“Well, we will have drinks as soon as you land this client,” Shelby announces, and I just hold up my hands in the air. I walk over to the side and step into my new office. It was an empty office before I came in, and slowly, when I was interning with them, it became mine.
The white L-shaped desk sits against the right side of the room. A vase of white peonies is at the corner of the desk with a gold card holder in front of it. Behind the desk is a chalkboard with the calendar on it. There are also frames about love and romance, as well as a couple of events I helped plan while I was still in school. My computer is set up on one side of the desk, right next to a white and gold lamp that is just for show. The pink chair faces the door, and two more pink chairs face the desk. I put my purse on one of the chairs before I walk over and sit down.
I turn on the computer to see if anything came in from when I left home until now. I pull up the email we got from Helena again. When it came in, Shelby came by and handed me the file and said, “Good luck.”
I read the interest form she filled out on the website. It really doesn’t tell me much. She left blank spaces everywhere. I put together a couple of pictures from past weddings that we have done to give her an idea of what we can do. It’s an hour later when I push off from my desk and get up to take one look at myself before I make my way into the waiting room.
Standing in front of the long mirror, I look at myself, the baby-blue pants fit me tight around the hips but loose all the way down to my ankles. A matching thick belt around my waist is paired with a white, sleeveless bodysuit. A matching blue jacket completes the look with neutral, peep-toe Christian Louboutin shoes. My brown hair is parted down the middle and then tied at the nape of my neck in a ponytail. I twirl the end of the ponytail, placing it over my right shoulder. “It's showtime,” I tell myself, grabbing the file and walking out of my office.
I take two steps out before I hear some commotion coming from the side. I peek my head in and see that kids have now joined the party. Everyone is sitting down and talking. “I’m going to go and wait for the couple in the front,” I say, trying not to be nervous but probably failing miserably.
"You've got this," Clarabella reassures me from behind her desk.
"Just remember, none of us knew what the hell we were doing," Presley says as she nurses her son on the couch, while her other son is bouncing in the saucer right in front of her. Irish twins are what we call them. Shelby calls them a walking birth control sponsor.
"And if you need anything, we are here," Shelby reminds me, and all I can do is nod at her.
"I've got this." I try to sound more sure of myself than I really am, ignoring the way my hands shake just a bit and the fact that my stomach is rising all the way to my throat, making me feel like I’m going to throw up. "I've got this."
"Who runs the world?" Clarabella asks.
"Boys and girls, according to Violet," I joke with her.
"Get out of my office and go nail that couple." She points at the door and turns and walks out.
My stomach has been in knots since last week when they handed me this client. I know I can do it. I just have stage fright. "Here we go," I say, as I pull open the door to the room where the couple is standing with their backs to me.
I look down at my nude heels for a second, and when I look up, everything inside me stops. There, standing in front of me with a blond girl holding his hand, is my first love, Matthew Petrov.
matthew
They say in life there are moments you will always remember. Like the first time I scored a goal at seven, in overtime, in a hockey tournament. Or the time when I got drafted into the NHL. There is even the time when I suited up and scored my first goal as an NHL player. And then there will be this moment. Definitely this moment.
My hand is in Helena’s as we look at a picture of an elaborate altar. She is going on and on about it and how she would have added color into the flowers. When I hear the sounds of heels clicking behind me, the sound coming closer and closer to us, I can see the woman approaching in my peripheral vision. The sun comes into the windows all around her. My head turns in slow motion or maybe that is just how I feel it happens. I blink once, twice, three times, wondering if my head is playing tricks on me.
My vision is almost blurry at this point, or at least that is how it feels, until the woman is standing closer to us. It can’t be. Again, I blink my eyes, hoping to fucking God that this isn’t happening to me right now. I even lift my free hand and rub my eyes to see if it’s all in my head. Sadly, it is not.
My heart is beating so fast and so loud in my ears that all I hear is the thumping it makes. My hands are now getting sweaty, and the heat is rising to the back of my neck. She is looking down at her feet, and when she finally looks up, she spots me and we make eye contact. Full-on eye contact. There is no denying it’s her and not some long-lost twin that everyone has. You know the one everyone is always telling you about but probably doesn’t exist. Yeah, that one.
She stops mid step, and if you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t see the way her eyes light up for one second before the wall comes down, shutting it out. Her eyes go from mine to Helena and then down to our hands. My head is screaming at me while I keep asking myself the question over and over again. What the fuck is she doing here?
“Hello,” Sofia greets when she is standing in front of us. “You must be Helena.” She looks over at her and extends her hand to her. “I’m Sofia.”
“It’s so good to meet you,” Helena says, “this is my fiancé.” She hugs my arm with her hands and looks up at me. “Matthew Petrov. We call him Matty.”
I look over at Sofia and see her blue eyes get a tad darker when she looks at me, everyone calls me Matty, except for Sofia. She always called me Matthew or MVP, but that was as a joke every time I won a game. “Matty.” She extends her hand to mine as if she doesn’t know me, as if we’ve never met. I don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand, I should be happy I don’t have to explain this to Helena, and on the other hand, I’m pissed. Which I shouldn’t be, especially with the way things ended. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” My hand moves up and clamps on to hers, and I swear to God it’s like I’m being electrocuted or something. “Thank you so much for coming in today,” she states, and I can’t help but take her in. Her brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but I see the end of her hair is curled and drapes over her shoulder. Her smile is as fake as can be. Trust me, I spent two years knowing the ins and outs of Sofia. No one knew me better than she did. No one knows me better than she does, is more like it. Not even Helena, I don’t know, and I can’t even explain it. With Sofia it was just so easy, me being me never fazed her. “And congratulations on the engagement,” she says, and I see her eyes looking straight down at the ring on Helena’s finger.
“Thank you so much,” Helena replies, and my tongue just keeps on getting bigger and bigger in my mouth. She picks her hand up to look at the diamond in front of her before she turns to smile at me. All I can do is smile back at her. “It was a special surprise.”
I almost laugh because it was not a surprise at all. In fact, she left me subtle messages since the second week we started dating. She was at the peak of her prime and wanted to get married when she would look amazing in her pictures. We’ve been together for nine months and this was the next step, so I thought why not. “That sounds very romantic,” I hear Sofia say, shaking my head.
“Shall we sit down and go over a couple of things?” Sofia suggests, pointing at the round table to the side. “Would you care for anything to drink?” She looks at Helena first.