Beyond Chance (13 page)

“Come on. I flew all the way across the
world to see your work, and now you’re going to hide it from
me?”

Aaron appeared in the doorway, his
expression solemn. “I thought you flew all the way across the world
to be with me.”

“Well, maybe. But your work comes in a close
second.” I grinned as he drew my hands into his.

“You have to shut your eyes, and you have to
realize that absolutely nothing is put together yet. You’re just
seeing the pieces. I’ll be constructing it somewhere else.”

“I got it. Now let me in.”

“Close your eyes.”

I huffed, but I squeezed them shut and
allowed him to lead me into the studio. I walked about ten steps
before he had me turn to the right. My hip bumped into a sharp
object and something clunked onto the floor and I let out a
gasp.

“It’s okay. It was just a ruler.” He stopped
walking, and I detected a slight change in his breathing patterns.
“Ready?”

“More than.”

“Open them up.”

My eyes flashed open, and he stepped away
allowing me to see his pieces propped against the wall and arranged
on the floor. Directly in front of me, metal streamed out of an
opening that twisted into itself. The shapes reminded me of
something from the ocean. The beauty he managed to capture in his
pieces always exceeded my expectations, and these were no
exception. Whether it was brutality or sensuality, Aaron’s work was
full of emotion, and the simplicity and clean lines of his pieces
screamed perfection. I knelt down and studied the piece closest to
me on the floor, my finger tracing the outline against the wood
floor.

“These are incredible. Breathtaking
actually. This piece reminds of a scion, but one who was taken from
her family in the sea not the land…”

“Is that so?” Aaron asked, narrowing his
eyes as I spoke of the piece.

“These metal shards streaming away, look
like the ties to her family she’s trying to cut from her life or
her way of existing.”

He knelt down and his gaze darkened as I
lifted my hand away from the piece.

“Anyway, that’s what I see in this one.” I
glanced across the room to distract myself from the intensity
sitting behind his expression.

“It’s not even fully constructed yet. I’m
amazed you can see all that from so little.”

I shrugged and stood up, moving to his next
sculpture. This piece was different than the other one, but it
still felt like the subject was reaching for something it couldn’t
obtain. The sorrow that dripped from it was terrifying, and I
couldn’t help but see Aaron in this piece as I thought back to his
confessions from the day before. The hollowness of the metal
contributed to the melancholy feeling that washed over me when
looking at the sculpture. It felt like two worlds collided, whether
it was peace and war or love and hate, but the longer I looked at
the metal, the more I felt I was staring into a portion of Aaron’s
soul.

He walked over to me and slid his arm around
my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder, and my heart felt heavy
as I stared at the piece in front of us. The half completed
sculpture told me so much more about Aaron than he even knew.

“What do you think?” he whispered.

“I think you might have found your
calling.”

He squeezed my waist and sighed. “I’m not
that sure about that.”

“That’s just jitters. Believe me when I tell
you that your work is out of this world.”

“Now that you’ve seen what I’ve been working
on up here, will you finally let me eat and take you around a
little bit?” he asked. “I need a break.”

I nodded and smiled. This was how I saw my
trip to Paris unfolding, but I wouldn’t take back the last
forty-eight hours for anything. It brought me closer to the man I
loved. Questions were still swimming around inside my mind, and I’d
find a time to ask them, but now wasn’t the time. I wanted to play
tourist in my new city.

“So what do you have in mind? The Louvre or
the Eiffel Tower or a walk along the Seine…”

“How about none of those.” His brow
arched.

“What?”

“The Eiffel Tower is overrated, and we can
do the Louvre another day when we can get an early start.”

“How in the world can you say that the
Eiffel Tower is overrated?” I was halfway down the stairs and came
to a screeching halt at his latest curve ball. I was here to
explore the city.

“It’s just a tourist trap. The lines are
outrageous, and the space needle is just as awesome.” There was
something mischievous lurking behind his expression, and I decided
not to fall into his plan. I mean maybe he’d seen it a few times
with all of his travels, but come on. It was the Eiffel Tower.

I dropped my shoulders and flipped my hand,
dismissing the idea entirely. I’d get there one way or another. “So
what have you got up your sleeve?”

“I thought you might like to picnic in
Jardin du Luxembourg. We can pick up some macaroons from Ladurée
and wander the gardens and see the statues, or we can find a quiet
place to enjoy one another’s company.”

“Both options sound heavenly.” I walked down
the last couple of steps and pushed open the door leading back into
the dining room and was pleasantly greeted by a warm breeze from
the open window. “I still need to try the crepe place, but I’d like
the embarrassment of the cappuccino catastrophe to blow over.”

“I’m sure they’ve long since forgotten,”
Aaron assured me.

“In a day?” I laughed.

“Well, soon they won’t remember…” He winked,
and I just shook my head at his feeble attempt to gloss over the
fiasco.

“Do I need to bring anything special?” I
asked.

“I don’t even think you need a sweater. It’s
been warm from the moment I arrived and I don’t see it letting
up.”

I strolled to the window and poked my head
out the opening, thrilled at the thought of getting to stroll
through Paris. Today had been exactly as I’d imagined it. We both
woke up and shared breakfast. While he went up to work, I spent the
morning reading and felt absolutely no guilt for doing so once in
my life. I was wearing a green, fitted dress and had no plans to
change. Jeans might be more practical, but this dress made me feel
amazing.

