“When you put it that way I guess we were meant to be together”
“Touché”
The song ends and we walk back over to our friends.
“Shall we eat?” Erika suggest as we all get in line. Ian and Christopher walk over to the beer garden that is set up and Christopher yells to Erika
“Would you make me a plate babe?”
“Ian can I get you one too?”
“Sure that will be great” he kisses my hand as he sits with Christopher and the rest of the guys who are catching the last of the Indians game.
So the guys are set in the beer garden we will feed them and then I got a feeling that the girls are planning my much needed intervention...hmm
Oliver comes down and settles in with the guys at the beer garden they are all chatting away, now I just have to assess the girls glaring at me. We stand in line with the others and the interrogation begins.
First and foremost I love them all, we have been friends since high school, Ian and Christopher always played basketball together, Erika and Sabrina and I all met in English class we all bonded over ‘The Tale of Two Cities’ then it was ‘The Scarlett Letter “A”’ fond memories back when all of us were innocent and naïve, at least that’s what I was up until a few weeks ago. Jeez I don’t know if I can handle them tag teaming me!
“Ok Aria what is going on?” Sabrina the child psychologist is not forceful, but she sure as hell is stern and quite direct this evening, so I am surprised by her scolding tone, which eludes to the fact that she is worried about me and I am sure she is not too happy with what she walked in on, well I really can’t blame them coitus interruptus, is not how one should greet their friends. Shit I am mortified as the look on their faces are now forever burned into my permanent memory file of my brain.
And before I can even get out one word she has a verbal thought …
“Aria, holier than thou, since when have you become the sex pistol? Wow she is more agitated then I imagined going for the act more than the crime.
“Tristan came to see me last Friday at my store” Erika knows this because of our talk in my closet on Monday, but dear old Dr. Sabrina Shaw is shocked because she had no idea I would ever be involved in something so what is the word… wrong, illicit, deceitful? But I need to tell them the truth I need them to help me out of this because I am a repeat offender and it is getting harder to cover it up, hell I can barely keep myself covered up when I’m around Tristan Bach.
I stand back and watch as I can tell their wheels turning, I see where they are going and we’re off.
“So Friday was a one night stand what the hell do you call todays activities?” Shit Erika is cutting to the chase her self-righteous indignation is just what I need to set me on the straight and narrow I love her to death but when she yells hell and holy beast she scares me.
“Um I don’t know, I got carried away, I gotta work it out!” I utter as I bite my lower lip.
“Aria by the looks of you two this afternoon you were both getting quite a workout!” ok Erika’s sarcasm is worse than mine…you’ll get use to it.
“Erika your wit never ceases to amaze me” I sip my champagne and look over at Ian and Christopher, they are sipping their beers just enjoying themselves and Oliver is watching the game.
“Aria don’t you think this is getting out of hand?” Arms crossed and agitated I am the child to be dealt with, they both narrow their eyes and I see their anger, the only anger I have seen in days is Tristan’s and to see theirs well it’s reality.
“Erika I know, I know, I know!” I am kicking myself inside as I see what an ass I am making of myself, I mean the way I have behaved with no shame with no care and with no remorse I am out of control and this is never me.
I look at their faces as they are etches with worry and laced with doubt that this can go no place good with Tristan. I get it, they are looking at me to do the right thing, they have been through the Tristan Bach portion of my life far too many times to deal with it again, they have witnessed every tear, every lie every downward spiral all at the hands of the sexy beast, blow by blow it was knock out, drag out torture, makes me wonder how I put up with it myself come to think of it. For them to see me with him is not easy. I can’t blame them, they have cleaned up Tristan’s mess far too many times to recall.
“Aria do you love Ian?”
“Yes of course I love Ian!” I don’t even take a moment to think it over it just comes out like I am programmed to say it on command.
“You gotta a funny way of showing it Macy!” The judge Erika, assess me well I have no argument, I have no shame, and I have behaved like an adolescent with Tristan, but in my defense
“Look I told him goodbye last night and I ended it”
“So what happen today?” Sabrina asked with arms crossed as if I am the irate child in her office.
“What always happens I felt bad that I yelled at him, so I called him, he showed up and one thing led to another …”
“Aria you have to stop! Do you understand?”
“Yes Sabrina, I will put an end to this, you two are right. I will tell Ian tonight when we get home.”
“Wow wait a minute there scarlet letter, what if he calls off the wedding?” Erika is now my advising attorney as she goes for the bottom line.
“Then he calls off the wedding” I shrug and sip my champagne as we etch closer to the food that Tristan has prepared, gosh can this be any more crazy?
“Wait a minute there missy, you want Ian to dump you so you are free to be with Tristan?” Sabrina is a child psychologist so she knows childlike behavior when sees it. I look at both of them as they say what I am too afraid to admit to myself.
We are now by the hot plates I grab some and pass them down to them.
“I don’t know Sabrina” they both look at me troubled frightened and just as dumbfounded as ever.
Erika and Sabrina hug me hard, they are such good friends. I must look lost because that is how I feel, if I stay with Ian I loose what is my hearts-desire which is Tristan, if I go to Tristan and chase after the love of my life I hurt a good man for my own selfish wants, I can’t live knowing that I hurt Ian, I can’t, I won’t hurt Ian.
