Chapter Eleven
Ari parked his bike, stuck his helmet under one arm, and walked down Sixth Street, composing himself into some sense of confidence and order. It had been two weeks since Grace had walked out on him at the Palace, two weeks since his parents had dropped their bombshell on the family, and through all that time, it was like living in an alternate reality.
One part of his brain kept telling him he’d done the right thing letting Grace go. From now on he was free to do whatever he wanted. He could move back to the city and not always worry that he was doing something wrong. Another part of him, though, was convinced that he’d made the biggest mistake of his life.
If he could’ve chosen anywhere to be for lunch today it wouldn’t have been with his loved-up brother and soon to be married sister and their respective partners, but he owed his family after he’d made such a scene in front of his parents, and they obviously wanted to talk to him about something.
He pushed through the doors of the restaurant and unzipped his jacket. The four of them were already there, and he waved hello. They must think him a loser, letting someone like Grace go, but he was used to them thinking that he couldn’t really pull things together, so at least that gave him a tick for consistency.
“Hey,” he said. He kissed his sister and sister-in-law, then shook his brother and Lane by the hand.
After they made small talk and ordered lunch, it was Nick who got down to business. “So, we want to be sure that you’re okay with the sale of the Palace going ahead. We’ve already caught up and discussed the fact that none of us want to take it over.”
Ari took a french fry and bit into it. He was aware of four sets of eyes on him, and he didn’t want to let it show. “If you mean am I happy it’s being sold, no.” He shrugged. “If you are asking if I have a solution for keeping it… I don’t have an answer to that, either.”
“How about Grace?” Yasmin said slowly. “Do you think she might consider buying it? Some of it, even? I’ve thought about giving her a call, but wanted to talk to you about that first, since things ended so badly between you. I know she wanted to branch out on her own, but having a ready-made business without all of us there to interfere…maybe she’d consider it.”
Ari pushed away the sting that the sound of Grace’s name had caused and looked around at each of them. “I haven’t spoken to Grace. I really don’t know what she wants to do.”
“That’s hardly a surprise,” Lane said.
“What do you mean by that?” Ari asked, bristling.
His brother leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table—just like the times his parents had tried to make him stay in school and Nick had pulled rank as big brother to support them. “Anyone could see she was the best thing to happen to you in years,” Nick added.
Ari nodded slowly, trying to loosen the tightness in his voice. “And I needed something to happen to me, right? Because I can never quite get things right on my own.”
“That’s not what Nick meant,” Yasmin said.
“Yes, it is,” Ari said. “That’s what Nick and Mom and you have always thought. If only Ari could find someone to fix him, then he’d be fine. And then I found someone and screwed it up, right?”
He mentally kicked himself. He didn’t need to prove anything to his family. He’d been fine on his own for years. This is exactly what they’d expect from him, to come out fighting, and he didn’t like it about himself.
Erin touched his arm. “Why would you need fixing?” she said. “You’re the one who’s finally turned everything around for the Palace. Yasmin and Lane tried, Nick and I tried, but it was you and Grace who really managed to pull things off. And according to Grace, that was in large part down to your ability to get things done.”
Ari turned to her. That was the nicest thing anyone had said to him…since Grace had said that he made her feel alive again.
His chest tightened. God, he missed her. At times like this, he needed to remind himself that she was better off without him. She deserved to have everything she’d always dreamed of, and that wasn’t a guy like him.
“You’ve done a huge favor for all of us,” Lane said. “We were so caught up in our relationships and ready to march off into the world, but you were the one who was around the whole time. You kept checking in on us, making sure Mom and Dad were okay.”
Ari looked at Lane, sitting next to his sister. He’d always been a successful guy, but he’d had a pretty hard time growing up, and since he’d been with Yasmin, he’d really embraced the idea of family. And Nick…well, who would have thought mathematical, theoretical Nick would have fallen head over heels for Erin O’Malley? She’d challenged him as an equal, and she’d won their wager in the end, but it was Nick who always said he felt he’d won the lottery.
He scrubbed a hand through his hair.
“What is it, Ari?”
Yasmin had always known him the best. When she’d gotten Dengue Fever working in Borneo, he’d called her often, and she’d told him how much she loved her family and how it was the thought of them all together again that had helped her to pull through.
