The Floor Quandary
“There you two are.” The library door swung open. I swear, if there were an award for worst timing, my mother would win hands down. “Father Kristian is finally here.” She let out a theatrical sigh. Then, as her eyes took in the sight of us standing in front of each other, she suddenly paused.
I might not have said anything, but the raised brow on my forehead did—practically etching an annoyed ‘what now?’
“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” she quickly muttered, a self-satisfied grin plastered on her face. Well, you did. “But we need both of you.”
“Sure, Mother,” I said through gritted teeth, offering her a tight smile. “We’ll be right there.”
“Lovely then,” she replied, her tone saccharine. “We wouldn’t want to hold up the entire ceremony.”
“Of course,” I mumbled as I watched her leave with a twirl. God, there already was a delay, and it wasn’t even my fault. “Um,” I glanced back at Miles. “Perhaps…we could talk later? When we’re not surrounded by so many…distractions.”
“I’d love that, Florence.” Miles tilted his head, his gaze never leaving mine, then, gesturing to the door, he said, “After you.”
“Thank you,” I breathed, slowly turning to leave. “And, by the way,” I quickly blurted, glancing at him, my hand twisting the doorknob, “you look dapper.” A slight look of surprise touched his face as his eyes locked with mine. He hesitated for a beat before striding to follow.
***
A hush fell over the crowd when a thunderous roar erupted, echoing through every corner of the house.
“For heaven’s sake!” I groaned, hoping the rain would hold off for a bit.
Jo must be freaking out. Where was she, anyway?
In a moment the silence gave way to a few noises and the room was soon filled with loud chatter and laughter once more.
As I was making my way past the guests I caught a glimpse of my cousin Caroline.
While she was obviously sad about Bertram’s passing, she looked quite cosy next to Blake.
Hmm, I was guessing she’d opened her heart to second chances or, actually, in her case, to the fourth.
Heading upstairs to see my sister, I hurriedly walked down the long corridor then quickly turned left. Suddenly, I collided with a tall figure. “Oh, excuse me,” I muttered, clutching my fists at his jacket for balance.
“No, no.” He shook his head. “I apologise. I wasn’t looking,” He said, taking a swift step back. We both paused, taking in the sight of each other. So there he finally was—the man I had been looking so much forward to meeting. “You must be Josephine’s sister? Florence, right?”
“Hmm, and you…?” I said, my tone polite and even, yet with an obvious tinge of hostility in it, just like my mother dearest taught me. “I take it you must be Aaron.”
His brow raised, his gaze intently fixed upon me as the words tumbled from his chest. “You don’t like me.” Not a question.
“I don’t really know you,” I retorted, observing him.
“Yet you seem to know enough.”
“I might, which is why, if I’m being honest, I’m a little surprised you showed up here.”
“Oh,” he let out a snort, “I assure you; I didn’t want to be here anymore than she wanted me to be.”
“What about your brother?” I crossed my arms tightly in front of my chest as I stared at him.
“Stepbrother,” he quickly corrected me. And dear God, his eyes indeed were the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen.
Well, after Miles’, of course. And there was something about his personality that made me understand what my sister must have seen in him that day.
“Look, Florence…” He cleared his throat.
“I don’t know what she’s told you, but trust me, I’m not the villain here.
She picked the other brother and I’m fine with that.
” Wait, what?! “I’m here simply doing a huge favour for my mother, and as soon as they’ve exchanged their touching vows I’ll be right on my way out.
” He certainly did sound frustrated about being present at this wedding, but there was something else in his voice.
Hurt, perhaps? No, it couldn’t be that. Why would he be hurt?
But also, what did he mean by saying Jo picked the other brother?
And just as I was about to ask him that, the door handle to the music room turned, then slid to open right in front of us.
“Florence?” My sister’s gaze met mine. “What are you—?” She froze at the sight of the two of us, as did Aaron; his eyes widened, staring back at her for an uncomfortably long time.
Awkward . “Um—” she quickly turned to me, her hands tightly gripping the delicate fabric of her wedding dress. “—what is going on?”
I, however, glanced back at Aaron with a question. “Wait, what did you mean by ‘she picked the other brother’?”
“What?” Confused, Jo looked at me, then again at Aaron, who remained silently puzzled.
“You said,” I repeated, staring at him—then my gaze shot back at my sister—“that Josephine picked the other brother. Why would he say it like that?”
“Ugh!” Jo snorted. “Because if he says so, it must be true?”
Despite keeping his cool so far, Jo’s words clearly struck a nerve, causing Aaron to snap. “Oh, I assure you I’m anything but a liar!” he blurted at me. “And I don’t know what her issue with me is, but you can tell her—”
“She is standing right here, Aaron,” I muttered. “Tell her yourself.”
“Like I could care less what he’s got to say to me!” Jo rasped, looking at me expectantly.
“Do I really have to repeat that?” I groaned, then glanced at Aaron, catching his jaw tense and his teeth grit.
“Why are you even here?” Josephine directed her gaze at him at last. Well, finally. “Why did you have to come to my wedding? God,” she quickly sputtered, “everything was so much better until you decided to show up!”