We are now by the buffet tables, the aroma does things to me; their lobster bisque soup is to die for in little terrines I take one for Ian and some of the calamari and he has to try the lobster mashed, it is so delicious. I make a plate for him and Oliver gosh that poor man has handled this whole show practically by himself I load up two plates for my men.
Erika makes a plate for Christopher and their crab puffs we load up on them as I glance over to the window I see Tristan behind the wine bar with a crowd of people, we lock eyes on one another. And I am pulled away by Erika as she jerks my arm.
“Look Aria women need a reason to have sex, men they just need a place, whoa. well I can see the reason” just as Erika take a gander at dear Mr. Tristan Bach they are star struck. Sabrina and Erika just gawk at him, fuck yeah he is sex on fire, they really can’t blame me, they are both checking out the sexy son of a bitch…he is hot. I guess they now get why they caught us um ya know…
“Come ladies I expected more from you two, jeez your two are as bad as Me!” We all giggle like the school girls we still are when we’re together.
Well now that they got a better look at my magnificent obsession, let’s see how it goes from here.
“Shit Aria he didn’t look like that two years ago?” Sabrina the teenage flirt has just shown up, she may be a child psychologist but she is still a woman.
“No Sabrina he sure as hell didn’t” now Erika is also eyeing up the goods as well.
“Well now I see the reason you and he um ya know” well it’s comforting to know that they see how I went so willingly into his gentle goodnight.
“Yes Erika he is easy on the eyes”
“Aria as your council I would go with the temporary insanity plea, look at him he is crazy hot”
“Oh you two are f
unny I knew I could count on you for support and guidance”
“Aria all I have to say is if that man showed up in my office looking like that I sure as hell wouldn’t be here talking to you two” we all laugh at Sabrina’s comment, they let me know that they understand but sure as hell want it to stop.
“Sabrina you are too much” we walk over to the guys with their plates.
I hand Oliver a plate and I walk behind Ian and snake my arm around his neck.
“Your meal sir, have fun boys, the girls and I are down there” I place his plate in front of him. He pulls my face and kisses me, taking me by surprise, very un Ian. I kiss him back just as sweetly, no deep kiss, and no tongue just a sweet kiss on the lips we kiss like friends in public.
I make my way over to the wine area where Erika and Sabrina nabbed us a table.
“Chateau de Bach” Erika see’s the bottle and looks at it puzzled then looks at Tristan handling the wine over at the bar and I can tell the wheels are moving yet again.
“Aria this isn’t Tristan is it?” she says very surprisingly
Just then a wine steward comes over with a bottle of white and red for us.
“Compliments of Chateau de Bach” the very tall blond, blue eyes wine steward fills our glasses and leaves the bottles on the table. Tristan is in no way going to let me forget he is here.
I take a sip of the wine and it warms my lips like Tristan’s kisses! It is just as intoxicating as he is.
I look at Sabrina and Erika, oh shit they don’t know about any of this.
“It’s cool, crisp, delicious, fresh and enticing just like the owner”
“Aria what the fuck is going on here?” Sabrina never swears so this is just too much for her to take, I had better start talking. I take another sip and I’m belligerent already, they say the truth comes out when you’re drunk well hello I’m drunk!
“This is what Tristan has been doing for the past two years, this food is from his restaurant and the wine is from his vineyard”
“So he is not with the, what did you use to call her?”
“Slut-bag-ugly-whore” Sabrina says to Erika as we all know Tristan’s ex by this expletive. Ok so I guess I should tell them everything and enlighten them why I finally gave into him.
“No, he has been the hermit wine maker and now a restaurant owner”
“I just don’t get you cheating on Ian, there has to be something else Aria?”
“Ok you two, not that I have ever told anyone my fantasies, or my dreams, but I told Tristan them, I told him how I wanted to own a vineyard and well he liked the idea, he got a team together and ladies what we are drinking is the fruits of his labor”
“So your fantasy was to own a vineyard and he now owns one?”
“Yes Sabrina we use to talk a lot, hell we weren’t sleeping together back then we talked about everything”
“Aria this is the most romantic thing I have ever heard” Oh Sabrina is the hopeless romantic I kind of had a feeling she was going to switch teams. And we both are pulled from our blissful thinking by the judge.
“Just remember ladies a boy makes you jealous of another women, but a gentleman makes another woman jealous of you”
“That is my dilemma, Tristan finally grew-up and I moved on without him”
“Aria look I am sure all of us are warming to Tristan and his Bacchanalia but you are missing the real point at hand, all of this has nothing to do with that ring on your finger, you either honor that ring and the man who gave it to you or say good bye, this needs to come to a stop, one way or another.” Leave it to Erika to cut it down to size, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl loses her dream, yes that is a fair assessment of my life thus far.
We glance over at the guys, they are with some other men drinking and taste testing all the micro brews, they look happy and content as they catch the last of the Indians game on the big screen television in the distance.