He let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve always had this idea that marriage changes you, and I’d tried so hard to resist people changing me when I was younger that it wasn’t something I wanted for myself. I thought about that happening with Grace and me, and then it was reinforced by Dad deciding to go and work on his marriage with Mom, and I…I didn’t want to be changed.”
“Of course marriage changes you,” Yasmin said. “In ways you can’t even imagine, things you hadn’t dared hope for. Take Mom. She’s gained so much strength through being in business with Dad.”
“And look how Dad has changed being married to Mom,” Nick added. “I don’t ever remember him crying when we were younger, but he’s taken on that real emotional response that Mom has, and he’s not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. It feels as though every time I see him lately he has that big old handkerchief out, and it’s more often than not tears of joy.”
“And Grace has changed you already,” Erin said.
Everyone turned to her. Hearing Grace’s name again was enough to have Ari’s ears straining, desperate to talk about her.
“How do you figure that?” he asked.
Erin smiled her warm, all-encompassing smile. “You seem a lot more open about things for starters. Just this conversation we’re having now. It wouldn’t have happened six months ago.”
Nick scoffed. “Ari’s never had a problem with telling it like it is.”
“But, honey, telling it like it is and telling it how you feel are completely different,” Erin said as she turned to her husband then back to Ari. “What I’m talking about is the way you seem so much more up-front about things now. It’s true we didn’t know each other well before Nick and I were married, but you didn’t strike me back then as someone who’d talk about the way you really feel in front of your whole family.”
Nick frowned a little and nodded. Erin was certainly the first person Ari could remember who could put Nick in his place.
“Erin’s right,” Yasmin said. “You’ve got to admit that you’ve always carried a bit of a chip on your shoulder, but in the last few weeks you’ve shown a completely different side of yourself.”
The causal way Grace had shown him how to get text read back to him, the fact she’d told him he wasn’t really special after all, that everyone had something they could hide behind. He thought of the audio book she’d downloaded for him on the history of Harley Davidson—the first book he’d attempted to read in years. Erin was right, she had already changed him, and they were things he kind of liked about himself now.
“So how do you know when you’ve met the one?” Ari asked, looking around the table. “How do you know when someone’s worth changing for? And what happens when you make all of these changes and it doesn’t work out?”
“That’s easy,” Lane said as he turned to Yasmin. “When you look in the mirror and see a better version of yourself reflected back, and you know deep down that this one person has found that person—the real you—then you know that it’s always going to be worth it.”
Ari’s throat tightened. “The Stranger” song he’d told Grace about—he’d thought it was all about waking up and finding yourself next to a person you didn’t know. Could it be that Grace had helped Ari find the real version of himself? His brother and sister and their partners certainly seemed to think they were seeing a whole new side of him.
“What if it’s too late?” he said to himself, the table, and anyone else who might be listening.
“If it’s true love, it’s never too late,” Yasmin said. “That’s the thing you didn’t understand about Mom and Dad. They can see that their love is ever-changing, and they’ve decided to hang onto each other, even when those changes have been difficult.”
“Because for Mom,” Nick added, “it wasn’t Dad that was the issue, it was the business and the fact that the Palace was pulling them away from each other. Once they agreed to be finished with the Palace, then they could truly concentrate on each other.”
Erin reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “You know what you need to do,” she said. “Nothing that we tell you will change anything.”
…
As her working day came to an end, Grace balanced a coffee and a donut in one hand and took the pile of mail Lettie had given her with the other.
“You go home,” she said to her friend. “I’ll finish up here.”
They’d had an incredibly busy day, and all Grace wanted to do was get on top of things while the store was quiet and she was alone. As she’d done most days in the last couple of weeks, she’d stayed as late as she could to avoid going home to endless nights of lying awake and thinking of Ari.
After she’d walked out on him at the Palace, she’d hurriedly packed up her things at the apartment and moved in with her brother. Finding a home of her own was on her list of things to do—maybe that would help heal the cold, empty place that was her heart without Ari.
“Don’t work too late,” Lettie said as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “I’m worried that right now your blood is nothing but caffeine and sugar.”
