Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (6 page)

“Of course.  I’ll see you next Saturday.
Good night.”  With a quick smile and a small nod, she exited the front door. 
Good byes were being said as Mr. and Mrs. McConnell quickly followed on their
daughter’s heel.

Maggie’s snort of laughter drew my
attention from the door.

“So, do you have a date with Elora or
Mrs. McConnell?” The snort grew into a full belly laugh.

“Margaret.” Viola tried to sound stern,
but the quirk at the corner of her lip was giving away the humor she too found
in the situation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lounged on my overstuffed leather couch,
I sighed as James flipped through channel after channel.

"So, Elora, huh?" James asked,
flipping through TV channels.

"It’s just a date," I
shrugged.

James shifted uncomfortably, refusing to
look at me.

"I didn’t know you were having
dinner with her family," his eyes still on the television.

"It was a last minute thing. Viola
asked me to join." He flipped past the sports channels. "Hey, go back
so I can see the highlights." He tossed the remote at me and grumbled.
Getting up, he went into the kitchen. "What the hell is your
problem?" Yelling after him, I switched the TV back to sports.

"Nothing," he shouted.
"Just tired I guess." With a shrug he returned to the couch, a bag of
chips in hand.

Something’s off with him.  But I let it
go, not feeling like arguing with him right now. We spent the rest of the
afternoon watching TV and talking about the company. When he left, there was
still an odd tension in his normally relaxed posture.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another exhausting work week behind me, I
found myself spread out on my couch at eight on Friday night. I really was
getting pathetic. Just a few weeks ago, I would be out at a club or something,
picking up an attractive, willing partner for the night. Now, I was in a pair
of flannel pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, channel surfing and drinking beer. Alone.

I pulled out my phone to see if James
wanted to come hang and play pool, but got voicemail. I knew Oz was working an
eighteen hour shift tonight, so I tried Dixon.

"What’s up?" he answered sounding
distracted. I then heard laughter in the background.

"Shit, Dixon, if you’re busy I’ll
let you go."

"Nah, just hanging out with the
girls," he responded.

"Fuck you, Dixon, I am not a
chick!" A male voice yelled in the background. Dixon chuckled.

"So what’s going on?"

"Well, I was going to see if you
were up for some pool at my place but we can get together another night." I
put my head back on the couch.

"You could always head over here,
though we aren’t doing anything special. Just hanging out and shit." He
offered.

"Nah, I don’t want—"

"Oh come on, pussy, get your ass
over here!" He laughed loudly. "We’ll be waiting on you!"

After Dixon hung up on me, I ran up to
my room and slipped on a pair of dark wash jeans, exchanged my wrinkled pretzel
crumb T-shirt with a fresh white one and pulled a gray college sweatshirt over
my head.  Taking a quick glance in the mirror, I groaned at the auburn mop on
top of my head. After running my fingers through my hair a couple of times, I
gave up. Grabbing my keys and cell phone, I was out the door.

I arrived at Dixon’s place about thirty
or so minutes later. Laughter seeped through his door and heavy footfalls
sounded just before the large white door swung open.

"Jesus, what took you so
long?" Dixon grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into the apartment, shoving
a beer in my hand.

"You are so full of shit!" I
walked in just as Phoebe yelled at a tall, dark skinned guy.

"I am not! It’s true, she was
totally trying to get with me and I didn’t do a damn thing with her." He
argued.

"I’m not buying it either, Sean."
This time it was Lilli, who sat with her arm around Phoebe.

"To hell with you both," he
laughed, "I don’t have to prove it to you."

"Hey, Aidan-O," Phoebe greeted
me.

"Hey." I sat in one of the
oversized chairs next to the couch.

No matter how expensive my apartment
was, Dixon and Lilli’s place felt so warm and cozy.  Furniture a family member
probably gave to them, given the worn but loved look, framed photos from their
childhood on the walls and candles burnt down to almost nothing. 

"Aidan-O?" Lilli looked
between Phoebe and me. "Is that like a pet name between lovers?" She
wiggled her brow.

Phoebe smacked her, but smiled.

"So what brings you over to our
humble little get together? No
dates
tonight?" Phoebe teased.

"Nope, not till tomorrow." When
I winked at her, she shook her head.

