Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (7 page)

"Don’t forget the Tiramisu."
Maggie added with a large smile. "Yum."

"Viola, it's your homemade wedding
soup, right?"

"Of course," she looked
insulted that I would think any different.

"Then I think I should test it."

Laughing, she swatted my hand away from the
large spoon in the pot.

The echo of guests rang throughout the
house with the sound of the bell.

"Oh shit!" I spun around,
surprised Viola cursed. "Sorry," she blushed. Maggie and I laughed.
"Shut it you two," she giggled. "I’m not quite finished up
here."

"I’ll greet them." With a
shrug, I headed to the door.

"Oh thank you, Aidan!" Viola
called after me.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I yelled
back with a wave.

Liam met me at the door with a smile. He
opened the door, revealing the McConnell’s. There was no mistaking the
McConnell's Irish heritage. Both Mr. and Mrs. McConnell had fiery red hair,
fair skin and upturned knobby noses.  However, Elora seemed to have blossomed
over the years. Her features were similar but not nearly as severe.  They,
along with her strawberry blonde hair, complimented the roundness of her face
and fair, lightly freckled complexion.

"Welcome, Albert." He shook
Mr. McConnell’s hand.

"Always a pleasure, Ahnya." He
kissed Mrs. McConnell’s hand.

"Dear, Elora, you have become such
a beautiful woman." Liam nodded to her.

Following suit, I greeted in the same
manner as Liam. However, I kissed Elora’s hand and nodded to her mother. Viola
appeared from the kitchen with Maggie close behind to offer their welcome.

Taking a moment, I let my eyes linger
over Elora a minute longer.  When I finally moved back up her body, we caught
each other’s eye.  She smiled. By the look in her eyes, she wanted to be
polite, but the smile was forced. 
Like me, she must realize this is an
attempt to set us up. She must be as uncomfortable as I am
.

“May I?” Offering Elora my arm, hoping
to relieve some of the tension, she smiled genuinely and placed her long
fingers on my arm.

Leading her to the dining room, I could
already hear the whispers behind us. 
No doubt their discussing the names
for our children.

Ms. York, Viola and Liam’s maid, began
bringing out the food and setting a plate before each guest. Liam sat at one
end of the table, while Viola sat at the other.  Maggie sat at her mother’s
right with Mrs. McConnell on her left.  Mr. McConnell had been sure to take a
spot next to my Uncle Liam, not minding that Elora separated him and his wife. 
The extra chair on our of the table had been removed, leaving a wider space
between Maggie and I.

 Dinner went smoothly and the
conversation was of the normal subjects; small gossip, business trends,
upcoming social events. It was all stale. Finally, the families got to the
point of this meeting.

"Aidan, Elora here has been
studying abroad in Europe for the past two years," Mrs. McConnell boasted
and I nodded with a smile. Elora shifted in her seat, a grimace on her face.

Viola cleared her throat and looked at
me. I rolled my eyes.

"So what have you been studying,
Elora?"

"Art," she bit her bottom lip.

"Really? Do you have any
preferences?"

As Elora discussed the art galleries, street
artists and exhibitions she’d visited in Europe, passion bloomed beneath her
surface. She was pleasant and smart. Maybe Viola had the right idea about
dinner tonight. Engaging Elora in conversation the rest of the night became
easier. When the night came to an end, I could honestly say the evening had
been enjoyable.  Elora is a genuinely nice, attractive woman and so unlike her
parents.

“Elora, how would you feel about seeing
me on Saturday?” She tensed next to me as I walked with her to the front door.
“We could go to dinner?”

“Oh…”  She gave another forced smile. 
Before she could speak, Mrs. McConnell slid next to Elora, wrapping her arm
around her daughter’s waist.

“Of course she would love to see you
again.  We’ll have her all ready for you to retrieve at…say, six o’clock?” 
Mrs. McConnell’s cheeks flushed with excitement.

Elora looked mortified.

“Is that okay with you?” Pointedly
addressing the question to Elora, I didn’t want her forced into anything she
didn’t want to do.

“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."