Page 2 of Don't Want to Fall
She gives off grandma vibes. It both warms me and makes me miss my own who passed a few years ago. Because it might be weird to round the counter and hug a complete stranger, I focus instead on the group of women I came with.
Gabby and Stormi look antsy.
Erin looks…ready to drop.
“Where’s Alanna?” I ask, fishing my driver’s license out of my purse and handing it over.
“Outside,” Stormi nods toward the door.
I catch a glimpse of Alanna animatedly talking to a flannel-wearing, bearded man—aha, I was right! She appears irritated, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t climb him like a tree given a chance. Maybe that would do her some good, actually. She’s been pretty high strung since we all met at the Omaha airport this morning.
“You’re in room thirteen,” Winnie says, sliding me an old-fashioned key attached to a moose keychain.
“Youhavea room thirteen?” I ask, surprised.
“We don’t believe in negative superstitions here. Thirteen is considered good luck in our lodge.”
“I could use some good luck,” I mumble under my breath.
When Stormi, Gabby, and Erin head upstairs to their rooms, I see this as my opportunity to finish my post on Facebook. It’snot breaking the rules because this has nothing to do with the bachelorette weekend and everything to do with making sureJerek with a Jdoesn’t scam another unsuspecting woman.
I navigate to my localAre We Dating the Same Guygroup that I’ve become too frequent a poster in these past few months and select the picture I took of him before I joined the man child at the table of a too-fancy restaurant. I wanted visual evidence on my phone in case he turned out to be a serial killer.
Turns out, he was just a douche canoe.
As I begin drafting my caption, the automatic sliding doors part, and Alanna marches in.
Shit.
I turn my back to her, pretending to focus on the brochure wall as I quickly type out my warning and hit post.
“Devin?” Alanna calls to me, like a teacher catching a student goofing off when they’re supposed to be taking a test. Yeah, she needs to get laid.Bad.
I yank out a flyer directly in front of me and use it to cover the phone in my palm. “Yeah?”
“Are you coming?”
“I just want to check out this—” I glance at the flyer in my hand. “—wildlife excursion. I’ll be right up.”
“We’re meeting in Erin’s room in five minutes,” she says. “Don’t be late.”
“I’m not Gabby,” I remind her.
Alanna doesn’t even crack a smile. I wouldn’t describe her as bitchy, but she gets stressed when things don’t go as planned. I imagine she’s a little mentally overloaded with all the last-minute switching of plans, especially after she so meticulously organized the Cancun weekend, down to the minute.
Though I have enjoyed getting to know Alanna throughout the wedding planning most days, I’m secretly thrilled about theunexpectedly open-ended itinerary. The last thing I need is a ton of pressure to have mandatory fun.
“I’ll see you upstairs.”
“Are you interested in the wildlife excursion?” Winnie asks after Alanna flies up the staircase.
“No,” I say suddenly, my gaze dropping to the flyer with a giant bull moose on the cover. Those antlers look big enough to scoop a full-sized human up and give them a ride. I can’t decide if that would be fun or terrifying. Either way, it’d be more action than I’ve seen in my personal life in a while. “I mean, maybe…”
“There’s a tour tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I glance at the staircase, wondering how pissed Alanna would be if I made my own plans. I can’t imagine the five of us are going to be doing a lot of group activities. If I had to make a guess, I’d wager that Erin ends up locked in her lodge room stuffing her face with sweets as she binge-reads romances—or maybe murder mysteries.
“Just one spot left,” Winnie adds. “Do you want me to book you on it?”