Grace blew a kiss to her gorgeous, caring friend. “Just a few more emails to finish and I’ll work on a plan for the rose arch that they want for the Lomax wedding next month.”
Lettie opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. Her forehead was creased in a frown and her lips tight.
“What’s up?” Grace said with a piece of donut in her mouth.
“You know I’m here whenever you want to talk about Ari,” Lettie said slowly. “Has he phoned again?”
His name sliced through her and Grace flicked through the pile of mail, hoping the pain hadn’t shown on her face. “I’ve missed a few calls from him, but I haven’t listened to the messages.”
“Maybe he’s sorry,” Lettie said quietly. “You seemed so into him, and if he’s had some time to think about things, perhaps he wants to give things another try…”
Pretending there was a way through this was a short-lived relief, but the searing brand of reality that came afterward hurt too much for her to let it happen often. She held a brochure for limousines and remembered having a fantasy about her own wedding to Ari—a perfectly sunny day, lots of laughter and champagne, and Ari saying she made him the happiest man in the world.
Bam. Yes, a total fantasy.
She smiled back at Lettie, trying to force strength into her voice. “He’s not going to suggest giving things another try. I’m the one who called things off, remember?”
The vision of that day played like a movie reel in her head—her world falling away from beneath her, the sound of Ari calling after her as she ran, and the voice in her head that said, you’ve let it happen again.
How could she get someone so wrong? So many times? Right at the beginning, she knew that a guy like Ari would make her lose focus. If she’d only listened to herself, maybe then she wouldn’t have fallen for him so completely, leaving her with this constant pain that wrapped around her soul.
“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t reconnect,” Lettie said, looking at Grace from beneath her lashes. “Maybe try to work things through. He just seemed so…gorgeous.”
“If only gorgeous was enough…”
Absently, Grace tossed the mail on the counter, and a white envelope fell out of the stack of bills. It had been so long since she’d received a personal letter that she reached for it. Maybe it was a congratulations card for the store opening.
“Do you know if he’s gone back to the city yet?” Lettie asked.
Whose writing was this on the front of the letter? It was so simple and a little unsteady. “No, I’m not sure,” she said as she opened the envelope and took out a card.
Lettie turned to face her. “I just wonder if it’s all a big misunderstanding.”
She opened the card then looked back at her friend. “There was no misunderstanding, Lettie. Ari’s a guy who’s never going to share my belief in marriage. He’s always going to think that a wedding means giving up part of yourself. That you can’t love someone deeply without them changing you. He’s just never going to understand the risks you have to take with love. How a marriage is not about giving up who you are but about finding another part of yourself. I could never be with someone who didn’t open themselves up to that.”
Poor Lettie didn’t deserve a mini-sermon. She glanced down at the card, and the minute her eyes scanned the message her body froze.
Dear Grace, she read. I never said I loved you because I thought it meant giving up a part of myself. Now that I understand the true meaning of losing something so precious—you—I finally know what real love is. I know the stars say you and I are not a good match, but in my beating heart you will live forever. Love always, Ari.
“Grace, what is it?”
Blood pounded hot and hard at her temples.
His beating heart. Her beating heart.
Where had she seen those words before? Taped to his apartment walls.
Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought of him copying out those words. Checking and double checking. “Just a message,” she said. “A message I never expected to get—not like this, anyway.”
“Just think about what I said, will you?” Lettie said as she moved toward the door. “I just can’t believe there’s not some way you two could work things out.”
Grace waved her friend good-bye, and when she was standing in the quiet of the empty store, she let the backed-up tears fall. There was something so deeply touching about Ari revealing a part of himself that she hadn’t seen before—his uncertain and carefully crafted handwriting. It made her want to shout with frustration that there were so many things that she hadn’t learned about him and never would now that they were apart. It was too late; it was just all too late.
She plucked a tissue from a box on the counter, blew her nose, and was ready to throw the tissue and the torn envelope into the trash when she noticed another white envelope in the pile of mail. She ripped it open and found a professionally printed invitation.
The Aegean Palace requests the company of Grace Bennett—Wedding Planners to celebrate our new management and a whole new world of happily-ever-afters.
