Page 84 of Meet You Half Way
“Where was the mark?” Ajay asked.
Mateo went to spill the beans before I cut him off. “Let’s leave some things to the imagination.” Mateo glanced at me, the dark expression on his face giving way to that smile I loved so dearly as Ajay and Nick laughed at our unfortunate timing.
“And in case you’re wondering,” I added, “No, I have absolutely zero regrets.”
MATEO
It was Ajay who noticed first. I’d volunteered to help him with the wine glasses behind the bar and we’d been chatting about clothes and the loads of free samples I’d brought over for him in my luggage when he gasped and grabbed my hand.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asked, fingering the black metallic band on my ring finger.
“Depends. What do you think it is?” I asked, biting down on my smile. Jamie had just sat down on one of the barstools and he shared a soft smile with me as Ajay looked between us, mouth agape.
“It looks like a wedding ring,” he said. “And it looks like the matching one on Jamie’s finger.”
“What’s this?” Nick asked, ears perking up as he stepped over towards us, eyes pinging between me and Jamie while I lost my battle with my smile.
“Surprise,” I said, waving my ring finger where I wore the simple black wedding band that my husband had picked out for me.
“You’re married?” Ajay gasped, right before a big smile split his face.
“When? What? How? How did I miss this?” Nick asked, eyes still pinging between us.
“Two weeks ago,” Jamie grinned. “I finally managed to get Mateo to agree to marry me and make an honest man out of him.”
“Honest man,” Mateo scoffed. “Don’t you start with that.”
“But … but … how did I not know?” Nick asked.
“It was a spur of the moment thing really,” I told him, still sharing that soft smile with my husband. “Jamie asked me to marry him a few weeks ago and then Dante and Giulia happened to arrive in New York on the same weekend as Jamie’s sister, Louise, was visiting. And we just thought why not now? So we got hitched at the registry office, just the three of them in attendance.”
“Congratulations,” Ajay beamed, pulling me down into a hug. I lost eye contact with Jamie but I could see Nick shaking his hand out of the corner of my eye until I looked back at my oldest friend, happiness and a hint of sadness in his eye.
“I’m so happy for you,” Nick said quietly. “You know we would have come over for your wedding?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, letting him walk around the bar to hug me. “But we didn’t want a big deal and we knew we were going to be back here for your studio opening. This is where we wanted to celebrate with you all.”
“Well, this plus our two week honeymoon in Tahiti after we leave here,” Jamie added with a smirk.
“Well then, Ajay darling, let’s crack out the best champagne,” Nick said, a grin spreading across his face.
“Thank you,” I said, holding Nick’s eye and letting him see how much I meant that. Everything in our lives that had brought us here today had happened for a reason and I wouldn’t change a thing. The fact that Nick had known we were not right for each other and had let me go even though it had hurt like hell. It meant Nick had found Ajay and it had let me find Jamie, my forever person and now my husband. The one and only man who’d been able to love me unconditionally.
“What about you two?” Jamie asked, accepting the glass of champagne from Ajay. “You got any plans to get married?”
“Honestly, I would have married Ajay the summer we met,” Nick admitted. “But Ajay’s still a baby. He’s only twenty-two, fresh out of uni. He was just twenty when we met.”
“Did you think you were going to trap me, huh?” Ajay grinned, holding Nick’s eye.
“You know I want to trap you,” he smirked. “But only if you want me to.”
“Ah, Nicky,” Ajay sighed. “You can lock me down whenever you want. Let’s just get through the opening of the studio first. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not in any rush either. I am only twenty-two as you pointed out already.”
“Basically a child bride,” Nick smirked as he wrapped his arms around Ajay.
“Get lost,” Ajay laughed, whacking Nick softly on his arm. I’d never let myself see it when the two of them had first met, too caught up in my own misery and heartache. But I could see it now, how perfectly suited Ajay was for my best friend. Nobody else could shut Nick down completely the way Ajay could. It was kind of amusing to watch actually.
Nick waited until we all had a glass of champagne before he held his glass up to me and Jamie.
