me wrong: I still hate the guy for leaving you like he did, but if you wanted to change your mind about him, I would try to change my mind too.”

I wrapped my arms around Mia. “I won’t be changing my mind about him, but thank you for being here with me. You’re my sanity.”

Mia squeezed me tight. “You know I’m here for you, but no more baking extravaganzas unless it’s more layers for the wedding cake.”

I felt bad about yesterday, but I had to do something to check out Soren. At least we were able to knock out most of the layers for the wedding cake and freeze them until we began assembling the cake on Friday. Well, hopefully by Friday Soren would be out of the picture. Sadly, even if I proved he wasn’t who he said he was, I had a feeling Lexi was going to hate me for ruining her wedding. They appeared to be very into each other, and he spoiled Lexi, which she loved.

I had to ask myself: was I taking away her dream or preventing her worst nightmare? It was possible she’d never forgive me or even believe me if I presented cold hard facts to her, proving Soren was a liar. Honestly, I didn’t even know why I felt so driven to expose him. It was so not like me—I was a live-and-let-live kind of person. There’s less drama that way. But something was very wrong with this situation. I felt it deep inside, and it scared me.

“I promise, no more crazy baking days until we get home.”

“Good. Now let’s go get pampered.”

I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad to let Soren pay for someone to work out all the knots in my back—caused by him and this ridiculous wedding. And ... Cash. Not sure where he was, but he’d better not show up to the bachelorette party. Knowing my luck, Lexi had hired him to serve us snacks while shirtless. Would I ogle that chest? Oh yes, I would, but I would silently scold myself while doing so.

Mia and I were the last ones to arrive. All the other women in the bridal party were already in tiny silk terra-cotta-colored robes and sipping on fruity cocktails in the spa’s lobby. Lexi was in the center of it all, wearing a tiara while swaying and laughing as loud music blared. Like Nana would say, this wedding was getting too precious. I knew Mama thought Lexi should have asked me to be her maid of honor, but I wouldn’t have given her the experience Jade, her best friend, had offered her. I didn’t think big and loud like this.

Jade grabbed Mia and me and handed us our robes. “Hurry and put these on and meet us out on the terrace.”

“The terrace?” Mia questioned. “It’s only forty degrees outside.”

“We have heaters set up, duh. It was the only place big enough to accommodate all of us.”

I had wondered where we were all going to be. I figured they’d just crammed a few tables into the three different treatment rooms the spa had. Never could I have guessed Lexi would be serious about making this as close to the Crazy Rich Asians scene as possible. I should have known better.

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