Lilli stood up and walked across the
room. It was then I noticed the tight blue cotton workout pants, the kind I’ve
seen women wear to yoga classes, and a light blue, long sleeved, cotton shirt
that was tight fitting. She had a killer figure. Phoebe brought me out of the
trance Lilli’s curves put me under.

"So then…what’s up Aidan-O?"

"First, I’m not too thrilled with
the nickname," I stated.

"Really? I would have never
guessed." Lilli’s voice full of sarcasm, she sunk back onto the couch with
a bowl of cereal.

"Is that Lucky Charms?" A
smile already creeping on my lips.

"Maybe." She narrowed her
eyes.

"I haven’t eaten those since I
was…oh God, I can’t even remember," I grinned and shook my head.

"Well, old man, if you want to take
a trip down memory lane before you get further along in your Alzheimer’s, the
box is still on the counter." With a smirk, she winked.

Dixon was right, very witty sense of
humor.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few months passed by, months filled
with work and reoccurring dates with Elora. It was beginning to look like a promising
match, though a feeling has been nagging at the back of my head.  And I
wouldn’t lie, something seemed missing—for both of us. My family was happy, at
least my Uncle Henry was happy, her family was thrilled and everyone waited on
pins and needles for the announcement of our engagement. But the very thought
of proposing to Elora felt wrong.  My head knew it would be a perfect
resolution, but my gut instinct revolted against the idea.

"Aidan this is a perfect match."
Uncle Henry, James’ father, boasted as he entered my office, pulling me from my
thoughts. "I think you need to act quickly before something has the chance
to ruin it."

I put my head in my hands as I leaned on
my desk.

"This is my situation to deal with
and I will deal with it when and how I want." I growled.

"Aidan—"

"Henry leave the boy alone for God’s
sake." Liam interrupted.

"Well, I think that it’s ridiculous
to wait any longer. Get married and conceive already so that we all can rest a
little easier at night!" Henry was now shouting.

"Father, back off." James grumbled
from the other end of the couch.

"You stay out of this James,"
Henry glared at him. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but James had
become very distant from me lately and he argued much more frequently with his
father.

"I’ve got work to do," I
growled. "So, how about everyone gets out? Except Liam," I spoke as
they were all leaving the room, still grumbling with each other.

"Yes son," Liam sat in the
chair across from my desk.

"Please tell me what to do," I
sighed.

"I can’t do that. This is your
decision." He smiled reassuringly.

"I know that this would be a
perfect match but I can’t say that I want to spend the rest of my life with
Elora. I mean I can’t say that I want to spend my life with any one person,
ever." I ran my hand through my hair.

"You will someday."

"How do you know that?"

"Your father was the same way,
until he met your mother." He smiled warmly.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. If it had been up to our
father then he would have married Penelope Varron."

"Mrs. Varron?" he nodded.
"Wow."

"Yep. However, when your father saw
Eliza at one of our charity events he was captivated."

My eager expression made him continue.

"That night was the first time your
father had seen her and he barely worked up the nerve to speak to her." He
chuckled. "I remember, though I was young, that your grandfather saw the
way he looked at her and that was when he took Aidan over to Eliza and
introduced them."

"But you said that grandfather
wanted—"

"I said that if it had been up to
him it would have been Penelope; however, if you haven’t realized this yet,
Aidan, then you’re blind. Your grandfather was very much a romantic."

It took a moment for me to absorb that
information.

"Then why would he force me?"

"I don’t know for sure, only he
knows that. What I think is that he figured that maybe all you needed was the
push to ‘look’ for the one." He smiled at me before continuing. "He
did it to all of us Aidan, though yours is on a more severe level, I will
admit."

"So you and Viola?" I raised my
brow.

"Father didn’t like my non-interest
in women," he chuckled. "I was the opposite of you, no offense. I
didn’t really take notice of the females around our family. I was focused on my
career. Father made an arrangement for Viola to come and stay at our home for a
summer and from the moment she walked down our staircase I was completely
hooked." He smiled bright and wide at the memory.

"How did he know that Viola
would—?"

"He didn’t. It just made me open my
eyes."

"Ahhgggh!" I pushed back in
the leather office chair. "I don’t have that kind of feeling toward Elora,
not what you explain toward Viola. What is it supposed to feel like?"

