A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) (36 page)

I turn quickly as my hair flips around
.

“You’re killer in the d
ress!”

I smile and watch him get into his Ca
dillac that is the same as mine, now he really is BATMAN, he’s got the damn bat-mobile and he fucked me like the DARK KNIGHT.

Chapter 19

COME RAIN OR COME SHINE             

When I make it to the store Oliver is doing a fitting, the dressing rooms are filled and a lot of the regulars are lingering at the bar when I make it over to them. I play bar tender and grab some ice and get down to Business as Usual.

Reggie who is with t
he Cleveland Indians management and promotion department is here today, I made him a special tie for the arrival of his son, its baby-boy-blue with silver pinstripes, and on the back side of the point is the babies name and birthday. I love making ties.

Mr
. Brooks from the bank is here for his final fitting and approval for his daughter’s wedding which is in three weeks.

Now
please let’s not forget the ever present I.T. guys, they are like the arbitrage guys of the nineties maybe not as vulgar or arrogant, but oh so full of themselves, quite intelligent these pesky twenty-something guys, of course they are, they speak their own language, the bold in your face attitude is quite annoying at times, but they are my biggest shirt business, they don’t buy suits per se just the high end shirts and ties.

My whole take on this
business of ours is we work for men, we dress them, we cater to them, we can make them look like whatever they desire. I have a look for any reason, a suit for any season and we can dress you for any occasion, and as Oliver so eloquently put it, ‘if we you don’t see it we will make it for you’,  that usually covers it for the moody customer and the indecisive ones. What I find very interesting is style, a lot of men have great style and it usually comes from attitude, stature and taste.

H
onestly, impeccable style the head turning kind that I get from my mature gentleman customers is beyond any I have ever seen.  Older men wear it well, they are confident and mature and that to me is inner style, all I do is put a tie on it. My job can be challenging at times a lot of wit and banter keeps the day moving and the air light, but this is my life, I love what I do I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our goal is always to keep them smiling and knock their socks off while we sell them new ones.

The af
ternoon is busy as I barely have the time to revel in my mid-morning antics. I have made three pots of coffee, ran out of ice and we need more Grey Goose. I really can’t complain we did gang busters a fifty thousand dollar day in this economy is a welcome sight in men’s suits and clothing.
Looks like someone likes what we’re doing. Don’t mean to toot my own horn but..BEEP BEEP.

It’s almost closing time and
Oliver and I have been so busy that we hardly had the chance to sit and chat. Which is a good thing, shit I can’t go through the question and answer format this afternoon, I’m still reeling from my morning meeting with Mr. Bach and the way I feel I want to shout from the roof tops how happy I am but I can’t. I must keep this under wraps I don’t want Ian hurt and I don’t want the third degree or the forth degree from my friends I have to say that Erika was not too mad when I told her, but Sabrina will be
the MOTHER of furry when she gets wind of this.

She hates cheaters
, from monopoly to politics she is a realist and detests the deceivers, the rogues and the double-dealing two timers as she has called them by name, which by the way she has called Tristan in the past as well.

Oh boy do I share his title these days as I more than happily cheated on my fiancé with none other than the swindler of all times
, the ne’er-do-well Tristan Bach. I am brought back from faraway thoughts by Oliver.

“Aria the people at Tuesday Morning called they have your chair you ordered”

“Thank you Oliver, I will take care of that” a smile crosses my face as I think to myself what a delicious way I have spent my
Tuesday morning
, briefly I wonder if that is why that store is named Tuesday Mornings? Is this what you are supposed to do on a Tuesday morning? Have illicit sex with an ex? And act like you got some outrageous deal on a discontinued china patterns? I don’t know, all of this is new to me, gosh who has answers to questions like this? Erika is my only lifeline to contact about anything sexual and I have a feeling if I go into too much detail she is going to go crazy-ape-shit-on-me.

I get the thought ou
t of my head as I finish all my work I need to get done and I head back to my office. I am sitting at my desk and I wonder what Tristan is doing right now, is he as distracted and sidetracked the way I am? Does his body crave mine the way I crave him?

I wo
nder if love is the same for guys as it is for women, do they get all the classic symptoms that we get? You know, the can’t eat, can’t sleep, euphoria sensation? Although, I have a feeling that to them they attribute all of it to just sex. Mind-blowing, heart pounding, toe-curling sex, and I have to admit all of which I have never experienced until I spent the weekend at The Ritz with one Tristan Bach.

A
way word thought crosses my mind, maybe it’s The Ritz? Maybe that is why the sex is just so amazing? Maybe Tristan and I are just victims of illicit sex at The Ritz. All I know is I have never looked this amazing, my eyes are shinning, I have a glow that radiates and my delicious memories are the reason for my smile. I finish up my work and get everything done that was on my agenda before close of Business as Usual.

I jump in
to the shower in my office; yes I have a shower in my office and a fireplace as well so deal with it. I have to wash all these men off of me before I see the one I am engaged to.

I’m d
ressed, and looking every bit the professor’s fiancée in a cream Louie Vuitton wrap dress and matching shoes, lips pressed and out the door by seven, I get my car from the valet and head over to the faculty dinner at CWU.

