A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) (4 page)

“I’ll call you when I land, no texting and driv
ing” he shakes his finger at me, that is one thing I don’t do but he scolds me about it anyway I would much rather blare my radio then talk and drive, I mean with I-phones now a days it is an impossible task to drive and text carefully, and I do scold people when I see them at lights doing it. It is very disrespectful to other driver’s safety.

I give him my brave smile and I try to hold back
my tears but my eyes well up and my emotions get the best of me.

“
Sweetheart it’s only for a few days” the tear falls down my cheek as his thumb whips it away.

“I know
, I know” he pulls me close kissing and whispers in my ear “I love you … come with me.”

I smile against his neck and his moan I feel in his throat
as he holds me close, we both got it bad.

“Ian you
’re worst then me” I hold him tight around his neck the skycap is trying to hide his smile at our behavior.

“
Just married?” he chimes in with a smile and is still pecking away at his computer.

“In two weeks” Ian says
as he looks at me one last time, our brown eyes take one last glance at each other and we have to say good bye for now.

The
gentlemen take Ian’s bag from in front of him and sends it on its way.

“Mr. Bollinger your flight is leaving on time and if she doesn’t move her car she will be ticketed!”

Just then we both turnaround and the police pulled up. “Yikes” I blurt out as I see officer friendly flashing his lights behind my Cadillac.

“I’m moving her right now
!” I yell at the officers and they wave me on, my car is left running so it is not technically a parked car so they let me move her.

I
kissed Ian one last time, as I get into the car the police cruiser turns off his lights and takes off in front of me.

Ian yells as I am putting on my sea
tbelt

“H
ey we waited twenty years a few more weeks won’t make a difference!” I take one last look at him in his navy trousers, white linen shirt no tie and jacket over his shoulder and he is carrying his coach briefcase, my handsome man is going away for the weekend, I blow him a kiss and wave to him out the sun roof.

“I’ll cal
l you Aria be careful slow down!” he looks at me and waves me off. 

I beep
ed three times…for “I–love-you” It’s just something we do whenever we drive off.

The drive back to the store is long, as traffic picks up it is crazy, especially
around the area of the airport. Not only is it backed up because of the construction zones but gosh it is always backed up when there is an Indians game, like tonight, I think it’s dollar dog night or something, then there is a concert at the arena, and not to mention the tall ship parade so it will bring them out in groves and of course we now have a casino here, so that flow of traffic is always present.

It is wonderful how downtown has made such a comeback, it is great
to be in the city in the middle of all of it, I have always loved working downtown, the energy, the hustle the bustle, you get a different customer and you cater to different needs, but what I love the most is the power and vigor of Cleveland from busy business traffic, to after dark, It’s like New Year’s Eve but its June.

Chapter 3

KISSING A FOOL

I make it back to the store in record time and I don’t believe I pressed the accelerator too much. I always try to park outside
The Ritz Carlton Hotel
; it’s a one way short street. I always park here after the downtown workers vacate the prime spaces, I usually stay at the store after closing hours to catch up on paperwork but as of recent I have been staying late to work on my wedding dress.

My dear sweet Oliver has been here all afternoon, it’s Friday and he has to be
out of here by six…some big shin-dig he is going to tonight. I promised that I would get back as soon as possible.

“Hey Oliver thanks for staying you are brazil-ant!”

“Aria you are, I’m just along for the ride

“Yeah well I’m the one riding your coat
tails”

“Aria you are
Business as Usual” as he kissed my cheek, and what a mess, clothes and ties, shipments bolts of fabrics and shirts are everywhere, to the average person it looks like a typhoon hit this place but to me it’s Business as Usual.

“So Aria I too
k care of the shipments that were on the wrong flight, I got the Hovers there tuxes for the wedding tomorrow and you have two more request  for the new born ties that you do”

“
Ok no problem, I can get those done tonight and have them messengered over”

“The
address for the two are on the counter here and I think that is it”

“Oliver go have a great time
as you already know Ian is gone for the weekend, so I plan on going through all of this, it should keep me busy.” Oliver agrees as he looks at his watch he gets his things together and he give me the address of the two new born ties that I need to get made and messenger off.

T
he ties I make for the newborns are baby blue with a silver pinstripe in them and for the girls they are white satin with a pink and silver pinstripe in them. The really nice touch is on the back is the baby’s information name and date of birth and weight; it is all stitched in with our computer embroidery machine. They are so cool everyone just loves them. I make ties for any occasion actually; I have been making neckties and bowties for so long even before I started my business, just a hobby I guess as I always play with fabric and what not.

I’m usually the one who is always going through all the end of day receipts, I usually handle
the business dealings and I run everything by Oliver he is the cut above the rest, simply amazing tailor, he can get a whole suit done from fitting to out the door in a few days, he even makes fedora hats to order he lives and breathes fashion, he is priceless, I would never be anywhere without him, we are partners in all of this. We both are the decisions in the business and we feed off one another and drive one another to be better than yesterday.

All
of our shirts are made of four elements that make them unique, cut, fabric, color, collar, so you can have a perfectly fitted shirt in any color, any fabric and that is how we build a wardrobe for most of our customers a few key pieces that mix and match well to give our customers that sharp look, that looks
nouveau riche
feel like expensive designer shirts and suits but doesn’t have that crazy over the top price tag. My motto is our guy may look like a million bucks, but it sure as hell didn’t cost him a million bucks.

