Not Yet Yours

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Liam

I offered to get ready for the party in the bathroom once Harriet had showered and was back in the main room in a robe so that she could have access to the dressing table and be able to get ready comfortably. She thanked me and said she would call me out when she was done. Since then, I have showered and washed my hair, towel dried and styled my hair, and put my clothes and shoes on. I have sprayed both deodorant and aftershave and now I’m just waiting for Harriet to call me. I realized it was going to take her longer than me because she has longer hair to deal with and because she was likely going to want to put makeup on, so I took an extra-long shower, so I wasn’t waiting around too long.

I’ve only been ready for about ten minutes when Harriet calls through to the bathroom to tell me that she’s ready and I can come out of the bathroom. I get up from the toilet lid where I’ve been perched and open the bathroom door. I turn the light out and then step out into the room and pull the door closed behind me. I stop dead in my tracks when I see Harriet standing facing the bathroom door and smiling at me.

She’s wearing a long pale-yellow dress with a long split up one side and with a halter neck. She has swept her hair up and pinned it in place with a few curly tendrils framing her face. She has a pair of nude heels on, and her purse matches the heels. Her makeup looks summery and fresh, and she has a pair of long, diamond earrings in her ears. Standing there and taking Harriet in, I don’t know how I don’t dive on her and make love to her all night long.

“Do I look ok?” she asks.

“No,” I say. “You look like the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

She smiles and blushes.

“I’ll take it,” she grins. “You are looking rather handsome yourself tonight.”

I’m wearing a pair of black jeans and a blue T-shirt. Yes, they are designer, but I hardly think I match up to Harriet’s level of hotness. I offer Harriet my arm, which she takes, and we make our way down in the elevator, out of the hotel, and across the road to the restaurant.

Before we even go in, I know two things. One, Harriet is going to be the most beautiful woman in the room. And two, there is no doubt in my mind this is the woman I am going to marry. I’m going to be careful not to come on too strongly and scare her off, but I am going to woo her until I make her mine. There’s obviously something in her life that’s stopping her from committing to a relationship right now, but I’m happy to wait as long as it takes for her to figure her shit out and give me a chance.

We enter the pub and this time we don’t attempt to hide as we go toward the reserved room.

“Shit, wait,” Harriet says before we go in. “We don’t have a present. We don’t even have a card.”

“Sure, we do,” I say with a smile and pull the card out of my back pocket. “There’s a check in there. Don’t worry, it’s from the both of us.”

“Phew. Crisis averted,” Harriet smiles and we walk into the room.

It looks a lot different than it did yesterday. Today the tables are all covered in white cloth and the chairs are covered in white covers. Each chair has a red or gray ribbon tied around it and red and gray balloon displays make up the centerpiece for each of the tables. There is also a red and gray balloon arch over the buffet table and there is a DJ in place with a full-on disco dance floor set up in one corner.

There are quite a few people already here and I wonder if we will struggle to find a seat, but Harriet nudges me and nods toward the dance floor. Max is waving at us from one of the tables alongside it. She and Cullen have obviously saved us some seats with them.

We wave back to acknowledge her and then we make our way over to Carmen who is standing, chatting with some guests I don’t recognize, who I figure must be some of her friends. She looks cute in her black catsuit and shiny black high heels. She smiles widely when she sees us approaching her. She wraps her arms around me, and I squeeze her back.

“I’m so glad you made it,” she says.

“Happy birthday,” I say, smiling at her and holding out the card.

She takes it and thanks me and then she waves to Harriet.

“I’m Carmen if you didn’t guess,” she smiles. “And you must be Harriet.”

“Guilty as charged,” Harriet jokes. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” Carmen says.

We stand and chat with her for a little bit before we excuse ourselves and let her go and chat with other guests as they arrive, and then I tell Harriet to go and take a seat while I grab us some drinks. I get a bottle of Bud Light for me and one for Cullen and then I get a vodka and tonic for Harriet, and I take a chance on a vodka and Coke for Max. I also get four shots. I watch the bartender layer them up in swirls of bright colors. They look toxic and I’m already regretting getting them but what the hell. The bartender puts the drinks on a tray for me and I pay him and take the tray to the table where I unload it.

“What’s with the shots?” Cullen says after everyone has thanked me for the drinks and I have sat down, the tray beneath the table and the drinks on top of it.

“They’re called Carmen’s Carnage. Apparently, she created them so I couldn’t resist seeing what they were,” I say.

We each pick up a shot and clink them together and say cheers and then we all down them and follow them down with a drink of our normal drinks. I have to admit the shot doesn’t taste as bad as I thought it would. It’s faintly orangey with a tang of anise. It burns like hell going down though and I imagine it’s pretty strong.

We are onto our third or fourth round of drinks (although no more Carmen’s Carnage shots) when my Aunt Dorothy finally comes over to chat with us. She greets us all and then starts asking me questions about Harriet, about how serious we are, which I field, and then she starts asking when we are going to get married. I cringe and blush and of course, she delights in that, and she starts humming the wedding march.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, who died?” Harriet says.

“Died?” I ask.

“Isn’t that the song people play at funerals?” she says.

“No,” my Aunt Dorothy says, rolling her eyes. “It’s… oh, never mind.”

She stops humming and I glance at Harriet to make sure she’s not worried that she put her foot in it, but then I see the twinkle in her eye, and I realize she knew exactly what the song was that my Aunt Dorothy was humming. She smiles at me and tips me a wink and I smile back, shaking my head in awe.

After my Aunt Dorothy wanders away to accost some other poor relative, Cullen speaks up.

“You know she’s not going to be happy until you’re married off, don’t you?” he says.

“I’m warning you now if you tell her there’s a wedding and try to talk me into acting as the bride, I am leaving you standing at the altar,” Harriet says, and we all laugh.

A bit more time passes and it’s mostly Max and Harriet talking to each other and then me and Cullen having a different conversation. It’s not awkward or uncomfortable and it’s not because of anything between us, it’s just that Harriet and Max know a lot of the same people and Cullen and I don’t know those people and the ladies are catching up on their friends’ lives, leaving Cullen and me to talk too.

“Oh, I love this song,” Max exclaims and grabs Cullen’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go dance.”

“No one else is dancing yet,” Cullen says.

“Of course they are,” Max says, looking at the empty dance floor. “Harriet and Liam are dancing.”

I know by the way Harriet and Max both grin at me that there’s no getting out of this one. So, I give in gracefully and allow Harriet to pull me to my feet and lead me onto the dance floor with Max and a slightly reluctant Cullen right behind us. As is usually the case at parties, all it takes is for us to get up and other people start to come up and dance too.