Authors: Claire Adams
“But that’s not how everyone else will see
it,” she protested. “They will all just think it’s some kind of nepotism or
something.”
“Well, give me a list of everyone who
thinks that way and I will fire every last one of them.”
She sighed. “That won’t be necessary.
Fine, no more teller duties. Where do I sit then?”
“I am having them build you a new office
right across from mine. So let me know what you want in that space. Meanwhile,
you can just take that desk over there. I don’t think – well I hope – that you
won’t be engaging in much other work than planning your dream wedding for the
next three weeks so that shouldn’t be a problem. By the time we are married
your office should also be ready and you will have your own space to come up
with brilliant ideas that I don’t doubt will bring my company heaps of money.”
“You give me too much credit, Zayden.”
It was my turn to sigh. “The fact that you
think that is also one of your greatest qualities. God, if you could only see
yourself the way I see you. We will talk again after you have assumed your new
role in the company for a few months. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”
She shrugged. “If you say so. I’m going to
head out now. I have a wedding to plan,” she said joyfully and almost hopped
out of my office, leaving me grinning with admiration.
Chapter
5
Aria
By the time I got home, I still couldn’t
process everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, starting
all the way from when Zayden proposed to me in class. A wedding in three weeks!
As much as that thought freaked me out, it also excited me. Three weeks from
tomorrow, I was going to become Mrs. Sinclair after our wedding in the city of
my dreams. It was as though someone had taken a chapter from one of my favorite
romance novels and sprinkled it all over my life. Giddy from the marvel of it
all, I headed straight to Nick and Stacey’s room. I leaned over to their closed
door to make sure that I wasn’t interrupting an intimate moment, but when I
heard them argue about video games, I knocked excitedly.
“Come on in, Aria. We already know you’re
engaged. In case that’s what the excitement with your loud knocks indicated,”
Nick said.
“I’m getting married,” I said, turning the
doorknob.
“Didn’t I just say we know that?” Nick looked
confusedly at Stacey. “Am I inaudible Stace? Did I lose my power of speech?”
“In three weeks,” I added hastily. “I’m
getting married in three weeks. In New York City. Code red.”
After a couple of gasps and hanging
mouths, Stacey quickly assumed the role of my best friend. “I’ll get started on
the cookies. You guys set shop in the living room. Yes, this is code red.”
---
An hour later the three of us were
spiraled across the living room, stuffing our faces with Stacey’s amazing
chocolate chip cookies.
“But, Fiona Davis!” Stacey exclaimed for
the fifteenth time. “How did he? How is that even possible? I know he is some
hotshot billionaire but even then. Fiona is booked for years. Years! Not
months, years. And from my understanding she doesn’t even adjust her schedule
for A list celebrities. I can’t believe Zayden pulled that off!”
“Well, I am not sure if I am supposed to
tell you guys yet,” I said, beaming. “But he also booked her for your wedding
next year.”
Stacey gasped the loudest I had ever heard
her, as her eyes started to tear up. “What? How? Fiona Davis, for Nick and my
wedding? That’s not…this is not real life. I’m going to go back to bed and be
disappointed when I wake up to realize this was one awesome dream.”
“I’m serious, Stace,” I said, hugging her
tight. “Fiona Davis will be planning your wedding.”
“No she will not.” Stacey broke our hug
and frowned. “It’s not just about her schedule you know. I can’t exactly afford
her. Neither can Nick,” she added when he cleared his throat.
“It’s already paid for,” I announced.
“Zayden said he is grateful for you for helping with our relationship – first
with convincing me it was a good idea to go out with him, then with helping
with the ring – that it’s the least he could do. And for loving me or something.”
“Yeah, cause that last part is real hard
to do,” Stacey quipped and rolled her eyes. “So we definitely need to be
rewarded for it.”
“Shut up, Stace.” I giggled. “But
seriously, Zayden is happy to do this so please just accept it, okay? This way
we both get to have our dream weddings.”
After another few protests, Stacy finally
came around. “Okay,” she said. “Fine. We will accept, but what can we do for
him in return, though? I don’t have anything!”
“Cookies,” I said brightly. “I bet you a
million dollars – shit I shouldn’t use such exaggerations anymore, should I? –
okay, okay, I just bet you some love that Zayden has never had chocolate chip
cookies that are perfect as yours. Make him an enormous batch as a thank you
and I will take it with me when I move there tomorrow—”
“When you what?” Nick chimed in, looking
rather disappointed. “Tomorrow?”
Shit. That was not how I was planning to
break the news about my sudden departure at all. They were supposed to have
been a few beers in, first of all.
“Okay guys, I know I talked about moving
out soon but even I had no idea it would be
this
soon. But given that I am getting married in three weeks, it only makes sense
that I live with him for a little bit before becoming his wife, you know?” I
couldn’t hide the annoying grin from my face as I said this.
“Aria.” Stacey shook her head. “We love
you and you know that. We would keep you with us forever if we could. You don’t
have to pretend that this is something you’re doing out of necessity. You can’t
wait to start living with Zayden, it’s all over your face. And the important
part is I am fucking ecstatic for you…”
I mock frowned. “So you’re not going to
miss me? Why aren’t you more upset by this?”
“You’re an idiot.” She rolled her eyes.
“Of course I am heartbroken. We are,” she added, as Nick sat in the corner.
“This is bittersweet. I couldn’t be happier for you Aria. You have met the man
of your dreams who makes you ridiculously happy and would literally do anything
in the world for you. Heck, he is going out of his way for your friends he
barely knows, even! And you’re so in love it’s hilarious and adorable. So what
I am getting at, I guess, is when should we start helping you pack?”
