A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) (9 page)

“I see my party thank you” I walk pass the sushi station as I cross the dance
floor his back is to me and I take a deep breath as I pull out the box of charm and smack it on my face. I stride with determination and grace as I stand in front of his table arms crossed there is a candle burning as it glows and shines against his face I know this is going to be challenging.

“Well if it isn’t mad bad and dangerous to know”
The look on his face is priceless; it’s nice to know that I can still shock the hell out of the arrogant son-of-a-bitch. His eyes are daunting and mysterious but familiar just the same.

“I
t’s nice to see you drink in better venues now!” he stands up and I get a tiny hint of his cologne and it does things to me even today

“Please Aria join me for a drink”

“So a drink with the narcissistic egotistical maniac?”

“Live a little Aria you know you want to?” he must be drunk by now, he walks behind me with caution or is it chivalry, I’m not sure yet he reaches for my elbow.

“You know I think I will Mr. Bach” I look at him and ok I am here on a mission and drinks could help
my endeavor.

“Y
ou aren’t here for round two are you? As he caresses the cheek that I slapped.

I smile and everyone knows that sarcasm is my middle name.

“I didn’t hear a bell, did you?” He smiles back at me shaking his head from side to side my sarcasm has always made Tristan smile, it was my harsh words that made him run and it will be something else tonight that is for sure.

The
wait staffs at The Ritz Carlton are impeccable; you will never go thirsty here, or apparently sober up by the looks of Tristan.

“W
hat can I get for you miss?”

“I’ll have what he’s having”

“Club soda with lime?”  I laugh out loud at the absurdity

“Club Soda
? Are you kidding me” I grabbed his glass and take a sip. Then I realize I am the one who is consumed with drink not dear old Mr. Bach! I sink down into my seat as I realize this is a whole new ballgame.

“Do you still want a club soda?”

I looked at Tristan “Stoli’s Ohranj” we both said it at the same time. Tristan orders two Stoli’s Ohranj on the rocks with a lime…he remembered.

“So Mr. Bach what are you doing here?” I sit down across from him and put my Chanel bag on the chair to my left.

“I should be asking you the same question Aria” his voice is low and sultry as he questions me; I reach for his lit cigarette that is smoldering in the ashtray between us and take a hit off of it. I blow the smoke over our heads as it hovers above us and dissipates.

The taste and familiarity is
something that I have not experienced probably since the last time that Tristan and I had been together. I catch a glimpse of his sexy smile, or smirk, touch his lips; oh the things he does with those glares and looks. If I am seeing correctly I can tell he is pondering something already the self-righteous bastard that he is ...hmm

“You didn’t
answer my question Aria?” he looks me in the eyes as I pass him his cigarette.

“Oh I can’t have a drink after work?”
I act as nonchalant as possible

“I
’m not complaining I have to say drinking with you has always been my favorite pastime and a lovely way to spend an evening” he takes a long drag off his cigarette and blows the smoke out in rings over our heads as I smile and poke my fingers into them before they disappear, he is playful tonight but I’m a lady on a mission and I begin with my sarcastic quote to gauge his reaction and feel him out.

“You sure as hell think you are a blessing instead of a lesson” I quote my favorite Frank Ocean
his smile fades as I believe I just irked him

“Where’s your fiancé?”
that deep voice almost spits this question at me, my sarcasm comes with a smile.

“You are as sanctimonious
as ever, if you must know Ian is in Chicago” Tristan takes the last hit off the cigarette and puts it out, he looks almost nervous interesting he doesn’t seem the same despondent fiend from yester year but the night is still young.

“S
o are you two going to remain in Cleveland after you marry?”

“Yes, Ian is a
college Professor at CWU; he has transferred here from Chicago”

Tristan loosens
his tie even more, is he doing this on purpose to entice me? Wow he is quite handsome be still my beating heart. His piercing hazel eyes that raven black tousled hair it’s a pretty potent cocktail sitting across from me.

“I
thought you were in New York, the last I heard, you were going to work in the New York Office to head up the mergers and acquisitions dept. I know you never were the country girl to stick it out here and settle”

“I never said I hated the country
, I just said if I was going to live in the country it had better be to raise a family and settle down!”

Tristan tries to suppress a laugh because he knows I have b
een drinking already, and he is still sober, talk about the tables turning, impious beast of burden that he is.

“Good evening you two”
Our drinks arrive on a silver tray, along with a silver bowl of assorted warm nuts. I reach for my drink and Tristan gives me that look.

“Ok Aria what are we drinking to?”

I looked at those hazel eyes of his and smile just as sullen as he does.

“T
o burying the past Mr. Bach.”

Tristan holds up his drink a
s he glares at me shaking his head from side to side ever so slightly, we clink our glasses and our eyes never leave one another, the way he looks at me, it’s as if he looks through me, he makes me nervous so I go for the obvious, question and answer format for this evening’s festivities. 

“I have to ask you something, since you are still here after leaving my store quite some time ago, what is the real reason you came to see me, and be HONEST?”
as I point my well- manicured index finger at him.

I glance
at my watch, when I am nervous, I can’t tell you what time it is, shit I can’t see a thing when I’m drinking.

“D
o you really want to know?” he reaches for another cigarette and lights it up I cross my arms,

“Y
es I believe that is the question that is on the table so let’s go, out with it Bach” what is he hiding he has me intrigued as we glower at one another.