Her heart squeezed so tight that she gasped. That was a fast turnaround for Pia and Mano. Maybe Erin and Nick had decided to take things over and combine with O’Malley’s. Or perhaps Yasmin and Lane had bought it as part of Lane’s restaurant chain. Part of her didn’t know if she could face going back there—the beautiful memories of her time with Ari, the sadness of their final moments together—but another part of her knew how important the link with the Palace would be for her business. She couldn’t pretend it didn’t exist, and one thing she was certain of was that Ari would be miles away from there by now—he’d have gone back to his free life in the city as soon as he could.
Maybe attending this relaunch would be the perfect way for her to move on as well.
…
Ari sat at a table in the dining room of the Palace and drummed his fingers on the table before standing up, pushing the chair in, and leaning against it.
No, that didn’t feel right, either. He pulled the chair out and sat again, this time making sure the cutlery on the white table cloth was straight.
Polly was at the front gate welcoming people, and his parents would be down soon. He breathed in, then out, and tried running over the speech in his head one more time.
He knew Grace would be here because he’d asked Polly to call and check with the excuse that she needed numbers for catering. Not even Polly knew what today was about, so she couldn’t have let anything slip.
The gate to the courtyard opened, and he stood up again, pushed the chair in, and moved out the door. His chest squeezed tight like a vice.
When Nick and Erin moved toward him, he let out a quiet sigh. Too much more of this and he was going to end up a quivering mess in the corner.
“Hey, little bro,” Nick said as he walked hand in hand with Erin. “Do you know what all this is about?”
Ari shrugged. “I guess what the invitation said.” He hoped his face wasn’t showing the storm of emotion whipping through his body. “Always an excuse for a good time at the Palace.”
“Well, your mom and dad must know,” Erin said before she kissed Ari on the cheek. “Aren’t they going back to Greece later tonight?”
“That’s the plan.” Ari stole a glance at the courtyard gate, but no one else came through.
“They must’ve had plenty of ready cash, these new buyers,” Nick said as he went behind the outdoor bar. “Actually, is it okay if I get a drink, or do we need to pay?”
Ari cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure the changeover’s not complete until tomorrow, so you’re good.”
“You know Yasmin messaged us this morning and asked if it was us,” Erin said as she took the glass of wine that Nick offered. “But maybe that was a ruse. What do you think, Ari? Could Yasmin and Lane have bought the Palace from your parents?”
“Mom!” Ari called to his mother, thankful for the interruption.
Pia waited until Mano caught her up and then linked her arm in his before they walked across the courtyard. They stopped at Monty’s cage, and Nick turned to Ari. “Don’t tell me they’ve sold Monty to the new owners. He’s been with us since I was a teenager.”
Ari moved behind the bar as his mother and father approached. “I’m pretty sure Monty won’t be going anywhere. A drink, Mom? Dad?”
“The best champagne you have,” Mano said as he leaned in and kissed his wife’s cheek.
“You certainly seem happy,” Nick said to his dad. “I guess you guys got a good settlement.”
“Perfect!” Mano said as he kissed his fingers and threw his arm into the air. “It couldn’t have been a better outcome, and now your beautiful mother and I can rest easy under the orange trees in Lesbos.”
“Let’s go into the restaurant,” Ari said, anxious to get them inside.
“We’re here!” Yasmin called from the courtyard door. She must’ve been to the salon, as her hair was even more brilliantly purple than usual.
“Yasmin—koritsi-mou!” Mano exclaimed. “There is no need for the crying. Tears of happiness are the only ones that are allowed here today.”
Lane pulled Yasmin close to him, and she brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. “I just never thought I’d have to say good-bye to this place,” she said, her voice wobbling. “I can see every bead of sweat Dad put into painting that office wall, every piece of almond meal Mom put into the kourabiedes that we ate out here when we were kids.”
“Everything changes, my darling,” Pia said as she came toward the assembled group. “And this is just bricks and mortar, just walls and corners. What really matter is what we build in here,” she said as she placed her hand over her heart.
“Time we went inside,” Ari said again.
Nick lowered his voice. “I’m not sure these new owners have got off to a great start if they can’t even be at their own party on time.”
The gate to the courtyard opened, and everyone turned to see who was coming through.