"Hmmm. I’m pretty sure it’s
different for everyone." He cocked an eyebrow when he saw my desperation.
"For me it was like a buzzing that would fill my head whenever she was
around me. Her touch, her smell, just the sound of her nearby, would fill my
head and chest with a buzzing feeling." He got lost in thought for a
moment.

"And if I remember correctly your
father once described your mother as his missing piece. That the moment she took
his hand to dance, he felt complete and when her touch was gone, he was half a
person. He didn’t like that."

"Thank you Liam. I still have no
idea what I’m going to do, but thank you."

The next day my family seemed too happy.
Uncle Henry was more pleasant than normal, Liam would smile frequently when I saw
him in passing, Viola called me to ‘
just say hello’
, and then there was
James. He gave me a death glare when I saw him at work and avoided me all
day—dodging my calls and emails. Everyone had gone crazy.

I decided to chalk Liam and Viola’s
behavior up to Maggie’s birthday coming up soon. The others, well, I had no
damn clue.

I was supposed to pick up Elora tonight
and we were going to go to a movie and dinner. When I arrived to her parent’s
home, their butler answered the door and showed me in. I waited for fifteen
minutes before Elora was finally escorted downstairs by her mother.

Elora’s hair was pinned up off of her
shoulders, revealing her long neck. The light blue wrap dress she wore
flattered her round curves and the porcelain color of her skin.  But as soon as
I looked at her face, I knew something was wrong.

Holding the car door open, she slipped
into the leather seat without even a glance in my direction. I climbed into the
driver’s seat. Before we pulled away she finally spoke.

"Aidan wait," she blurted.
Unshed tears shone in her panicked eyes.

"What it is it? What’s going on?"

"I think I know what
you…what…what’s going to happen tonight and I need to stop it, now." She
spoke so quickly I barely understood.

"Um…what?"

"I need to stop this, even if my
parents kill me or disown me. I need to stop this before it goes too far."
Tears welled in her green eyes.

"Elora—"

"No, Aidan, I can’t do it,"
she sobbed.

Chapter Five
Engaged
Aidan

"What’s going on?"

She sniffled.

"Word spread that you may have gone
to Tiffany’s and you bought a ring." She sniffled again. "My mother
and everyone keep saying tonight is when you plan to….propose. But I just can’t
say yes and I don’t want you to—"

My laughter cut her off.

"Elora, I bought a gift for Maggie.
The ring I bought was for her, it’s a small birthstone ring." The panic left
her face with a flush of her cheeks. "So you’re saying that you want to
break this off?"

"I’m so sorry, Aidan. I just can’t.
I-I’m in love with someone else." She looked down into her lap, where her
fingers twisted nervously.

"I see." I placed my hand on
her tangled fingers. "It’s okay Elora, I understand. I’m happy for you. Do
I know the guy?" I tried to make the conversation light again.

"Umm…yeah," she mumbled.

"And?" I coaxed.

"James," she whispered.

"That fucker!" She jumped,
looking at me horrified. "So that’s why he has been such a fucking bastard
to me! Because of you." Then her facial expression registered. "Oh
shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just James has been so…oh
hell…who cares. I’m happy for you."

She gave an unsure smiled.

"I really am sorry, Aidan. You’re a
great guy. I don’t understand why you haven’t found someone yet. Or someone who
you could make some arrangement or deal." She shrugged, a small sigh
leaving her.

I gave a shrug in return, but then what
she said sunk in.
Why the hell hadn’t I thought of just making a deal with
someone? I am such an idiot! But who? Who would be willing or in need of enough
that they would agree to this kind of deal?

"Aidan?" Elora pulled me from my
thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Good night?" Her brow
furrowed and teeth gnawed on her bottom lip.

Clearly, she was unsure of where we were
going from here. Taking her hand, I kissed her knuckles.

"Good night, Elora."

With a smile she slipped out of my car
and walked back toward her house.  When she reached the door, she paused.  I
thought she would look back, but instead she straightened her spine and shoved
through the door.

Pulling away from Elora's house, I
flipped open my phone, found the contact and hit the talk button.

"Yeah?" James grumbled.

"I did it!"

"Did what?" Panic choked his
words.

"I proposed to Elora," I bit
the side of my mouth, "in front of her family. Your father was right, they
couldn’t be happier." I almost had to pull over so I didn’t crash.

"Y-you d-did…she said yes?"
His anger seeped into his tone.

