Toe the Line(13)

“Makes sense.”

Archie picked up the bag and took it to the kitchen as I followed. He placed it on the center island. “Can I ask a favor?”

“What?”

“I know we have a lot to discuss—namely the wedding invitation and my not telling you sooner. But can we put all of that off for one day?” He sighed as he took a package of pasta out of the bag. “I just want to enjoy your company without any heavy talk.” He flashed a sad smile. “Just today.”

I was in no rush at all to think about him marrying Mariah. I was perfectly happy to live in denial on this one. “Okay.” I nodded. “We can do that.”

“Cool.” He wriggled his brows. “How about a cocktail before we have to meet the realtor?”

? ? ?

Later that afternoon, we met with Dawn Mahoney, the agent we’d tasked with putting this property on the market. She did a walkthrough of the house and stayed for a longer time than I’d anticipated. But she also felt we could list it for about a hundred grand more than we’d estimated, so that was good news.

By the time she left, it was almost dinnertime. Archie poured us glasses of white wine, and I sat at the kitchen island to watch as he prepared dinner.

I was so proud of Archie for following his dream and becoming a chef. He and his buddy co-owned a restaurant now out in Irvine. Archie was the head chef while his friend, Max, handled the business side of things. Archie had almost chosen a profession his heart wasn’t into. This was so much better.

As he diced the garlic and mellow piano music played from his phone, my heart swelled. When he put the knife down and moved over to the stove, I decided to squelch the inappropriate feelings building inside me by bringing up his bride-to-be. That would cool things down.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring Mariah with you…” I took a sip of my wine.

He stopped stirring for a moment and tapped the long spoon against the edge of the pot. “She had a friend’s bridal shower this weekend. She wasn’t thrilled about me coming alone, but I’m glad it worked out this way, because I needed the space.”

Space? Interesting.

I’d only met Mariah once when I was passing through California on an assignment. As a field producer for a national news magazine show, my job often took me to different parts of the country. Whenever I was on the West Coast, I tried to meet up with Archie. The last visit had been five months ago, and he’d introduced me to his girlfriend.

“Why do you need space?” I asked.

“There’s just…a lot going on.”

“The wedding?”

Archie took a long sip of his wine and set the glass down. “You promised we could have a day off from wedding talk.”

“Okay.” I ran my finger along the stem of my glass. “You’re right.”

Once we sat down to eat, we kept the conversation light. I told him about the latest piece I was working on—the story of a man who lived multiple secret lives and scammed several women out of thousands of dollars. Archie filled me in on the possibility of him opening a second restaurant.

The wine was flowing, and when what I’d consumed started to hit me, my ability to hold back left the building. I unleashed a question that didn’t technically fall under the banned category of wedding talk.

“Does Mariah know about us?” I asked.

“Does she know we’re here together? Of course.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Archie looked up from his empty dessert plate. “You mean did I tell her you and I hooked up that one summer?”

“Yeah. I’m just curious if she knows about that…blip, if you will.” Sadness settled in my chest at the way I’d reduced what we’d had to a mere blip. It was so much more than that to me.

Archie fiddled with his napkin. “No. I don’t see a good reason to tell her.” He looked up at me. “Do you?”

“Probably not.”

His eyes seared into mine. “Did you ever tell Shane?”

“No.” I chuckled. “He didn’t like you as it was.”

“Well, there you go.” Archie rolled up his napkin and tossed it aside. “For the record, I never liked him, either.”

Archie had only met my ex-boyfriend once, when Shane had accompanied me on one of my work trips to California, pre-Mariah. The three of us had dinner together one night, and Shane kept telling me all Archie really wanted was to get in my pants. I’d neglected to tell my ex that was what I’d wanted for quite some time, too—until Archie rejected me.

Things went quiet for a bit, as Archie cleared the table and I felt more emotions bubbling to the surface. Archie and I had decided a long time ago that we were better off as friends. Well, it was more his decision, though I went along with it. Either distance or circumstances had made being anything more than friends pretty much impossible anyway. And for most of the time we’d been physically apart, I’d had a boyfriend.

Shane and I had been together for five-and-a-half years. We’d met at BU, dating exclusively up until about six months ago. We’d both gotten TV-industry jobs in New York after college and had stayed together until we finally grew apart. Shane decided he didn’t want kids after previously saying he did, and that was a dealbreaker for me. But by the time he and I ended things, Archie was with Mariah. I’d missed the window to explore things with Archie again. The universe must’ve had other plans. Fate had to be telling us something.