“Trust me,” he said, letting out a frustrated breath, his eyes locked on hers, “the feeling is mutual. In fact, you know, sometimes you just meet someone and instantly realise God, I want to spend my whole life without them . You are one of those people to me!” Will you look at that?
“Even more than that,” he continued, his voice bluntly deep—
“Is that why you are here? To tell me that—”
“—you are the last person on the entire planet—”
“—to my face?”
“—I want to breathe the same air with!”
“Well,” Josephine muttered, “I find your presence equally unwelcome!”
“Oh, look—” he leaned in an inch closer “—we finally found some common ground.” God!
Seriously, these two needed to get a room.
Like, hello, unresolved issues much? I had never seen Jo so vexed at someone, and boy did they get under each other’s skin.
Oh, no , I suddenly realised, did I sound like my mother now?
Perhaps I should just quietly remove myself from this heated debate.
“I simply can’t wait for this day to end so I can finally leave and forget what your face looks like! ”
“Oh!” Jo let out a frustrated chuckle. “Trust me, I got that idea the morning you disappeared!”
“What? Are you being serious right now?” He muttered the words incredulously, as if he couldn’t believe she’d actually said that.
“God!” Josephine rolled her eyes with a scoff. “You know what, Aaron—”
“Because it seems that—”
“—this conversation—”
“—the only person lying here—”
“—is over!”
“—is you!”
“What?” Jo exclaimed, gaping at him. “How dare you! When did I lie?”
“Is that what she told you?” Aaron darted his frustrated gaze at me. Thanks for acknowledging my presence, by the way. “That I left?”
“Um,” I swallowed as I stopped myself from saying yes.
“Are you going to deny it?” Josephine demanded with a rasp.
“Oh, my deepest apologies for prioritising my nearly dying mother over making you breakfast in bed,” Aaron said sarcastically.
Josephine snorted, pushing her veil to the back as it seemed to cause her some discomfort. “What on Earth are you talking about?”
“The note, Josephine! The note!”
“What note?” She stared blankly at him. Yeah, Aaron, what fucking note are you talking about?
Aaron threw up his hands. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter now, does it?”
But Josephine persisted, her voice laced with confusion, her eyes searching for an answer. “What note, Aaron?”
***
Shifting the focus back to me, it was incredibly frustrating how every potential moment with a man I liked was interrupted, while now, in the middle of a crowded house, these two found themselves utterly alone.
No wedding coordinator, no mother, no one—not even a single soul—stumbled across them.
Ugh! This was still my story, Josephine.
Yours was yet to be told! But I guess you could have this chapter.
Fine! And, frankly speaking, I too was curious about what had happened between them, so, I guess, shifting back to those two…
Standing in front of each other in the middle of the corridor, my sister seemed to struggle to breathe, still processing Aaron’s words as she quietly whispered with a lump in her throat, “You left me a note? But where? And…what happened to your mother?”
A flicker of understanding crossed Aaron’s face and the harsh lines around his mouth softened.
He tilted his head, his brow cocked, his eyes carefully studying hers.
His voice was low and steady as he spoke.
“I went to grab us coffee, but I had to leave because of an accident. Well, anyways—” He brushed that thought off and continued.
“—I went all the way to the fucking fifth floor, Josephine, and I don’t know—you hadn’t opened when I knocked.
Perhaps, I thought, you were still asleep, so I slipped a piece of paper under the door. ”
“Aaron,” his name escaped her lips with a shaky breath, her cheeks suddenly paling. She quickly shook her head, narrowing her gaze at him. “My apartment was on the fourth.”
“Fourth…?”
A brief moment of silence swallowed the room and I could see how various scenarios of their lives flashed before them.
Because, what if she had lived on the fifth floor, or Aaron hadn’t had struggled an additional ten or fifteen stairs up and simply gotten the door right?
What if she had gotten that note? And they met again.
Probably on a date. What if they had fallen madly in love and not just a little?
What if he was the one who had proposed and he had taken her to meet his family and his stepbrother, Mark, and perhaps today, the man she would be walking down the aisle to was… Aaron.
Oh, Josephine. All this time she thought he just left, wondering whether whatever she felt that day was an illusion, doubting if that was even possible in real life. And Aaron, his face pale with the sudden realisation of why she chose to pretend not to know him the day they met again.
“Um…Florence?” my sister breathed, her baffled eyes searching for mine; she seemed slightly disoriented. One thing I knew for sure, she didn’t want to be here. In this house. In this room. In this dress. Or in front of Aaron.
“I think you should go.” I glanced at him, quickly taking my sister’s hand in mine. “Hey,” I murmured, gently framing her face, “Josephine, look at me. Let’s take a deep breath, yeah?”
I had to get her out of here. Seeing Aaron now and finding out the truth like that was clearly overwhelming her, and I didn’t want her to break down in front of everyone.
“Florence? Is she—” His gaze met mine with concern, and just as I thought things couldn’t get any more intense, the distant patter of rain arrived just on cue, to make the moment even more dramatic. Dear God!
“Not now, Aaron.” I shook my head, walking my sister away, her hand clinging tightly to mine as she stumbled through the doorway.