Page 71 of Falling for the Forward

I give him a look. “You’ll be fine. Let’s get down there.”

When I turn to walk back inside, he smacks my ass. “Seriously, though, put on a shirt. I don’t want to be hard in front of your parents.”

I smirk playfully. “Seriously, no. That sounds like ayouproblem.”

“Do you like it?”Charlotte smiles as she shows me the vase she made at the little pottery studio we’re at.

“I love it.”

“It’s kind of ugly.”

I lower my brows. “No, it’s not. It’s very organic. It reminds me of an ocean wave.”

“I could paint it blue.”

“I think you should.”

“Check mine out.” Dex holds up a mask he made by pressing a slab of clay to his face.

“Oh, I should have done that!” Charlotte grumbles.

“Well, let’s make you one, girl,” he says. “I’ll help.”

My three closest friends have become family to all of us. They’re over for dinner all the time, and Harry is teaching Olivia how to cook. Carter even invited Dex and Harry to his bachelor party, which meant a lot to me.

Several of his teammates are here with us. Four of them and two non-hockey-player friends were his groomspeople. Mybridespeople were my brothers, Dex, Harry and Mara. The girls were all junior bridesmaids.

Our wedding was perfect. This time, Carter and I wrote our own heartfelt vows. I slid his ring back onto his finger. Back home, I borrowed it for a few days and had it engraved with the words “At Last” because our song is “At Last” by Etta James.

He added a beautiful band to my existing ring, and I cried when I read the engraving, which says, “At Every Table, I’ll Save You a Seat.” His thoughtfulness in using one of my favorite Taylor Swift Lyrics melted me.

Carter is sitting at a table with some teammates, looking engrossed in a conversation with Bash. He catches my gaze and motions for me to come over.

When I get to their table, Carter wraps an arm around my waist, resting the side of his face against my side.

"She gives amazing advice,” he says to his best friend. “Tell her about it.”

Carter stands up, kisses me and walks away, going over to the table where Hallie and Mara are working on something.

“What’s up?” I say, taking Carter’s seat.

Bash looks miserable. He has dark circles under his eyes and the corners of his mouth are turned down. I thought he looked bad because he’s been drinking so much more than usual here and he’s hungover. There must be something else going on.

He sighs heavily. “Right before we left for this trip, I found out an old friend got engaged. It’s the younger sister of my best friend growing up, her name’s Lainey. And she’s marrying this absolute douchebag.” He shakes his head. “It makes me sick.”

“Do you and her have a history together?”

He looks away. “Not really. She made a move on me once, but I put her in the friend zone because she’s Eric’s sister.”

“So this is just brotherly concern on your part?”

“Yeah, I mean...I care about her. I don’t want her making the biggest mistake of her life.”

“What does her brother think about the guy she’s marrying?”

“Eric?” He scoffs. “He doesn’t get it. He says Shane’s changed from when I knew him in high school and he’s great for Lainey.”

“But you don’t think so?”

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