"Of course," I snorted.

He fell silent.

"James?"

"Yeah," he grunted.

"You stupid ass! I’m kidding! Why
didn’t you tell me about Elora?"

"I don’t know…I just…I don’t know.
Then my father told me to keep my mouth shut—"

"Your dad knew and he was making
you just deal with me dating and possibly proposing to her? That’s really
screwed up, James." I was astonished. I knew my Uncle Henry was an asshole
but, shit, that was his own son.

"So you and Elora…"

"Good luck with her man. She’s all
yours. I wish you would’ve told me beforehand, I wouldn’t have even started
this."

"Whatever. So what the hell are you
going to do now?"

"I’m not sure." Sitting in
deadlocked weekend traffic felt like a metaphor for my current situation.

"Well, what are you doing right
now?"

"Probably just heading home, unless
you have a better idea."

"I have an extremely better idea,
but it does not include you, Cuz." He laughed. I knew where he was heading
tonight. I just left her at her parents.

"Well, Dixon’s place is on the way,
so maybe I’ll stop there and call Oz." The traffic finally began to move.

"Alright. I’ll call you
later."

"Later." With a new
destination, I squeezed my car over into the right lane.

Parking in front of Dixon’s building. I headed
up to his apartment. When I got to his door, I could hear Dixon’s raised voice.

"Damn it, Lilli, you’re sick,
you’re not going to work!"

"I can’t believe you turned off my
alarm clock, Dixon! I just needed some sleep. You really crossed a line!" I
heard Lilli scream, followed by slamming noises.

"You’re going to kill yourself if
you keep up a schedule like this and you know it," he yelled.

"Dixon, look you don’t have to
worry about it okay? It’s my problem. I’m gonna drop my classes anyhow and just
get the other job that I talked—"

"You can’t do that! Lilli, I know
you love your dad and you know I love him too, but it’s time to figure
something else out, don’t you think? This isn’t working." He started to
get quieter, but I could still hear him through the door.

When it got silent, I hesitantly knocked
on the door. The door swung open. Dixon greeted me with a red flushed face and
flared nostrils.

"Hey, Aidan, come on in." He
opened the door and let me in but walked quickly towards where Lilli stood in
the kitchen. "Get back to bed," he ordered.

"You're not my father," she
stood defiantly before him.

"Maybe I should just call him and
tell him about—"

"Don’t you dare, Dixon! This is my
responsibility!" She glared at him.

"To. Bed!"

Lilli stormed off down the hallway and
slammed the door.

I watched Dixon sigh heavily, his
shoulders hunched over.

"What the hell was that
about?" When I didn't get a response, I spoke up one more time. "Should
I take off?"

Dixon shook his head."She is just
so damn stubborn."

"You are the second person that has
said that." He raised a brow to me questioningly. "Phoebe," I
answered his unspoken question.

"Well she is. She has taken on way
too much and she is just going to collapse, again."

"Again?" I asked as he handed
be a beer. Taking a seat on the couch, he sat in his chair.

"It’s really not my place to say
anything, but Lilli overworks herself to pay for some financial difficulties
her father has and she has pushed school off so much that it seems she will end
up dropping out. It pisses me off. She’s smart and an amazing writer."
Dixon sat back in his chair and sighed.

"A writer?" I settled into the
couch.

"Yeah, mostly journalism. She's
been published in a couple magazines. Phoebe sent some things she wrote in,
without her knowing, of course." Dixon chuckled. It was good to hear him
laugh. Shaking his head he leaned back in his chair and picked up the TV
remote.  "How about some Sports Center?"

After a couple hours of Sports Center, I
headed home. When I got home, I sat down into the leather couch, thinking about
making a marriage deal with someone.
I make business deals on a daily basis.
Negotiating this deal can't be much harder.
Could it?

Pulling out my phone, I placed a call to
Devlin, the family lawyer. Before I moved forward with this plan, I need to
talk to him. Making sure I could do this without breaching the inheritance
terms is crucial. Also, I need him to set up the legal documentation for when I
make the deal official.

