My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 304

Bonus 4: Missing Ingredients

Nina

Anxiety was bubbling its way up in my chest as I stared down at the phone in my hand.

Once again, the attempt to call my mother proved to be futile.

I couldn’t even count how many times I had tried calling her over the past three weeks, all of which had gone unanswered. This time, however, it even went straight to voicemail; either she had hung up when she saw my name pop up on the screen, or her phone was officially shut off.

“Don’t worry, Nina,” Enzo said, wrapping his strong arms around me from behind as he planted a kiss on the top of my head. We were standing in the kitchen; our beautiful sage green kitchen. “She probably just hasn’t switched to an international number yet. She’ll call you soon; I can feel it.” I nodded and turned around in Enzo’s arms, inhaling his scent and letting his warmth emanate through me as I buried my face in his chest.

“You’re probably right,” I said quietly. “I just wish that she could be here in time for the wedding. Maybe we should .” I bit my lip, stopping myself from saying what I had said a million times over the past few weeks; that we should put the wedding off until I could get in touch with her.

“Don’t even say it,” Enzo replied. ” Trust me, Nina. She’ll be there.”

“You really think so?” I asked, looking up to meet his soft brown gaze. “You 4 think she’ll show up at the wedding?”

Enzo nodded and shot me a gentle smile. I felt my cheeks tinge pink as he planted a gentle kiss on my lips before he walked off to the dining room.

With the wedding imminent, her silence was deafening. I was desperate silence was deafening. I was desperate to hear her voice, to share the details of our preparations, our excitement.

such preparation was our upcoming engagement dinner. Enzo and I had been working tirelessly to transform our once drab, gray house into

comfortable, and it

final touches on our house. All that was left was to finish putting together

watched Enzo putting together a dining chair. The entire first floor was open now after we had knocked down

able to see everything from where I stood

the furniture that we had now had been purchased secondhand, giving the

living room were all mismatched and colorful, and I had found a few stunning armchairs at a local estate sale that each had a history of

dining room furniture, however, had to match; I couldn’t bring myself to have an entirely mismatched dining set, and so we had made a last-minute trip to Ikea for a set of chairs and benches to go around our

had a thought. We had an array of food prepared

I began, “I think I should bake a cake

screw into the bottom of one chair

nodded, feeling a

sweets and I just realized

for another chair out of their cardboard

heart sank when I saw the empty shelves. “Oh no,” I muttered. “We’re

filled the kitchen, making me smile despite my disappointment.” Well, looks like we’re going shopping

grabbing my keys from the counter. “I can go. You

see,” he teased, offering a mock salute. “Good luck, soldier. And

back.