“Lovely to meet you as well,” Diana said, her voice professional and poised but lacking sincerity. “Sweetheart, we should go get our seats.”
“Of course,” Douglas said. “Melissa, we’ll talk later.”
No, they wouldn’t. Melissa had already made a fool of herself. She felt bad for her pathetic display of flirtation, but seeing Aaron had gotten to her.
She glanced at her old flame again, saw that he was indeed looking at her even as he spoke to another guest. She quickly sat back down.
“What was that about?” Arlene asked, her gaze following Douglas.
“I just... I guess I reacted as a fan,” Melissa lied. “I watch him on television every morning.”
Arlene didn’t look entirely convinced, but Melissa was saved from having to answer any more questions when Ryan began to speak again.
“Thank you, everyone, for taking your seats,” Ryan said as the last of the stragglers found their tables. “And thank you all for being here. Isn’t it a great day?”
People clapped, and some cheered.
“Tasha and I are glad that the sun is shining and that the forecast for the weekend is clear skies all around. I put in a special request to Douglas, and he delivered!”
There were chuckles among the crowd, and Douglas waved a hand.
“But more importantly,” Ryan went on, “Tasha and I are happy that each and every one of you is able to join us for our special occasion. This wedding wouldn’t be the same without you here. So we thank you so much for taking time out of your schedules to be a part of this.”
“There’s nowhere else we’d rather be,” someone said, raising a wineglass.
There was a round of hear hears, and people raised their glasses in turn.
Ryan smiled. “Many of you here are in the wedding party, and some of you are dear family and friends. All of you are important in our lives in some way. So this welcome dinner is as much about thanking you all for being here with us as it is a cause for celebration.”
Aaron slipped into the seat beside Melissa. She twirled the stem of her wineglass, pretending she hadn’t noticed.
“Some of you asked why we’re not having the wedding here,” Ryan continued. “And this is certainly a stunning location. But aside from the fact that this house might not hold all the guests my wife-to-be wanted to invite...” Ryan glanced down at Tasha, who was now seated, and she gave him a sheepish smile. “It’s also very important to Tasha and to me that we have our wedding in a church. We want God’s blessing on our union, and we feel that’s the right way to do it.”
“Amen,” Cynthia Burke said. Beside her, Cyrus patted her hand.
The one thing that Melissa had always liked about Cyrus and Cynthia was their absolute devotion to each other. Even as a child, she had seen how much they loved each other. How odd that their sons had become such players, despite the example of their loving and doting father.
Why was she even thinking about this?
But she knew why. She could feel the heat emanating from Aaron’s body beside her, and it was stressing her out.
Tasha got to her feet and took the microphone from Ryan’s hand. “But despite the number of people attending the wedding, it will still have an intimate feel. Because we love each and every one of you so much. Blood or not, you’re all family.”
Melissa lifted the bottle of Riesling that was on the table and poured some into her glass. A whiff of Aaron’s cologne, musky and masculine, wafted into her nostrils. The heat from his body continued to radiate toward her, and she had to swallow.
He was entirely too much man. The problem was, he knew it.
She should be counting her lucky stars that their relationship had fallen apart. God forbid, what if they’d gotten married? He would’ve broken her heart the way he had Ella’s.
Ella had fought so hard to snag a Burke brother, no doubt for the bragging rights, but she’d had to endure Aaron’s infidelity. Successful soccer player, wanted by many women around the world—it was no wonder that he had such an inflated sense of ego and had not been able to remain faithful.
At least Melissa had avoided that very life, a life she would not have been able to deal with. She didn’t care how successful a man was; she demanded fidelity. She would not stand by her man as he cheated on her, just to keep the facade of a happy home and to maintain whatever luxuries she had become accustomed to. Material things didn’t matter when your heart was breaking over and over again.
“Melissa, will you pass the wine?” Aaron asked.
A simple request, yet Melissa wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard him. But a nanosecond later, she knew the evening would be that much harder if she played this game.
So she raised the bottle and poured him a glass.
Carlton appeared at the table then and took a seat on her right. She had already learned that he would be paired with her sister for the wedding.
“Melissa Conwell,” Carlton said, smiling warmly at her. “It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you as well,” Melissa said, and she was glad that she had Carlton to chat with. It saved her from having to spend more time talking to Aaron.
“I can see that the staff is itching to take over,” Ryan said, glancing at a man standing off to the side who was dressed like a butler. “But despite the table numbers, I’d like to ask that the table with my parents, grandparents and our gracious hosts for this evening, my uncle Cyrus and aunt Cynthia, make their way to food line first. Please, everyone, give them a round of applause.”
People clapped as two generations of Burkes stood. They acknowledged the guests with warm smiles before making their way over to the food.
A hum of chatter filled the tent. Wilma, Tasha’s aunt, was seated with them because she was in the wedding party, and Melissa was glad that she was. Wilma was a talker, the type who liked to be the center of attention. She regaled the table with a story about how she’d been out with one of her sons in Buffalo and people thought they were dating. Wilma was in her fifties, but looked no older than her late thirties. She loved that no one was able to guess her age.
“So, Melissa,” Aaron said.
She started to turn toward him, but the butler called their table then, announcing that they could proceed to get their food.
Melissa was the first one to jump up.
Anything to escape Aaron.
She was ignoring him.
Aaron had made that determination shortly into dinner, when Melissa turned her attention to those on her right and kept it there throughout the night. She threw her head back and laughed many times, as though the conversation on that side of the table was utterly fascinating. She barely threw him a second glance as she proceeded to have the time of her life engaging with everyone at the table but him.
Which meant only one thing. She was angry with him. Maybe she even hated him.
Almost twelve years had passed since he’d last seen her, and apparently those years had not been long enough to bury any animosity between them. He had hoped that now, years later, with both of them more mature, they could rekindle their friendship. Even though things had fallen apart between them, he’d missed her friendship.
She had been a godsend in his life that summer when they’d dated, especially when he had been able to open up about the tragedy that had shaped his life. His little sister, Chantelle, had drowned. On his watch. He’d never been