After my phone call with Devlin, I was
able to move forward with the plan. However, now I needed to figure out how and
who to approach. I’m sure I could easily pull a random person off the street
but that’s not exactly safe. I definitely prefer to at least know the person
before entering this kind of arrangement. Acquaintances, friends, past lovers
all swirled around my head while I showered, brushed my teeth and dressed for
bed. Sleep did not come easy, but eventually the softness of my bed lulled me
to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday morning, I woke haunted by
dreams of faceless women chasing after me. With only seven months to get
blissfully wed, my dreams were not going to improve any time soon.  And don’t
even get me started on the conception part of the conditions. I sure as hell am
not ready to be married, and a kid...
holy fuck
, I’ve never even thought about
being a father. To say I was uncomfortable with the idea was a huge
understatement. My mind raced throughout my whole morning routine; coffee,
shower, breakfast and even as I tried to distract myself with work.

Pushing away from the mess of memos and
contracts on my desk, I decided to give television a shot.
C-Span could easy
distract me from my internal dialogue. And, hell, I needed to check out the
highlights on Sports Center.
   Plopping myself down on the couch, I picked
up my personal cell. I hated having two cell phones but I didn’t like to use my
personal cell for business calls and vice versa. I thought about calling Oscar,
but he would probably still be sleeping or at the hospital. With a heavy sigh,
I tossed my phone on the coffee table in front of me. Laying my head back on
the couch, I took a deep breath before pulling myself up. As I paced laps
around the living room, my phone started ringing.

"Hello," I answered a little
breathless from the pacing.

"Hello honey. Are you okay? You
sound a little—"

"I’m fine." I smiled at the
sound of Viola’s concern.

"Oh," she paused. "Well, I
just want to remind you about Maggie’s party next weekend. You know we are
having dinner at seven on Friday—"

"Right, Viola," I chuckled.
She knew I would never forget Maggie’s birthday.

"What?" She feigned innocence.

"I’m guessing you’ve heard from
Elora’s parents?" I walked into the kitchen.

"Well," she hesitated.
"Okay, I did. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Are you
okay?"

"I’m fine.” Grabbing a mug, I moved
to the coffee machine, placed the mug on the base and hit the button to fill it
up. “Elora is a nice girl and it would’ve been easy to come to the arrangement
necessary, but I would never want to take away her chance at real happiness.
Not for someone like me." I mumbled.

"Aidan Walsh Iverson! How dare you talk
about yourself like that!"

Uh oh, Vi is about to go all motherly on
me.

"You are a wonderful man and any
woman would be lucky to have you."

I snorted.

"Aidan sweetheart, I love
you," she reassured.

"Viola, I need to tell you
something." Taking a deep breath, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy to
explain.

"What is it?" Her question was
full of sincere concern.

Pacing back and forth in my kitchen, I
launched into the
deal
I  was going to make with someone. Regardless of my
shame of the situation, I was running out of time. When I was finished, she was
extremely quiet. As the silence grated on my nerves, I squeezed the back of my
neck with my free hand.  

"You still there?" I rubbed at
the tense muscles in my neck.

"Yes dear, I’m here." She sighed
lightly. "Aidan, please don’t rush out and make this
arrangement
with someone hastily. I realize you’re being practical; however, you may come
across something…the real thing." She attempted to diffuse this idea but we
both knew I was out of other options.

"I don’t plan on rushing in, but I’ll
do what I have to do."

The rest of my weekend was the same.
Oscar had been sleeping or had other plans, Dixon was working, and I couldn’t
get a hold of James at all. I spent my weekend working on business and pondering
outcomes for my situation.

Soon Monday arrived and it was time to
return to the office. Everything was going in the typical corporate fashion
until Thursday afternoon when James burst through my door.

"Cousin!" He walked in large
strides, taking a seat on the corner of my desk. Leaning back in my chair, I raised
an eyebrow.

"Cousin?" I grinned.
"Someone’s in a good mood."

"Of course I am." He smiled
wide.

"Because of?" I prodded.

"I’m getting married." He
blurted.

My mouth fell open in shock.

"You’re what?" I leaned
forward, clasping my hands on the desk in front of me.

"You heard me." He picked up
pen off my desk, twirling it in his fingers.

"But—"

"I asked her Sunday," he said
before I could finish. "After everything that's happened I realized I love
her more than anything, Aidan. Elora is my…is mine. I went out Saturday and
bought the ring then arranged a lunch at the Botanical Gardens and
proposed." Slipping off the desk, he sat down in one of the leather office
chairs in front of me.