Beyond Chance (25 page)

I turned on the shower and waited for the
steam to roll out before I stepped in and took a quick shower. I
heard Aaron whistling as he walked down the hall, and I shifted my
attention to what was important; attempting to look drop dead
gorgeous for my coffee date with the naturally beautiful Elizabeth.
Sorry! I knew it was petty, but I at least had to try to put her to
shame.

Aaron pulled on the door to the café and we
walked in, hand in hand. We both spotted Elizabeth tucked in the
corner of the dining area, reading a book. There was something that
was so difficult about being mad for long at this woman. Aaron
squeezed my hand and pulled me along through the café. He was
clearly still angry and judging by Elizabeth’s expression, she saw
it in his eyes immediately.

Elizabeth closed her book and stood up
quickly. She reached her hand out to shake mine and Aaron shook his
head. “Let’s cut the crap.”

I was shocked to see this side of Aaron. I
knew it existed. I’d heard about it when he was working for his
father’s company, but I didn’t expect to be around when it
appeared.

“Aaron, I had nothing to do with it,” she
said, taking her seat and stuffing her book in her bag.

Awkward.

I glanced at the counter and wondered if I
could escape and go place our orders. No. That was wrong of me. I
needed to stay by his side, but the cappuccinos and croissants were
calling. I could literally hear them singing…

“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
he asked, his voice so quiet, it was barely audible.

“I would hope you would,” she said, glancing
at me.

Aaron took a seat across from Elizabeth and
leaned over the table. “Why? Between the threats and doubts that
Tracy so keenly placed in Brandy…”

I was still standing, unsure of whether I
should sit, stand, order or what when Aaron went right for the
throat, which was exactly what he said he wasn’t going to do.

“Maybe you should get something to drink
first and then we’ll discuss,” Elizabeth said, noticing my unwieldy
shifting of weight from one foot to the other.

Aaron shot back up and grabbed my hand,
spinning me toward the counter so quickly I almost lost my
balance.

“Whoa, cowboy,” I whispered, as we stood in
front of the pastry case. “What happened to calm, cool, and
collected?”

“It flew out the door with reason and
empathy.”

We ordered two cappuccinos and croissants,
and Aaron managed to calm down slightly before we returned to the
table. I sat down this time, followed by Aaron.

“Anyhow,” I said, taking a sip of my
cappuccino. “As you were saying?”

Now that I had a place to sit and a coffee,
I felt far more in control. I centered my gaze on Elizabeth and
tried to gauge her response to Aaron. There was no doubt she was in
love with him, but I couldn’t tell if she was a woman scorned or
what. Her expression was misleading.

Elizabeth looked at me. “I should never have
put my nose where it didn’t belong. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit
there was a part of me that wanted to cause a rift between the two
of you. Not to mention having Tracy in my ear didn’t help. But I’m
not making excuses. I’m a grown woman, responsible for my
actions.”

She looked at Aaron. “I never should’ve
passed on any information to Tracy. I knew she was fiercely loyal,
but I misunderstood the lengths that she would go to. I didn’t know
she would turn it around or ever use it against you. I treated her
as a confidant and I shouldn’t have. When you stopped communicating
with me, I began pressing Tracy since she was still in contact with
you. I never imagined that she would have done what she did. I’m
deeply sorry for that, and I can understand why you cut off contact
with me. I didn’t find out what she did until yesterday when I told
her I was meeting with you both.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath in and looked
over at me. “You’ve been through enough, and I didn’t mean to make
things worse on either of you, but I did. I hope you can forgive
me.”

Completely shocked, I stared at her as I
tried to find my voice. Either she had supremely elevated acting
skills or she was the most sincere person I’d ever met. I could see
why things might just roll off of Aaron’s tongue around her.

“Unfortunately, last night while Tracy and I
were arguing I found out she’d gone to the press about your story,
Aaron. I’m absolutely sick about it,” her voice trembled and
strangely, I wanted to comfort her.

I reached my hand across the table and
touched hers. Her eyes connected with mine, and I realized she
wasn’t a woman scorned. She was a woman who fell in love with the
wrong man, and she had no power over it. There was something about
Aaron that drew people in.

Aaron glanced at me, and I saw a slight curl
of his lip as he shook his head perplexed by the scenario unfolding
in front of him.

“I accept your apology. Sometimes even with
our best intentions, things can go seriously haywire. I’m sure
Aaron can attest to that,” I said.

Aaron furrowed his brows as I released my
hands from Elizabeth’s.

“You know talking about emotions and
feelings is not a strong point of mine,” Aaron said, shifting in
his seat. “But I’m beyond angry with what has transpired. It could
have cost me a relationship that I cherish more than life
itself.”

Elizabeth nodded and blinked back tears. “I
realize that and I know that my words aren’t enough.”

I slid my hand to Aaron’s knee and pressed
my fingers into his flesh so he’d take it a little easy on her. A
twitch of his mouth signaled he’d received the message, and he let
out an exasperated sigh instead of the bottled up words.

“You know, Elizabeth. You’re just lucky
Brandy is here with me, and that she’s such an amazing woman
because there are a lot of unkind things I wanted to say to you,
but the woman sitting next to me is stopping me.”

