Chapter 30 #2
Then it dawned on him: He’d hit on this woman years ago at an Armenian event called Explore Armenia. Mortifying. He had not been his best self back then, to put it mildly.
He shifted uncomfortably, wondering if his smile looked more psycho than polite. “God, yeah, hi. I think I’ve seen your segments, the one on Armenian lacework in Berkeley? My grandmother used to love Armenian needlework. Great reporting.”
Nareh’s eyes widened, surprised he remembered it. “I loved that one.”
Another memory slammed into him. He’d cornered Nareh in a hallway outside a bathroom.
A bathroom. And asked her out in a way that, in hindsight, was less charmingly confident and more…
cringey-skeevy. His entire body seized with regret so intense he wanted to peel off his own skin.
All the years that had passed, all the ways he’d worked to be better, and yet right now, under Nareh’s polite but penetrating gaze, he felt like that same oblivious idiot.
He didn’t want to let his past actions stand between them, unspoken.
Raffi ran a hand through his hair nervously, then cursed himself for messing up his expertly gelled coif. “You know,” he said, gathering courage, “I am really sorry about how I acted back then. I’m so glad you turned me down. I was still figuring stuff out.”
Nareh appraised him with a somewhat confused smile.
“You have changed, haven’t you?” Then the confusion melted away into genuine kindness.
“Well, I want you to know, it’s totally okay.
I’ve long given up on the idea of obtaining perfection.
We all mess up. As long as it’s not a pattern and we grow from it, it’s fine. ”
“Good rules for living.”
A beat passed. He saw her catch the eye of a tall woman dressed in striking black lace, who waved in her direction. Nareh beamed, then turned her attention back to him.
“So, have you?” she asked.
“What?”
“Figured it out?”
Just then, Ani appeared by the door of the winery, speaking into her headset as the music quieted.
“I think so,” he said, staring at Ani. “I really hope so.”
There was dancing, eating, and now the toasts had begun. He’d had an idea after his conversation with Ani this morning, and Kami had given him the green light, so Raffi was preparing himself.
He still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Ani, who was so busy that he could only imagine how exhausted she was.
He was dying to be with her but would not do anything to jeopardize her work when it was all so time-sensitive.
He saw her across the way, chatting with the caterers, when it was his turn to make his way to the mic.
Raffi crept up to the front, trying not to make any noise and disturb the speeches. Then, as he passed a table, he overheard a woman exclaim to her daughter, “That is Raffi Garabedian, the owner of this winery. Isn’t he handsome? So rich, too. You need to find a way to talk to him.”
Raffi shuddered. Those words were not meant for his ears, but the auntie likely had one too many glasses of the ? chardonnay and couldn’t temper her volume.
He hated that the world didn’t know he was taken, didn’t know that he loved one woman, Ani Avakian.
He couldn’t exactly shout it out yet, that was his and Ani’s agreement. But he could do this.
He reached the front right as the penultimate speech was winding down. The bridesmaid handed him the mic, and Raffi looked out into the crowd. Deep breaths. There she was. He stared hard in Ani’s direction, waiting for her to see him.
And she did. All the way across the garden he could see how large her eyes grew when she spotted Raffi, standing in front of the dome they’d created, with a microphone. He took another breath away from the mic, then brought it close.
“Hello, everyone, my name is Raffi Garabedian, manager of this winery and longtime family friend of the Mardians.
First, I want to thank every one of you for being here.
This wedding today, between Grace and Kami, is the inaugural wedding event at ? winery, and I know I am full of pride to be able to host such a significant event.
“But I have to say, none of this would have been possible without the incredible vision and hard work of one very special person—the landscape designer and wedding planner, Ani Avakian. Ani, I’ve known you for several months now, and I suspected you were talented.
But what you’ve done here today goes beyond anything we could have imagined.
Just look around us. I haven’t ever seen anything more perfect, have you? ”
A ripple of murmurs spread through the crowd, the kind of quiet, appreciative hum that signaled agreement. Heads nodded, and glasses lifted slightly in an unspoken toast. Raffi glanced toward Ani and caught the way her eyes flickered, a shy smile on her face.
“You took Grace and Kami’s hopes and dreams and brought them to life in ways none of us could have imagined. You have a true gift, and we are so grateful to have you,” here, he coughed, “in our lives.”
Raffi steadied himself. “Kami, Grace, I wish you all the happiness in the world. I hope you are reveling in this dreamland around us.”
