Chapter 3 #2
But all that was hypothetical. What was real was an overdrawn checking account, two voicemails from debt collectors, and the one wedding she couldn’t stand to plan that would, regrettably, pull her out of her miserable financial situation.
She couldn’t afford to have pride.
It was depressing, but there was a part of her that felt invigorated by this opportunity. It wasn’t just wedding planning. She was also tasked with turning Raffi’s already lovely garden into a wedding paradise.
She would love to add landscape design experience to her roster.
A really legit piece of experience. She had previously helped her parents redo their backyard, so she wasn’t entirely clueless.
Granted, it was a forty-by-twenty-foot space behind a humble home on a still humbler budget, but she’d created beauty, no doubt about it.
She could do that in quadruple the size and with fifty times the funding. Right?
She’d simply harden her heart to Kami to make it work. And figure out a way to work with that pretentious ass who owned the place. It would be a challenge like no other, but Ani didn’t shy from difficulty.
That’s it. She’d take it.
Ani texted Sanan. Landed that new gig. Call me when you have a chance?
Then she sank a little deeper into her bed and called her sister because she was dying to spill about this insane venture.
Ani found an errant thread in her fluffy duvet cover that she wanted to tug when Talar picked up. “Ani jan, what’s up? You okay?”
Talar was the younger sister, but there she was, acting like the older one. “Yes, Talar, I’m fine.”
Then Ani assessed herself. Was she? No, she was not. “Health-wise, anyway.”
“I had a feeling. You never call in the middle of the day. What’s up?”
Her sister was a successful corporate lawyer overseeing mergers and acquisitions of tech companies and was always, always working. Ani thanked her lucky stars she had gotten out of the legal world. It crushed her soul, but it seemed to feed her sister’s.
“You sure you have a second?” Ani asked, knowing that her sister was in the middle of her brutal workday.
“For you, of course.”
Ani took a deep breath. “I got this new gig today. Kind of a big one, in Napa. And the bride, um—”
“Wow, good for you,” said her sister with sincere pride in her voice.
But when Ani was on the precipice of spilling about the bride’s identity, she could not bring herself to utter Kami’s name.
It was too embarrassing. She realized that if she told Talar that she had accepted the job of planning Kami’s wedding, she would have to mention the debt, too. And that? That was a hard no.
Ani loved her sister, but Talar did everything better than Ani.
Talar was prettier and taller, had gone to better schools, was more popular, and was more ruthless.
While Ani had been a mere paralegal who sucked at her job, Talar was a lawyer at the most respected firm in the valley.
And most crushingly, Talar got married first.
She could see the pity in the aunties’ eyes when they said, at Talar’s wedding, “Darosuh kezee.” It was a well-wish that Ani would be blessed with the same luck as Talar.
But she felt the whispers all around her, when she walked down the aisle, when she held Talar’s bouquet, and when she gave her speech.
“Such a shame she has no one.” “Younger sister married first—that must be difficult for Ani.” “I hear she is gay, that is why she is not married.” “She seems sad, does she not? I can see the sadness in her eyes.” It was all true except that she was bi, not gay, and that had nothing to do with her marital status.
But the rest, she knew what they were saying, and it stung for months and months afterward.
Ani simply wanted to be the one not left in the dust for once. If she pulled off Kami’s wedding, it could mean great things for her.
“The bride is kind of a diva. She wants us to build this whole water feature and a dome in the backyard of the winery.”
Talar sounded incredulous. “And the winery is okay with that? That seems weird.”
“They’re a new place. I think they’re trying to attract more weddings, so they’re okay with it.”
Every time Ani said “they,” she thought of Raffi and felt a strange pull in her stomach. Peace talks over truffle fries. That was cuter than it should have been. She wanted to remember what her sister had said about Raffi. Maybe Ani’s memory had overblown it.
“It’s actually an Armenian winery,” she added. “And the new owner is Raffi Garabedian. You know, the doctor—well, he’s a former doctor. He told me today he dropped out and got his MBA instead.”
“The mafia guy’s son?” Talar asked.
“I don’t think he’s really in the mafia. I think. I hope. But yes, that’s the one.”
“Ani…” Her sister had caution in her voice.
“What?”
“Be careful, okay?” Talar said.
Ani turned indignant. Yes, she wanted to hear Talar’s opinion on Raffi, but she did not like to be scolded, especially by her younger sister. “Can you not?”
Talar went into lawyer mode, her tone factual and confident. “I thought I told you. Total charmer, but he does not date. One and done. A few years back, he slept with my friend Lala—you know, the orthodontist?”
“Oh yeah.” Somehow, although Ani knew in theory that Raffi had played the field with many women, hearing that sweet orthodontist Lala slept with him was like ice water being splashed in her face.
She wasn’t into Raffi anyway, but the whole “playboy” thing had felt more hypothetical until now.
Lala was very pretty but a dainty-flower type, breakable, a total romantic.
That last part was like Ani herself. She wasn’t dainty, but she did, at her core, believe in true love and soulmates.
Because she thought Kami had been hers.
Talar charged on. “Lala was reluctant at first, having heard about his reputation. But he told her all sorts of lies about how she was special, asked her to let him take her to just one dinner. She eventually gave in, believing him. He was a perfect gentleman. Opened doors for her. Wined and dined her. Then as soon as they slept together, he never called her again.”
Ani’s face flared with anger. “That’s so messed up.”
“I know,” Talar said. “So unless you’re in it for a quick shag—”
“Ew, don’t say ‘shag.’ ”
“—you might want to stay away.”
“Got it, got it. I’m not interested anyway.”
Which was true. Especially now. The man had a smile that could swallow you whole, but Ani would not be swept up in it.
The only thing—the one little thing—that didn’t compute was when she said she didn’t date vendors and he didn’t scoff or scorn her.
He also didn’t push or try to persuade her, like he apparently did with Lala.
In fact, his response was incredibly mature.
“I fully respect and fully heard your no.” She had believed him.
Still, it didn’t matter. She’d work with him, only talk about the job when they were together, and keep him at arm’s length otherwise. Seemed like the safe course of action.
After they finished the call, Ani trundled into the kitchen, looking for anything remotely filling and healthy to eat. She had settled on a cheese stick to tide her over until she could make some real food when a text came in from an unknown number.
It was a 415 area code, from San Francisco. And it was a link to…a Pinterest board?
Ani almost dismissed it as spam until she saw the preview. Fountains. Domes.
And then another text came in.
Hey, it’s Raffi. Hope you don’t mind. Kami gave me your number.
Then another. Thought I’d get a head start. What do you think?
Raffi uses Pinterest?
When Ani tapped through to the board and saw how much thought had been put into the various pins, how they were pretty great comps to what she had in mind, and when she thought about him scouring the internet to work on this project and then taking the time to show his efforts to Ani, to ask her opinion…
her icy feelings toward him melted just the slightest. Just a drop.