Just as I turned around from the window,
Aaron picked up my phone from the dining room table and handed it
to me. “It looks like you got a text earlier.”

I glanced at the screen and typed my
password, which revealed a text from my mom. It must have come over
while I was reading, but my heart fell when I saw the subject of
the message.

Did you see the news I forwarded you about
Derek?

News? What news? I hadn’t looked at email
since I arrived. The whole purpose of being in Paris was to hide
from it all. Even though I didn’t want to ask, I knew it would
bother me the rest of the day if I didn’t get the details.

No. What’s going on?

Even though it was early in Seattle, my mom
texted back.

Jury selection is underway and with Derek’s
online presence revealed in court documents, the local news has
been eating it up. It’s good you’re out of town, but I want you to
be aware. Love, mom

The news chilled me to my core. My plan had
been to be as far away from the spectacle as possible. Unable to
focus on anything, I leaned against the wall and stared directly in
front of me. The dull ache that stretched from my hip down to my
leg worsened as the words settled over me. I would be connected to
what this predator did for the rest of my life.

“Brandy, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head and handed him the phone as
the anger threatened to overtake my world. Derek didn’t deserve
attention. He was getting exactly what he wanted. A platform.

I just wanted everything to go away. It was
bad enough that I had to be reminded of what he did every day when
I got up in the morning or bent over to grab something. It was the
simple things in my life that would forever connect me to
Derek.

“If any of the press try track you down…”
Aaron’s agitation cut through the room. “Why can’t they leave well
enough alone?”

The disgust in his voice spoke to the depth
of emotion that swarmed and muddled my thoughts, pulling me in
every direction.

“The press must be hounding my family and my
mom didn’t want to tell me,” I whispered.

“I’m so sorry, babe. I know you hoped to
avoid most of it while you were here. The media feeds off things
like this. It’s sick.” His jaw tensed, and I realized his words
meant more to me than they ever had. He’d been in my shoes. Against
his wishes, Aaron had been thrust into the spotlight. It was
something very few could understand, but he did. “If any of those
story suckers are on the other line when I pick up the phone…”

I laughed. “A story sucker?”

“I refuse to call them journalists.
Journalism is reporting the facts not sensationalizing the
situation.” He balled his hands into fists and shook his head
loathing the story-making machine our news had become.

I nodded in agreement as the tension that
I’d been feeling in my shoulders and body begin to dissipate as I
watched Aaron carry the burden for me. I hadn’t asked him to, but
he did it without question.

“You still up for the park?” Aaron asked,
taking my phone from my hands and placing it on the table. He
tangled his fingers with mine and pulled me closer to him. Leaning
my head against his chest, I breathed in everything about him and
nodded my head.

“I think it’s the perfect idea to get my
mind off things.”

Aaron wrapped his arms around me and held me
tightly as I kept my eyes closed. Listening to the steady beat of
his heart lulled me to a place of calmness that only moments before
I didn’t believe existed.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I
murmured.

“It goes both ways, my love.”

His grip lessened and I took a step back.
“I’m not going to let this bastard spoil my first official second
day in Paris.”

Aaron smiled and gave a quick nod. “Agreed.
I’ll go grab my wallet and we’ll be off.”

I watched him walk out of the dining room,
and my mind circled back to everything he revealed to me yesterday.
There had been such a flood of information all at once that I was
still waiting for the pieces to settle in place. It was hard to
believe the man I’d fallen in love with had been a hero-in-hiding.
I knew the events that unfolded that day in the church changed him
forever, but I also understood the events prior to that had changed
him as well. Some good. Some bad. It was up to me to navigate
between the parallel worlds and discover the man behind the façade.
Puzzling away, I imagined a lovely day with Aaron as I slowly made
my way to the front door and waited for him to reappear.

“You ready? I grabbed two waters. It gets
pretty hot in the afternoon here.”

I nodded and put both bottles in my bag and
followed Aaron into the hallway. He locked all the deadbolts and we
were off. Excitement pulsed through my veins at seeing Paris in the
light of day and leaving my baggage behind.

I allowed myself to imagine the beautiful
Parisian days looming ahead of me—filled with delightful
exploration and indulging in the sinfully delicious. I saw a
simpler way of existing while I tried to unravel the madness of the
life I’d left behind. I wasn’t going to be held prisoner in thought
or action because of a choice that someone else made. Trusting the
legal system would need to be enough for me. But what if it wasn’t?
What if the actions of another dictated how my life would be? It
also didn’t help that I played peek-a-boo with someone who’s
clearly in love with my boyfriend. I felt like if there was ever a
moment when I might come undone, now might be the time. I only
hoped it wasn’t at Aaron’s expense.

But I felt like a ticking time bomb.

“Try the yellow one,” Aaron said, handing me
the box of macaroons. “It’s way better than the green one.”

Hearing Aaron’s voice brought me back to the
present and the very life I’d been daydreaming about. We’d managed
to sample about every single color and type of macaroon we’d
purchased. It started with the first one, raspberry, and my control
steadily went downhill after that first bite. I couldn’t stop
myself from trying every single one. We’d been lucky enough to find
a large shade tree in Jardin du Luxembourg where we sat and watched
the world go by. Other than the fact that the wrought iron chairs
were a little uncomfortable, this moment was what I’d
envisioned.

“I could get used to this.” I dipped my hand
into the box and snatched the only yellow one remaining. “But this
is the last one I’m eating, or I won’t be able to fit in that tiny
elevator of ours.”