He blows the smoke out of his nose almost as a sigh.

“I have been trying to find you for the past six months Aria,”

“Why have you been looking for me?
”

“Well
after we broke up I tried to forget about you, but your words haunted me, all those talks about the future, about what I wanted out of life, all those whispered conversations we had, you changed the way I looked at myself, you changed the way I was living my life, Aria you made me see that I could be whatever I wanted if I worked hard, if I applied myself.  I took your words serious, everything I wanted, I went out there and I got it. I bought the restaurant, I just remember what we’ve talked about how I needed to find my place in this world, but what really got me was when I realized that the one person I wanted to share all this with was gone. It just made me want to see you, find you, and make all the wrong right again” he is looking at me with sincerity as he spills his guts and worse he opens his heart to me.

Well that was not what I was expecting to
hear; I mean adult words coming out of his mouth, I know better, this smug self-centered bastard is still Tristan Bach, and it leaves me wondering what is he angle? Ok I’ll bite.

“Excuse me Tristan but this all sounds so two years ago,
you know the same broken record, what has changed besides you dress much better now, nice suit by the way” he flashes me his killer good looking smile. He knows his is hot, he knows he is handsome modesty and humble have never been his characteristics at all. I have never seen, in a way that tells me

“
Thank you, Aria the most important thing that has changed is I have not kissed another women in two years until you today” I am in chartered waters now as chill runs through me

“So you became a monk?” he laughs at my comment and pushes his hair back

“You’re on the right track, but seriously there has never been anyone else in my life in the past two years, I was done with that old life, I spent time with my grandmother, I sold my stock, liquidated my assets and that is how I bought the restaurant she passed last December.” Oh wow he lost his grandmother that was the only women who was tops on Tristan’s list, he introduced me to her and we bonded immediately she was funny, stern and she did not take Tristan’s nonsense, I can see how losing her was hard for him.

“I’m sorry to hear that, she was a wonderful lady” 

“Yes she was, thank you, losing her, it just made it all clear to me that what I did to you was wrong, what I had with you I threw away, and what I missed most in my life was you!” ok now he got me wet again.

Ok so serious conversation over
, vodka is not what I was expecting, and before I can’t even come up with a zinger he continues. 

“I
tried to reach you, your number is disconnected, you moved from your house, your neighbors didn’t know where you were, I was even going to hire a private detective then I thank the angels and saints, I glance up from the bar and there you were, the sunlight in your hair, your smile, those lips, you were a vision! My heart stopped! I was not even supposed to be at the restaurant today but someone called off, and the purchasing orders were wrong, so that is why I was there, have you ever been in the restaurant before today?”

I’m caught in his web, I blink to get my wits about myself and utter
…

“U
m, no I haven’t this was the first time this afternoon” He smiles at me his shy smile that I have not seen in forever.

I just sat there and listened, he was not drunk it was not the liquor talking it was him, Tristan was making statements that I
have painstakingly tried to get him to see all those years ago…but I’m not buying into any of his sweet talk, he has always been my downfall, my weakness, my common sense goes out the window when he pulls me in, I have to shake it off and I go for a direct approach.

“Tristan this is all fine and good…” he cuts me off he looks nerv
ous or is it anxious or is it fear that I am going to get up and walk out.

“Well Aria you’ve always said I needed to combine my two passions cooking and drinking
!”

I nod as I finished my
drink; I turn it up until the ice clinks in the glass he motioned for the waiter to bring another round.

“
I can’t believe what I am hearing; you are finally done with that old life? So what now Tristan what does the future hold for you?”

“
Well I don’t know, after six months of looking for you I’m in shock to just see you, Aria your eyes see right through me, I am in awe, everything that I have held so deep down inside has come to surface, and your lips, how I have missed those lips, Aria, kissing you was worth the slap!” 

So now he wants to get serious and c
ute, do I want to hear all of this? Do I need to hear any of this? I mean he is singing like a canary, and I have to admit he has my curiosity peeked.

“So ok round two, with drinks not slaps!”

“Aria Macy, still as sarcastic as ever I see”

“Mr. Bach, I have
you to thank for my sarcastic implications”

“Aria, seeing your lovely face is wonderful and quite a shock”

“Tristan seeing you is quite a shock as well, so how have you been?”

“
Well I thought I was doing just fine until I saw you today, and now that is why I have been sitting here, going over how I fucked it all up! Like they say you never know what you got till it’s gone”

I must not get emotional with him I’ve been drinking, this man is a force not to reckon with and I can’t look into those eyes anymore,
because he has just said to me what I have buried deep in the most forsaken part of my mind, he admitted that he was wrong about what he did to me, about what he did to us, mighty noble of him I must say, but I don’t see how any of this makes any difference in present day, I am engaged and he is an old boyfriend, this meeting, this conversation should never have taken place.

“Tristan I don’t know how to react to any of this”
my statement is true, my heart is warming to him but damn him, I am engaged to another man who trusts me implicitly, and look what I am doing the man just left town a few hours ago and I am fraternizing with the enemy. I am pulled from my weary thoughts by the impeccable waiter carrying our drinks.

Round two arrives
, thank God! I have been hit with a ton of bricks and I need courage in a glass!

“Aria when I couldn’t find you I was just
going to accept it that you were gone, that I was never going to see you again and I was coming to terms with that until I saw you with that guy” his last syllable is almost a growl, who is he to get mad at me.