My hazy shade of deceit begins to dissipate as I get my common sense back. My friends, these people whom I love and adore, we have always rallied for one another and looking at me and my actions, I am wrong in my words in what I have done and what I have failed to do.
I look back at my two dear friends; do I want to throw all of this away? And then I glance over at Tristan, he was my dream, and on that sentiment we all know dreams don’t always come true, not everyone gets to keep their first love, it saddens me to face this truth but looking at them I am forced to face the facts, I have a man who loves me and who I have agreed to marry three weeks ago, that is my reality, as I look down at my left hand, I have to honor this ring on my finger. I look up at them and the worry and doubt on their faces is all my doing, I have to right all that I have wronged. My heart aches but I guess doing the grown-up thing is not always the popular thing to do, so with a heavy heart I come to the conclusion they want me to.
“You both are right, this needs to stop, I want to tell Ian the truth tonight when we get home, Ian needs to know what I did, we will work this out, I want to work this out with Ian”
The somber look on my friends faces brings me out of this mess that I am in, they nod in unison and I put my left hand that bears my engagement ring down on the table and we pile up our hands one after another on top of one others hands just like we use to in high school, we giggle and laugh like school girls. I don’t ever want to lose what I have with them, they have seen me through triumphs and tribulations and I needed them to pull me out of the fire and like always they were more than happy to do so.
“I love you guy’s thanks for being here for me tonight”
“That’s want friends are for” they both say and I know where this is going
“Oh not another 80’s hit song!” and we all start singing the lyrics
“Keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me for sure that’s what friends are for”
Ian and Christopher come back over and join us as we are singing, their puzzled faces are priceless.
The photographer comes to our table and takes our photograph five old friends who came out for a worthy cause and wound up saving one of their own instead. I am blessed with friends and I will be blessed to have Ian Bollinger as my husband.
“One more dance before we call it a night?”
“Sure Ian” I take his hand and we dance to It had to be you we are joined by Erika and Christopher and I put my head on Ian’s chest as he holds me tight. I will never have friends like this again, they are keepers, they keep me in line, they keep me in check and I will keep calm and marry on.
The music fades, the night is coming to a close for all intents and purposes a lot of business went down this evening, we helped the cancer center, and my friends helped me out of a sticky situation.
We finally say our good-byes, it’s after eleven in the evening Ian offers to stay and help me clean up but I know he has to be up early for class tomorrow. I told him that Oliver is here to help me and I shouldn’t be too long.
I hug the girl’s goodbye and we all nod that I am doing the right thing by telling Ian.
I collect Oliver and head back to the store, we pull back all the rolling racks, yeah they are empty, everything is sold I am happy for that, we get everything back and locked up.
“Aria if you need me I am here for you” Oliver hugs me hard, I kiss his head he is just the best thing since sliced bread.
“I know and thank you but I got it all under control”
Chapter 24
A TOWN WITHOUT PITY
I am pacing the floor, if I smoked at all this would be a good time to light up and calm while I get my head together because I know that Tristan is on his way here, after this afternoons festivities he sure as hell was not letting this evening fly by without one last kiss.
“Aria are you leaving soon?”
“Yes I just have some unfinished business then I am on my home”
“Ok sweetheart have a good night the show was fantastic and so are you”
“No t
he show was fantastic because of you Oliver, it was all you, thank you again for everything”
He hugs me and kisses my temple as I hug him hard he is this amazing present in my life a real gift.
Oliver leaves out of the dark wood and glass doors and no sooner Tristan is at my door.
RING A DING DING
I look up and see what I have been missing, why am I so excited to see this man? Is it just the exterior, the killer good looks, the hair, the sexy smile, those eyes? Is it that I am reacting to him the way all women react to him? I have to admit it’s the way he looks at me when those hazel eyes lock onto me, he drives me crazy. Not to mention he is beyond handsome; with a rock hard body, the physical presence of him has always been my weakness, I was always just mesmerized by him. I was forever day dreaming about him when we worked together, just much too shy and timid to do anything about it back then.
The old adage as I live and breathe, this man is the lethal combination of striking good looks, tiresome endeavors and an insensitive personality should have warned me off, but somewhere between being exasperatingly annoying and romantically captivating we captured one another’s hearts. I have to say my reasons for going so willingly into his arms is his declaration of love for me, after two years of headache, heartache, and unrequited love he offers himself to me and stakes his claim to be mine what would you have done in my heels?
I’m brought back from my wondering thoughts as Tristan walks towards me slowly with his ever seductive malicious intent I have to say he always seems to be on the prowl, his eyes lock onto mine and everything south of my waist is at attention I’ve been more than wet for him and I can’t do this anymore, as he approaches me I stand behind the counter it is a good buffer between us but I am awe struck as he gets closer and I just want to take him in one last time as a remembrance a memento is you will.
I slowly come around from the display cases and my heart is pounding as I edge closer to him, the sensation sends thrills through me as my blood courses through my veins, my mouth goes dry and I am nervous, I could never lie to Tristan he always saw through me. I take a deep breath and try to calm my racing pulse, how I have forgotten on purpose his smile, those eyes but I could never erase his voice from my memory and how he said my name.
A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) Page 32