Chapter Twenty-Four Bonding Over Golf.
After dropping Mirabelle, Francesca, and Eleanor off at The Detroit Club Hotel to check into their hotel rooms, get ready, and go to their spa appointments, Bastian, Robert, and Victor went to the golf club to meet Wyatt Brinley, who was waiting for them just inside the entrance. After shaking Victor's hand warmly and exchanging greetings, Victor introduced him to Bastian and Robert. Wyatt shook both their hands, looking delighted to meet them.
“I booked the tee time for a bit later so we could grab lunch and get to know one another.” After he signed them all in, Wyatt led them to the restaurant and got them settled away at a table in the corner. They placed their orders, and Bastian and Robert listened as Wyatt and Victor caught up with one another. By the time the meals came out, he turned his attention to Robert and Bastian. “Robert, we met briefly at your wedding to Eleanor, but Bastian how do you know Victor?
Bastian glanced at Victor, unsure of how much he wanted to be revealed, and he quickly came to his rescue. “You remember Mirabelle?” Wyatt nodded.
“Of course, Eddie’s first wife, lovely woman.”
Victor smiled. “She’s here for the wedding; Bastian is her plus-one.” Wyatt furrowed his brow and gave Victor a strange look.
“Your son invited his ex-wife to his wedding?”
“Francesca and I insisted,” Victor explained with a shrug. “We're very fond of her and think of her as our own. We’ve missed her terribly since they divorced, and Mirabelle and Eleanor have always been very close. She’s enjoying the spa with Eleanor and Francesca right now. We’ve never had any hard feelings toward her, and we’re very happy for her and Bastian.” Victor smiled at Bastian. “He treats her the way she deserves, and we've quickly become almost as fond of him as we are of her.”
Wyatt nodded, still looking like he thought it was strange that Mirabelle agreed to attend but did not want to comment on it. “It’s always great when people can behave like adults and have no hard feelings toward one another when they go their separate ways.” He smiled at them. “So, gentleman, what do you two do for a living?”
“I'm an architect with Bianchi Idrissi Group in New York,” Robert replied as he took a sip of his Coke. Bastian was impressed. He knew Robert worked for a large architectural group, but he hadn’t realized it was the architectural group of New York City.
“BIG is one of the top architectural firms in the country; how long have you been with them?” Wyatt echoed Bastian’s thoughts, looking just as impressed as Bastian felt.
“Ten years this year, I specialized in cultural design,” Robert explained. “So mostly museums, libraries, and heritage buildings, those types of things.”
“Robert has been the lead on several museum projects,” Victor said, his pride in his son-in-law evident in every word and his smile. “He and Eleanor are always dashing off to some other country for months at a time.”
Wyatt raised his glass to Robert. “That's very impressive. And I heard Eleanor has an art exhibition opening soon, too.”
“Yes, at the ARTECHOUSE.” Robert nodded, and it was his turn to look proud. “She's very excited about it. ARTECHOUSE is incredible and makes you feel completely immersed in the art. She's been working with them for almost a year to integrate her art into their system; it opens next month and will be on display throughout October.”
“Excellent. Connie and I will have to make the trip to New York to see it.” Bastian watched as Wyatt pulled out his phone and added it to his calendar. “My wife loves her artwork,” he explained to Bastian. So, what about you? What do you do for a living?”
“I'm a lawyer, most recently with Henderson and Associates, but Mirabelle and I have recently started our own firm, Adrien and Avery.” Bastian smiled as he thought of the work he and Mirabelle had done over the last few months. The firm was really taking off with new clients, not just from the city but from towns around Long Island and from upstate, too.
Wyatt perked up, his eyes brightening with curiosity. “Really? Do you specialize in a particular type of law?”
Bastian raised his hand and tilted it from side to side. “Sort of. I mostly do divorces and prenups, that sort of thing. Mira is switching from Family Law to Environmental, but we've taken on all kinds of things and haven't registered as a specialized law firm or anything.”
“If you're ever in the market for a divorce lawyer, Bastian is who you want in your corner. The man is vicious.” Robert smirked. “I can only pray if Eleanor ever leaves me; I get to him first.”
“If Eleanor were to leave you, Mira would represent her, and I doubt I would be any help to you.” Bastian chuckled. “She represented me in my divorce and decimated my ex-wife. She even served the man she cheated on me with while he was at church with his wife and kids, then represented his wife in their divorce.”
Robert choked on his drink and started to cough, his eyes widening in shock, while both Wyatt and Victor’s mouths dropped open in surprise. “Really?” Wyatt looked almost appalled. “She served him at church in front of his wife and kids?”
“Oh yeah, don't mess with her people.” Bastian grinned proudly. “To be fair, it was in the parking lot after the service, and he had gotten my ex pregnant, which she then tried to pass off as mine, so she served him to do a prenatal paternity test so I wouldn't be put on the birth certificate if she went into labour before the divorce was finalized.”
“Ah,” Wyatt nodded and chuckled as he understood. “That’s understandable then. So, are you two licensed to practice in Michigan? You know, just in case.”
“We're not, but it's just a two-day test.” Bastian shrugged. “We’re already licensed in several states along the eastern seaboard. We weren't sure where we wanted to live when we graduated from university, so we did the licensing test in several states we thought we'd be happy in.”