Kami shouted happily, “We are! It’s perfect!”
Raffi smiled and concluded, “Everyone, let’s all raise our glasses to the marvel that is Ani and to the wonderful couple. Cheers!”
His heart was hammering hard, and he spotted Ani wiping a tear from her cheek. He never wanted to make her cry, but he thought maybe it was not a sad tear.
Maybe it was hope.
He wanted nothing more than to make his way down the middle of the dance floor and sweep Ani off her feet, but he felt a sudden hug crush him from the side. He looked down. It was Kami.
She released him and began talking a mile a minute. “Oh my God, Raffi, that was so sweet. I was a little nervous when you said you wanted to speak, I thought maybe you were going to plug ?, but instead you plugged Ani. Cuuuute. I mean, she did do an amazing job. You both did. Look at this place.”
She stared around her, and Raffi, despite wanting to get away, did the same.
The sun had set, leaving behind a deep indigo sky streaked with the last traces of twilight.
Overhead, strands of fairy lights draped from tree to tree, casting everything in a golden glow—soft, warm, and impossibly romantic.
The lantern-lit stone pathways wound through the garden, around the fountain, like glowing ribbons, leading guests toward the heart of the celebration.
It looked truly special. ?’s garden had always been striking, but the changes they’d made had elevated it to a whole new plane.
He couldn’t keep that thought to himself.
He coughed. “You and Grace, paying for all these updates to ?…It’s too much. I want to make it right. It was a big lift, no question—but the difference is huge. I’ve already got weddings lining up, all because of the work you insisted on.”
Kami waved him off. “Mama and Baba gave me a budget, and it was massive, so we could have had the wedding anywhere, but I thought it would be so much more special to have it at an old friend’s place.”
Raffi’s heart squeezed. Kami, for all her faults, did not hold a grudge against him, even after he’d been sort of a cold jerk to her for years.
She seemed to think the best of people. She was a big part of the reason that his father’s dream of owning a successful winery would come true.
Perhaps it was time for him to release his grudge, to stop punishing her for not knowing how to show up for him all those years ago.
It felt like the right moment. Like letting it go wouldn’t mean losing anything. Perhaps even gaining a little.
Raffi tugged at his sleeve when he said, “Can I tell you something? It’s kind of embarrassing.”
Kami stepped a bit closer, expression open. “Sure. Anything.”
“That night.” He cleared his throat, the fear of that day wrapping its claws around him as he remembered it all again.
“When Sevan died. We were broken up, and you sent me this—this short text. I felt so let down by you. So alone. I know it’s too much to put on one person, but I just—with all of our family’s history, I guess—I expected more from you.
Sorry to put this on you on your wedding day, but it’s just that, well, if you ever wondered why I’ve been curt with you all these years.
That’s why. And I am sorry for it. I do wonder how we could have been friends, if things would have been different. ”
Kami’s eyebrows raised in concern and sympathy. “Oh, Raffi, honey, I am so sorry. I—I was so stupid about it. The thought of Sevan—what happened to him. It terrified me. I had no idea what to say to you. I was scared to say anything, so I said as little as possible.”
Raffi nodded. He understood that. She hadn’t been the only one after all.
Kami continued, “Honestly, people aren’t my strong suit.
Like, I don’t understand how to communicate the way other people do, or what I’m even doing wrong.
Sometimes I think I’m broken, but Grace…
She makes me feel whole.” She smiled in the direction of her bride.
“So please accept my way-too-late apology.”
Raffi shook his head. “Of course. If you can accept mine for being so cold to you for so many years.”
Kami smiled and said, “Honestly, I hadn’t noticed much. See? Broken. But sometimes it works out for the better.”
He hesitated, then added, his voice soft, “Kami…you’re not broken. You just have your own way of seeing the world. And maybe not everyone gets it, but—” He glanced toward Grace, trilling her fingers toward Kami in an adoring wave. “The most important people do.”
She gave him a tight hug. “Thanks for saying that.” She released him, and her head tilted slightly as she considered him. “Not such a grump after all, huh? Kind of a romantic, actually!” She winked, then bounded off toward Grace.
Raffi felt a tightness in him release. A knot that had been wound so tight, for so long, he hadn’t even realized how much space it had taken up inside him. He had been holding that in for a decade, and all he had to do was talk to Kami. It was that simple.
Now the guests were beginning to fill the dance floor, signaling the last few hours of the party. There was still one person he needed to find. One conversation left unfinished.
And now he could finally talk to her.