                                                                              -------<>-------

I park next to Ian’s car and I follow the procession of faculty heading to the mail faculty meeting room. The whole building is old, all dark hard wood floors; I stand at the entry
and glance over the crowed room, wow the last time I saw this many teachers together was on a picket lines. They are all scattered in clusters, chatting over cocktails as a gentleman plays a grand piano in the middle of the room under that huge crystal chandelier. I spot Ian his back is to me and I would know him anywhere, what is the old saying ‘
I hate to see you go but I love to watch you leave’
yeah he looks that good and carries himself that well. I head over to him past the many of eyes ogling me as who the hell is she and I give them a run for their money as I walk over to Ian who is standing with two other gentlemen one in a cardigan and the other in jeans, wow am I over dressed for this, but looking at Ian in his olive suit and French vanilla shirt we complement one another.

I
nudge him at the waist. He turns and his smile is sweet and kind.

He kisses my cheek sweetly

“Hello sweetheart you look beautiful” he drapes his arm around me.

“Hello Ian
, so do you” as I touch his chest and his tie, we are all smiles as we emulate the perfect couple on display.

“
Dr. Chris Howard and Professor Robert Parker I would like you to meet my fiancée Aria Macy”

I nod and shake their hands, and realize that I have not seen teachers in quite some time
, I am so use to the image of the CEO’s the I.T. guys, the Bankers and Business men this should be interesting a different bread of men.

“H
ello there” I say shyly.

The cardigan wearing Dr. is warm and inviting he is
a doctor of psychiatry, while Professor Parker who went all out this evening in jeans that have seen better day is how can I put this…he is a pompous-ass, who is a math and physics geek enough said.

Then all of a sudden Ian yells over to the left as we all turn
and I am like
oh no!

“
Hey Jean!” Every hair on the back of my neck stands up, I cannot believe what I am seeing, my old poetry teacher Professor Jean Bouchard! The guy who’s class I ditched because of his inappropriate attention to my details.

I am at Ian’s left side
, I see Jean and our eyes lock onto each other, he still has that devilish grin on his face that always made me feel nervous, it makes me just as nervous now as it did when I sat in his poetry class two years ago. He takes Ian’s our reached hand and he is eyeing me up, jeez that is rude and he is doing this in front of Ian.

“Jean I would like you to meet my fiancée Aria Macy”
he takes my hand and squeezes it as he cups it with the other, very
touchy feely
and I blush immediately; oh shit this is not good. He rubs his fingers over my knuckles as he caresses my hand and I really don’t want him doing this, so I pull away quickly and tug on my earring as if I have an itch. Yeah I bet he’s sure as hell would like to scratch it, he is arrogance personified.

“Aria this is Professor Jean B
ouchard, he is the literature and philosophy professor here at Case Western Reserve he is also going to sub for me while we are on our honeymoon” I try not to look at his piercing blue eyes they are quite captivating sometimes and make me nervous.

“Hello nice to see you again Miss. Macy”

“You know Aria? Oh wait it must be from Business as Usual?” Ian looks at me as I look up at him but Jean speaks first in his French accent that takes me back to hearing him in class.

“
Ah no, what is Business as Usual?” The French are now inquiring, proceed with caution.

“That is my fiancée men’s clothing store she owns in Tower Centre”

“How interesting I had no idea, you see Ian, Miss Macy was in one of my creative writing classes a few years ago, poetry wasn’t it?” He is looking at me with narrowed eyes and I have to say I think he might be shocked to see me because I left his class so abruptly and never went back, let’s just say that he was more interested in me then my writing, smiling softly as I look at him then Ian.

“Yes I believe it was” as I now grab
Ian’s hand and hold onto him for dear life, Ian drapes his arm back around me and I feel better.

“
Small world isn’t it” Ian says as I look up at Ian and think he doesn’t see that this man wants in my panties and you are being so cordial to him.

“So you two
are getting married?” Ok his glares at me are uncomfortable, and Ian doesn’t see this?

“Yes this beautiful lady and I will be married next Sa
turday” Ian kisses my temple and I smile finally some sign that yes I am his, he is mine.

“Congratulations to you
both I wish you all the best” Jean says very coy and most definitely arrogant boarding on narcissistic, I glance at Jean and smile, gosh could this get anymore awkward.

Ian and he begin chatting about the up and coming school year and the new changes
that are to take place, all the while I am so uncomfortable, I look up at Ian who is taller than Jean, and just chatting away, Jean is wearing a grey suit and black tie, he has dark blue eye, brown pushed back hair he is clean shaven and about five six or so, what I remember most about him is the way he stood in class, he would cross his arms and every once in a while talk with his hands to infer his point but what I didn’t like was when he use to walk around the class and suddenly stop behind my desk and put his hands on my shoulders, he was always very friendly, over friendly if you ask me, but maybe that had to do with my poetry and I often thought that when I read these in class he was so enthralled in what I wrote that he was falling for me and that is how I became
the object of his affliction
, one day he asked me to stay after class and he commented on my writing then he got personal and asked about my situation and he tried to kiss me and I left his class, just walked out and never came back.

“So, Miss.
Macy I have not seen you in years?” I still love his accent it is romantic and I have to say back then when I was all enthralled in Tristan I could never see myself with this man. I didn’t even think he was attractive and now wow he is pretty easy on the eyes, a sexy smile, he dresses impeccable, I remember from his class how well traveled is and how he use to always smile at every poem we all read in his class. His eyes are captivating, they do sparkle on him…get a grip Macy jeez I got a fiancé a few weeks ago, I took a lover a few days ago and now my old French poetry teacher is regarding me fondly, what the hell is going on in my little corner of the world?”

Ian looks down at me and I smile at some comment
, I am like in need of a drink, where is the bar, and before we know it the room is quieted down and we take our seats.