Page 14 of The Runaway Bride of Blitzen Bay (Blitzen Bay)

“She’s out of control. You know how she gets at Christmas.” I shoot the other bottle of vodka and throw it in the trash can. “Do you remember when we used to go to Grandma’s house the weekend before Christmas?”

“Yeah, she always mainlined us cookies, peppermint hot chocolate, and Christmas movies. It was seriously the best weekend of the year. I miss her so much.”

“I wish Christmas could always be that chill. That’s how I’m going to make mine and Steve’s.”

She rolls her eyes at me and sighs loudly. “Good luck with that.”

“So are you going to take one more shot at talking me out of getting married? It’s T minus seventeen hours. You’re cutting it pretty close.”

“But who’s counting, right?” She scoots her body across the floor and lays her head on my lap. “I’m not trying to talk you out of anything. If this is what you want, do it. But do it because your gut’s telling you it’s the right thing. And if your gut’s telling you it’s the wrong thing, let’s leave right now and never look back.”

“I think my gut’s broken. It’s been telling me one thing for two years, and now it’s telling me something else,” I say as I start untangling the knots in her curls. “I probably just have cold feet.”

“Your gut’s never been wrong. And every time you go against it, something bad happens.” She pauses for a second and then starts laughing. “Do you remember when you jumped off that cliff into the rock quarry?”

“Do I remember? My foot still doesn’t work right.”

“You’re lucky that’s all you broke. I can still hear you hitting the water. It sounded so painful.”

“Why did you let me do that?”

“Me? When have I ever been able to stop you from doing anything? If I could, we would have been out of this crazy sideshow yesterday.”

“I’m getting married—”

“Okay. This is the last thing I’m going to say about it. The entire time we were growing up, your gut kept us out of a lot of trouble. But those few times you didn’t listen to it, it was a complete disaster—broken bones, food poisoning, wrecked cars, and even school suspension. We could have avoided all of that. And as bad as it was, it’s nothing compared to spending your life with someone you know isn’t right. Whether he was right at one time doesn’t matter. It only matters if he’s the right one today—at this very moment.”

We lock eyes. She knows. I know. We both know what my gut’s telling me. I nod. She nods. She locks my pinky into hers.

“It’s never too late,” she whispers. I nod again.

“Let’s get down to dinner,” I say, standing and pulling her up with me. “We don’t want to miss Mom’s dress popping open when she takes her first bite of food.”

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