“Wait, no. We kind of accidentally kissed each other. It was only a second or two. He bent down to kiss my cheeks and when he crossed from one to the other, Susanna called my name and I jerked and... well, we kissed.”
“Gotta love Susanna. I wouldn’t doubt she did it on purpose. How was the kiss?”
“It wasn't a real kiss, Corinna. How do I judge when the whole encounter was more like a tornado?” Aria screeched, her face heating up again at the thought.
Unconsciously, Aria touched her finger to her lips.
Corinna smirked and said, “Okay, then can we talk about the electricity you and Alex were creating tonight?”
Aria looked at Corinna with wide eyes. “Do you really think so?”
“Uh, that’s a big. Fat. Yes. And he wasn’t wearing a ring,” exclaimed Corinna as she pulled back into traffic now that she had the story.
Aria let this revelation swirl around in her head. She had felt it, but she thought it was only her. She’d never admit to them that she, too, had checked for a ring.
“When he shook my hand, I felt something,” Aria answered as she thought about that touch, closing her eyes.
She could feel the roughness of his hands, hands that probably did manual labor. Maybe he chopped wood or built things with those big hands. She could still smell his musky fragrance. Was it cologne, or aftershave? And how did he get his beard so soft? Maybe he used beard oil. Musky beard oil.
“I'm still processing it all,” she said, suddenly realizing she had drifted off. She glanced at Corinna who was grinning again as she drove.
“Looks like you’re processing something.”
Aria hung her head and confessed, “Ugh! Got to admit it felt amazing. It was exciting and frightening. It felt like I was alive again.”
It was good to say it out loud, but the guilt was right there on the surface coloring every thought and emotion.
“Aria, I’ve been waiting to hear you say that. I’m so happy for you.”
“I don’t know what this all means. I’m honestly overwhelmed,” Aria said when Corinna pulled up to her house.
“What do you need? How can I help?”
“You know me better than anyone. I need time to think and process.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk? I can stay.”
“No, no. I love you, but I promise we will talk about this more later,” said Aria with a forced smile.
She made sure Corinna pulled away safely, waving until she couldn’t see her any longer before opening her door.
Once inside, she slid out of her dress and the dreaded heels, slipped into a bath, and let the hot water and her favorite bath oils take her mind away from the events of the last two days.
She was conflicted about these new feelings that Alex had evoked. Finding herself in unknown territory, the only thing she knew to do was to focus on her memories of Nicholas.
As she soaked in the tub, feeling cocooned in its warmth, she let her thoughts drift back to some of her favorites.
She would never forget the day he proposed. She was in her second year of college, and they started dreaming about their future.
Nicholas had majored in business and his dream of owning a publishing house became her dream as well. She gladly put her dream of becoming a writer on hold until they could get the business off the ground.
She could still remember the day they came up with the name for their business. Libri Stellari. Stellar Books. It was perfect because it married their mutual love of books and the stars.
He would pull her in close as they lay out on a blanket near the beach and he pointed out the constellations to her. She would sigh with happiness at the lifetime they would have together writing her novels, running their business, traveling, and starting a family.
Aria turned on the hot water again as her bath water had cooled some. She let the soapy water run through her fingers. She wasn’t ready to move on from her memories.
Now that Nicholas was gone, all she wanted to do was to keep Libri Stellari alive and well.In her own way, it was how she kept Nicholas alive in her life. It was all that mattered to her now.
