Page 36 of Belle Amour

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 wasthearchitectural 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.

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