Free Unwrapped by Melody Grace

kidding?” Juliet pulls back, her cheeks
pink and excited under her pretty braided updo. “I’m just so happy
you made it here at all! Brit is driving me crazy, and I can’t get
married without my best friend.”
    “I heard that!” A female voice calls out from
the second-floor window, and a moment later, Juliet’s
sister-in-law-to-be, Brit, sticks her head out. “Hey you! And I
wouldn’t be bugging you if you’d sit still long enough to set your
makeup!”
    “I’ll be right up!” Juliet yells, then hugs me
again, grinning. “I’m so happy you’re here! How did you make it?
You said flights wouldn’t start up for hours.”
    “We drove,” I explain.
    “We?” Juliet raises an eyebrow and looks past
me, her eyes widening as she sees who just got out of the car.
“Wait, Daniel?” she gasps in shock, looking back and forth between
us. “What are you doing here?”
    “Oh, right,” I realize with a flush of guilt. “I
didn’t mention that part, did I? We were on the same flight, so we
ended up snowed in together.”
    “Congratulations,” Daniel says, moving forward
to meet Juliet. He leans in and kisses her on the cheek, then
stands back. “Today’s the big day, huh?”
    Juliet nods, her excitement dimmed for a moment.
“I thought about sending you an invite, but, I figured …” she looks
at Daniel, her dark eyes wide with sincere regret.
    My guilt twists harder. Bad enough reminding
Daniel about everything without messing up Juliet’s special day
too. What was I thinking, bringing him into the middle of things
like this?
    Daniel coughs, glancing away. “Yeah, I’m
spending Christmas with my folks, anyway. At least, I was …”
    “Wasn’t it a huge coincidence?” I interrupt
brightly. “Of all the flights, in all the world, I wound up sitting
next to him.” I let out a nervous laugh. “And then the hotel was
overbooked, and we had to split a room, and—” I stop. Oh, crap, I
wasn’t going to tell Juliet about that part.
    “Really?” Juliet turns to me and gives me a
curious look. I avoid her stare. “Huh. Anyways, what are we even
doing, standing around in the cold?” She exclaims brightly. “Come
inside, warm up.”
    “I should really get back on the road.” Daniel
says, clearly reluctant.
    “Nonsense!” Juliet objects. “You’ve been driving
for hours, at least have some coffee and food before you go. Come
on, Lacey!” she calls to me, steering us both towards the
house.
    I try to protest, but Juliet overrules me, and
before I even know what’s happening, Daniel and I are inside, in
the kitchen, with a cup of coffee in our hands and a promise of
food on the way. “The groomsmen will be back from the bar in a
minute,” Juliet promises, “They’re in charge of lunch.”
    I look around the house, taking in the chaos:
decorations spilling out of boxes, wedding gifts piled in the
living room next to an over-decorated tree, and traces of Brit’s
dressmaking materials still scattered around the room. Juliet
follows my gaze.
    “I know, I know, it looks bad, but, Emerson
promised the guys would get everything cleared up before the
ceremony at three.”
    “What did I promise?” A voice comes, and then
Emerson strides through the back door, stamping snow off his boots.
He goes straight to Juliet like she’s the only person in the room.
“The aisle is all shoveled,” he tells her, his dark hair ruffled at
all angles. “But high-heeled shoes are out. I don’t want you
breaking your neck before you get to say ‘I do.’”
    “Thank you,” Juliet melts into a grin, leaning
up to kiss him. “That’s one less thing to cross off the list.”
    “Hey Lacey,” Emerson finally looks around the
room. Then he lays eyes on Daniel, and his whole body freezes,
tense. “What the hell’s he doing here?” he demands loudly.
    Emerson takes half a step towards him,
threatening, but Daniel stands his ground. He takes a sip of
coffee, casual as can be despite the fact Emerson looks