Page 38 of Embracing Love

She wished she’d made more of an effort with her appearance.

“I have something for you,” he said, reaching into his pocket but a slight commotion behind them made him stop.

Ethan had arrived and Nadine introduced him to the teams from abroad as well as Gabriel and Russell. He appeared to know everyone else.

Just then, Michael, playing the devil’s advocate, something unusual for him, jumped right in. “Ethan,” he said, grabbing Nadine’s fiancé by the elbow, “This is the man partly responsible for Nadine missing your awards ceremony.” He let out a mischievous little laugh.

Gabriel looked suitably embarrassed. “I did?” He obviously had no idea about that whole saga. “If that is true, then I’m very sorry.” He said, shaking Ethan’s hand.

“Hey, it’s cool. I think there were other factors involved.” Ethan said graciously.

“I missed my flight the next morning, and the connecting flight got delayed. There were other factors,” Nadine interjected quickly.

“An awards night for what?” asked Gabriel.

“Oh, just…metal sculpting.” Ethan looked as though he didn’t want too much attention.

“You are an artist?” Gabriel sounded impressed and the two men drifted off into their own conversation as people gravitated once more into their own groups, leaving her and Nadine with the two men.

“How are the wedding preparations coming along?” Tanya asked them. Ethan laughed and Nadine shook her head. “Slowly.”

“You’re getting married?” asked Gabriel with sudden interest. “Congratulations. When is the big day?”

“Seventeenth of February next year,” said Ethan.

“It’s not too far off then.” Gabriel commented.

“It’s too long. I wish we were already married,” said Ethan.

“We've still got half a year left,” protested Nadine. “This weekend is a break from wedding talk otherwise my mother would have had us in Santa Barbara going through the menus or something.”

“What’s left to do?” Gabriel asked Nadine.

“The cake, the flowers, the photos—” Nadine started her litany in a bored voice.

“Tyler said he'd do the photos.” Ethan jumped in.

“He can’t—he’s a guest at the wedding. He and Zoe, remember? We need to find another photographer. I think Renee said she had a friend she could recommend,” said Nadine, and the two of them got caught up in their own little drama, worrying about their small details.

For a moment it seemed as if Gabriel Valois wasn’t a client but just another friend of theirs. Tanya considered the crazy idea of the four of them appearing to others like two couples shooting the breeze one Friday evening.

“Wasn’t this where you met last year?” asked Tanya, suddenly remembering the rumors. Ethan put his arm around Nadine’s waist just then. “We didn’t meet here. But yeah, I came to this event last year, you could say.” And the way he and Nadine shared a sly secret smile, she knew there was more to it. She’d have to extricate the final truth from Nadine at some stage this weekend, when she got the chance.

Tanya continued to listen and reminisce about how sweet marriage seemed for those who had never taken that step before. It had been like that for her, once. Just watching them reminded her of how excited and happy she’d been when she and Vincent had made their plans.

“Don’t forget to save the day,” Nadine said to Tanya.

“The both of you,” added Ethan, without thinking.

“We’re not together.” Tanya motioned her hand between her and Gabriel and noted that Nadine had gently elbowed him in the ribs.

“Awkward. My mistake. I’m sorry, guys.” It was the first time Tanya had ever seen Ethan look anything like flustered. Usually he was so laid back. “Let's go mingle shall we?” Nadine slipped her hand into Ethan’s, and gave them both a polite, if somewhat embarrassed, nod as she whisked him away.

Trapped in another awkward moment, Gabriel and Tanya stood in limbo as they watched Ethan and Nadine work their way through the happy clusters of people.

“Nice couple,” commented Gabriel.

“Yes,” she agreed, staring at his side profile and thinking how good he looked. Why hadn’t she really noticed before? Was it a case of him becoming more attractive to her because she was starting to feel differently about him or had he always been so gorgeous?

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