We
design the look, create the product and ship worldwide, we make a killer suits all shirt’s we sell come with a custom tie, made by yours truly. I studied design and merchandizing in college so I just love to organize the shirts and ties and do the displays and dress the mannequins, yes I even put cologne on the mannequins yeah I know I’m funny that way, you’ll get used to it.

What can I say I found my true calling…I love to dress men
, there is just something that gets me about a well-dressed man, I do think that clothes make the man, if you dress for success you will immolate it.

As
I check the grandfather clock to the right of the entry door it is getting late.

“Oliver sweetie go ahead get out of here have a great time I will see you later”

“Are you sure you are going to be ok without the big guy around?”

“Don’t remind me, I will keep busy go, I’m fine
, have fun, don’t forget your bag I made you a special tie for tonight”

Oliver unzips his garment bag and looks at the tie and laughs I put the comedy and tragedy mask on it…he is the host of
a gala tonight and that is the theme. We usually donate suits and shirts and ties for this benefit that is near and dear to Oliver’s heart. I believe it’s to benefit one of the playhouses here to raise money for renovations.

Did I mention that my dear
, dear, Oliver Barry looks like Georgio Armani but with salt and pepper hair, just adorable, smart, fun loving talented oh the list goes on and on.

“L
ove the tie but I love you more talk to ya later Aria” he grabs his garment bag over his arm and he is on his way. He blows me a kiss and leaves out the cherry wood and glass double doors. Well first things first I grab the fabric and make up the new born ties for two of our best customers, their wives have ordered the ties for them, I get busy with cutting the fabric one is for a boy and the other for a girl, I type the information into the computer and the lettering is done in minutes, I box them up in pretty tie boxes and leave them for Monday to be shipped out.

I look around the store and I am
alone with my thoughts and so much to do, I start going through the store, organizing gathering and sorting there are shirts that need steamed so I tackle that and put them away, there are trousers that need surged, that is a fine pressing and then they are all hung in their proper place. All of our pieces here are on beautiful cedar hangers and all the cabinets and book cases as well as the shadow boxes are all cedar as well.

I finished up the pressing
after a while I look at my watch It is a little after six, Ian must be in the air by now; I thought he would have called me from the terminal…oh well. Ian is not the one to text and call, I would love to hear from him more often during the day but I just never take the initiative to contact him because he is in class, or he is driving, or in a meeting, me I can usually be reached without a problem but a college professor does not take calls the way a sales girl does. I guess that is why I am so happy to see him at the end of the day, we hardly talk at all during the day. I wonder if Ian has thought about it, I never asked him, Should I do something about it? Should I bring it to his attention? I don’t know? We have both been loners for so long to have each other now we are going to have to make some changes in how we do communicate with each other. Oh well can’t do anything about it now I will speak with him when he returns home on Sunday.

I began cleaning out the shipment boxes,
they need to be broken down and taken down to the recycling room we have here which is next to my store. After I return from that task I take off my shoes and turned up the tunes, I have x-m radio piped throughout the store. I listen to the 80’s on eight, the Sinatra station as well as the real jazz station, tonight the station I settle on watercolor  my all-time fav. I turn it up and get to work.

I have so much to put away
and organize this should keep me busy, for some reason men buy more shirts in the summer then fall, I have been making up so many differ styles and keeping them on hand because the demand has been so high. It is funny I mentioned it to my mom and she said that my dad went through dress shirts for his tux because he played in the orchestra and then he went through his business shirts for meetings and rehearsals so I don’t question it, I just keep up with the demand, I have no choice if they don’t buy them from me they are going to buy them someplace else and I feel mine are worth it because they are custom made fit to order and we keep all of our clients measurements on file, most call in color and how many they need and I can have them done in a days’ notice.

I have never lived with a man so I am assuming it
’s got something to do with hot sticky weather and the need for a fresh shirt in the morning and one for night if they are going out.

As I finish up my tour of duty here I get through the mound of things that need to be tended to start to diminish as tasks get accomplished I have less mess to deal with and that makes me happy.

Well that wasn’t too bad I finished all that needed to be hung and now for the restocking  I grab the socks and studs and fill the cases, oh and how can I forget the cufflinks we sell cufflinks like crazy here, they are silver square and blank we have your initials engraved on them by my good friend Mark at Tiffany’s he does a great job on them and he just bills my store for it, they go like crazy out the doors so I am forever restocking them.

I
cleaned out the fitting rooms, I have worked in women’s clothing before and I have to say fellas men are worst then women, when they try on clothes it’s like a hurricane hit the fitting room until they find what they want, then it’s the calm after the storm. I have noticed when it comes to clothes, that women; we are cut, color and clarity “
how do I look? Is this color good on me? Does this make my butt look big?”
once we get clarity on an outfit we are committed to it. Men always think there is a better jacket, a better cut, better fit, better style and they need more clarity then we will ever understand, but I love them all just the same because when a man puts on that perfect suit and the must have shirt with the fabulous tie. The look on their face says it all. They light up just like we do when we find that perfect
little black dress.