Those words brought unexpected tears to my
eyes and before I knew it, Stacey and I were both bawling our eyes out and
hugging each other.
“Wow, I sure feel the love,” Nick said
sarcastically, so I went over and hugged him too.
These were seriously the two best people I
had ever met in my life. The last few years living with them had been something
out of a sitcom on T.V. I couldn’t believe that the time had come for me to
move on. It was almost as though we were adults now. I was ready for that.
“It’s the end of an era,” Nick said,
holding Stacey’s hand while we hugged.
Better words had not been invented to
describe this situation.
Hours later, as we packed away my life, I
was still explaining the mechanics of the wedding to them.
“So we will all fly over to New York that
Friday and the wedding is on Sunday. Zayden is paying for our tickets, business
class—”
Stacey gasped again. I was starting to get
used to that as the background noise to my life.
“No!”
“Yes,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve never been
in business class either. But I hear there is champagne. We will find out
sooner or later. And that is just the beginning of it. He is putting us all up
in fancy five-star hotels right in mid-town where all the action is supposed to
happen. All my life I have dreamed of going to Times Square and now I will be
staying so close to it while I prepare for my wedding at The Plaza. It’s insane
is what it is.”
“Oh god, Aria, this is going to be like
one of those weddings in the movies where you just have to think for a second
if anyone in the world can afford such a thing. Now you can!”
“No, I can’t. Zayden can though and he
wants to so why should I complain? Although, he did force a pretty heavy
promotion on me so who knows, soon enough, maybe I would be able to afford such
things myself?”
Stacey covered her face and fell flat on
my bed. “I can’t anymore, Aria. Too much big news. Congratulations on the
promotion. Although I should have seen that one coming a long time ago. You’re
brilliant and Zayden knows this, so he would have offered you the promotion
even if you guys were never romantically involved.”
“That’s what he said too.” I frowned,
being unable to fathom why everyone thought I was so smart. I should just be
grateful for the opportunity, but it was difficult to believe that I had made
it this far on talent alone.
“Give yourself more credit, Aria! You’re
the best student in our year. The only time you got an A minus you crawled into
bed and cried for two days straight. If it wasn’t Zayden, some other big shot
at some other bank would be eager to take you.”
“Fine, fine,” I said reluctantly. “I
earned the promotion or whatever. I still need to graduate from college, you
know?”
“Yeah, how do you plan to do that with the
demands of your new job and planning your wedding?”
“Well, I am taking all my final exams
early – so later this week – for this semester and then I will be done with my
junior year. I’m going to try and do my senior year online. The Dean has been
understanding and willing to help me with it. She was worried if she didn’t try
to work with me I would go elsewhere where and my diploma wouldn’t have their
name on it.”
“Nobody has ever fought so hard to keep my
name.” Nick snickered. “Yet you don’t think you’re intelligent enough to have
earned that promotion. I think you need some therapy, Aria.”
“I think you guys need to shut up,” I said
jokingly. “But anyways, I’ll have my degree and my job – and my soon to be
husband, of course – so I am happy. I don’t really have to go in to work or
start my new position until the wedding, which helps. Now that I have arranged
to take my finals early—”
“When did you even manage to do that?”
Stacey looked at me in awe. “Didn’t you just find out about all this earlier
this afternoon?”
“I called the Dean on my way home.” I
waved my hand to suggest it was no big deal. “You know how I like to be on top
of things.”
“You are like from some other planet, my
goodness. Any other girl – me for sure and Nick too and he is not even a girl –
would be so consumed in the excitement of all of this that at least for a day
school would be relegated to the back of our minds.”
“Well, school is important.” I grinned. So
many wonderful things were happening and I had no idea why Nick and Stacey were
insistent on showering me with so complements. Perhaps it had something to do
with me moving away, but it sure as hell made me feel wonderful.
“So in summary,” Nick said, looking at a
legal pad. “You are getting married in New York in three weeks, you are taking
your finals next week and you start your new position at work after the
weeding. And you’re moving out tomorrow?”
“Nick, have you been taking notes?” I
burst out laughing. It was classic Nick.
He flashed me a confused look. “Shouldn’t
I have been? As your – wait, what will I be doing in your wedding? Stacey is
maid-of-honor. I can’t exactly be a bridesmaid. Wait, Aria, I am in your wedding
right?” He looked horrified by the possibility that he might not be.
“You are the brides-dude-of-honor. I made
up that title for you. You will be standing next to my bridesmaids with honor
but you don’t have to put on a dress, a suit will do.” I smirked.
“Awesome, then as your
brides-dude-of-honor, I have to make sure we document everything so there is no
lag in any part of your wedding. And I also volunteer to be the errands guy. I
love running errands,” he said with a straight face, making Stacey and I burst
into a fresh pair of giggles.
“Pizza’s here,” I said when the doorbell
rang.
It was as perfect as the last night with
my two favorite people in the world could ever be.
Chapter
6
Zayden
I walked into the living room to find Aria
fiddling with her boxes. A strange sense of accomplishment filled over me as I
watched her unpack in her new home. My home. Our home. The thought of all the
wonderful memories we were going to make here for the rest of our lives filled
me with profound happiness. I couldn’t believe all of this was happening, that
Aria was here, now and real, and willing to be mine.
Slowly, I walked towards her, which must
have startled her because she jumped. She broke into the most wonderful smile.
“Hi, there,” she said. “I was starting to think I would never see you. Which is
odd, considering it was your idea that I move in here right away.”
“Sorry, I was taking care of some
business. I came here as fast as I could though. The thought of you unpacking
all alone at home was not making me happy,” I said and sat down on the couch.
“Come here,” I told her and welcomed her with my arms.