“So you two have obviously known each other for a while then.” Wyatt raised his eyebrows.
“We've been best friends since I moved in next door to her when we were eight.” Bastian nodded. “Grew up poor and put in the work together to move to New York for university when we graduated high school.” Deciding he didn't want to get into everything, Bastian changed the subject. “What do you do for a living, Wyatt?”
“Oh,” Wyatt finished his meal and leaned back in his chair. “I mostly play golf and garden. I retired a few years ago, but before that, I was the Editor in Chief of the Michigan Tribune. When they began phasing over to mostly online, I stepped down. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to read an actual paper rather than a website.”
“I'm that way for reading books, but I like getting news from an app,” Bastian admitted. He loved having a library but thought newspapers and magazines were a waste of paper and space.
“My thoughts as well.” Robert agreed, nodding.
“Millennials.” Victor and Wyatt said at the same time, rolling their eyes.
“Are we ready to golf, gentleman? We have thirty minutes until our tee time, and” Wyatt wiped his mouth and threw his napkin on his plate. “Robert and Bastian will have to change before we get started. I’ve booked us in on my favourite course, the South Course, which is more difficult, but I’m sure they’ll switch us to the North Course if you'd prefer.”
Victor, Bastian, and Robert looked at each other, silently agreeing that the more difficult course sounded like the better pick. “I think the South Course works for us,” Victor smiled.
Wyatt showed Bastian and Robert where the changing rooms were and said he and Victor would get the golf cart and meet them outside. They found a couple of lockers that were available for guests to use and started to get changed.
“I can't thank you enough for agreeing to go to the bachelor party tomorrow night, Bast. I was not looking forward to it at all.” Robert said as he pulled off his shirt. “Eddie and his friends are… well, for a group of highly educated men in their late thirties, they still act like they're in a frat in university.”
“No problem,” Bastian shrugged and smiled at him. “Although I fully admit that Mira threw me for a loop with her agreement, I have no problem sucking it up for a night. “He changed his top and shook his head. “Eddie was definitely going to ask Victor and Francesca to pay for it.”
“Yeah,” Robert chuckled. “I saw the look on your face. And you're one hundred percent right, he was going to ask.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I don't blame you for what you did in the divorce, not after what he did to Mira, but he's milking the excuse that they can't find a job with another law firm in New York now because Tulk won't give him a good reference.”
“Well, maybe don't steal from your employer.” Bastian snorted out a laugh. “He wouldn't have had half the problems he has if he hadn't used company funds to cover up his affair.”
“That would have been the smart way to do things; smarter would have been to not screw around behind your wife's back.” Robert agreed, laughing with him. “They're definitely relying on the money from the trust, and they're gonna be in for a surprise. You guys grew up in the French Quarter, right?”
“Yeah, on Conti Street. Where did you grow up?” Bastian asked curiously; Robert's light Cajun accent was familiar.
“Just on the other side of Lake Salvador in Galliano.” Robert smiled. “We should do a trip down together sometime, or do you guys bother to go back at all?”
“Yeah, absolutely. We don't go back very often, usually only if someone wants us to go with them. I'm not in contact with my parents and haven't been since we left for New York.” Bastian admitted as they finished changing. “Mira had no contact with her mother until the hurricane, and she was evacuated to North Texas. They reconciled after, but Vivi didn't go back to Louisiana after, so we don't have a reason to.”
Robert nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I don't go back very often either; my family’s property was lost in the hurricane. But we'll have to keep in touch when we get back to New York. Eleanor gets so excited when she knows we're going to see you two; she's missed Mira but didn't want to push if she wanted a clean break from the whole family.”
“And Mira didn't want to reach out because she was afraid you'd all be mad about how we went after Eddie, but she has missed Eleanor, too, so please make sure we get invitations to the opening of her art show; Mira won't want to miss it.” They finished up, put their bags in the locker and locked it all up.
“I'm sure Eleanor has already added her to the list; their love of art brought them together in the first place.” Robert smiled. “And, of course, they weren't mad at her. But, Bast, I gotta tell ya, you should have been there when Eddie said he was leaving Mira for Casey. I've never seen them so angry and loud. Eleanor still isn't really on speaking terms with him, and I know Victor and Francesca seriously discussed disowning him. Which is saying something considering they didn't after the Nazi incident.”
Bastian raised his eyebrow. He had picked up on how much the Sheas loved Mirabelle, but he didn’t know it was to that extent. “I know Mirabelle considered them more her family than her mother, but I didn’t know they felt the same way.”
Robert nodded. “Oh yeah, they truly do think of Mirabelle as their daughter. My background isn't that much different than yours. I'm not in contact with my parents either, and I pulled myself out of the poor area of Galliano solely because of my art talent. They’re way prouder of me than my actual family. They genuinely admire people who make something from nothing, and having Eddie turn out the way he has despite having the best start possible has been a huge disappointment.”
Bastian held the door open for Robert and waved him through. “Well, now that I know you golf, we need to hang out more, too. I'm always looking for golfing buddies.”
Robert chuckled. “Absolutely, we can send the girls off to an art gallery and hit the links. I'm also happy to travel to golf in the winter, so maybe we need to head down to Louisiana in February, Mardi Gras and Golf.”
“Mardi Gras and Golf. Sounds like a plan.”