I blushed at the compliment but also reveled
in it.

“I know, Aaron. You’ve found your equal, and
all I can hope is that I’ll find mine one day.” She smiled faintly.
“I wanted to tell you in person that I’ve found a buyer for my
company. You’ll be receiving your investment back, along with the
percentage that we spoke about when you tried to convince me to
sell it years ago.”

So Aaron was telling the truth.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
The words rolled out of my mouth before I could even stop them.

“I wasn’t meant for that world. I detested
it, but I also kept holding onto it, thinking that I could win a
man’s heart that was never meant to belong to me. Brandy, I don’t
know what Aaron has or hasn’t told you about us, but I can assure
you there never was an us. That ideal only existed in my
imagination, and unfortunately that version was what I told Tracy
about. She’s not a bad person, just misguided.”

“You had me until there,” Aaron said,
laughing. “You’ve really got to reevaluate your friendships.”

Elizabeth smiled, and I saw her beauty fill
up the room. “You’re probably right about that. But at least
something good came out of it.”

“What was that?” he asked.

“The world gets to see your work.”

I wanted to hate Elizabeth, but for the life
of me I couldn’t. I sat quietly and debated what to say and decided
nothing was probably best.

“I don’t want to beat the subject to death.
All I can do is apologize and move on, but I wanted to warn you
that she went to the press here in France too. She thought it would
be good publicity for the show.”

I saw the vein throb in Aaron’s forehead,
and I knew Elizabeth caught it too.

“Thank you for letting us know,” I said.

“Well, I think you just gave me the final
reason to back out,” Aaron sighed.

“Final reason?” Elizabeth asked
bewildered.

I nodded. “Since Tracy so aptly defined
conditions of my relationship with Aaron, she threatened many
things and Aaron wanted to pull out. I convinced him not to, but
maybe I was wrong.”

Elizabeth looked stunned, but anger quickly
replaced it. “I’m so sorry.”

Aaron shrugged. “I doubt anyone in Paris
will give two shits about it. It’ll be fine.”

I glanced at Elizabeth and our eyes
connected. She knew as well as I did that the press would eat this
up, especially if Tracy put a spin on it to sensationalize it.

Elizabeth stood up, lifted her bag up and
slung it over her shoulder.

“You’ll be at the opening?” I asked.

Elizabeth shook her head.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Aaron laughed. “You
can’t drop a bomb and run away.”

“I thought that was the Aaron way,” she
retorted.

“Ooh,” I whispered.

“Seriously, I would appreciate it if you
would come. You might be able to handle Tracy so that we don’t have
to,” Aaron eyed her and she nodded slowly and glanced at me.

“I guess it is the least I can do,” she
sighed.

“It would be nice,” I admitted.

She nodded and looked like she was about to
burst into tears, but instead she gave us a quick wave and left the
café quicker than I could turn around.

“Well, I guess we’re back in the Twilight
Zone,” I whispered.

“I didn’t know we ever left.”

Regardless of what Aaron felt about his
future in the art world, he’d been pouring himself into his work
and what he created was sensational. Having the time away in the
country centered us both and solidified our future together. The
peace of the chateau quieted our minds and allowed us to focus on
what mattered to us. We knew when we got back to Seattle, our lives
would be going in several different directions, but we understood
no matter what was thrown at us, we had one another to lean on.
Talking with Elizabeth only finalized that. We were united and
there was no tearing us apart. After meeting with her, we wandered
over to the catacombs and got in line only to have Aaron’s shoulder
tapped and a couple of workers explained that the wait was too long
in the line, and we wouldn’t make it inside. They assured us if we
came back about an hour earlier the next day, we’d be able to get
in. Well, that didn’t happen either. We’d gotten there at ten
o’clock in the morning, only to have the same guys tells us that
the line was too long, and we wouldn’t make it in by closing time.
I wasn’t sure if I believed them, so I made Aaron hang around to
see if they told others who tried to get in line the same
thing.

They did. So we wandered back to the
apartment and that was where I left him so I could do some
shopping.

Everyone was arriving tomorrow and in a
couple days his exhibit would open. I wanted to treat him to a
peaceful night in with a home-cooked meal before the group arrived.
I’d been planning the meal for days and was excited to scout along
the Parisian streets on my own. I’d gotten pretty familiar with the
blocks around our apartment, but I wanted to snoop a little farther
out and this gave me the perfect excuse. Not to mention I needed
some fresh air. Another nightmare woke me up, and I’d been shaken
ever since. With the verdict expected today, I suppose it was too
much for my subconscious to handle. Waking up to the thought of
Derek being a free man was beyond chilling.

Aaron was finalizing details for the show
with Gregory Sennet. Gregory was a nice man, and Aaron and I
decided not to hold his daughter against him. I was just praying
the showing would go smoothly despite the pending onslaught of
media.

I walked down the cobblestoned alley,
sipping on a Starbucks, which gave me that little taste of home I
craved and brought a sense of normalcy to my otherwise peculiar
reality. It was hard to believe Aaron had been in France over six
weeks, and I’d been here for three. I figured by the time I got
used to being here, we’d be heading for the airport. But until
then, I was seeing and experiencing as much as Paris had to
offer.