Chapter Nine

Day Nine Hundred Fifteen

There were a number of reasons Owen hated Valentine's Day. The over commercialization, the way people acted like they had their heads in the clouds and going out with some stranger just to say they had someone to share the holiday with. However, one of his best friends had given him a reason to actually enjoy the day despite all the reasons he had to hate the manufactured holiday.

Eddie had chosen that day to make Hannah his wife.

Speeches were finished, the cake devoured, garter belt thrown and bouquet tossed. As part of the wedding party, his photograph had been taken multiple times in numerous places and it had only ceased because the photographer had packed up his things. All that was left of the evening was drinking, dancing and the general camaraderie that came whenever groups of people gathered together for such an ostentatious event.

Swallowing what was left in his glass of champagne, Owen scanned the faces milling about. Most were familiar as they were shared acquaintances between him and the happy couple but the few belonging to the bride's extended family were strangers. From his understanding, they had flown in from Ottawa, London and the States and for some of them; this was their first trip to Toronto. He had to wonder if his family would make such an effort if he ever chose to take the leap into marriage.

He chuckled softly. If they did choose to do so, it would be to take bets on how long the marriage would actually last.

Finally, his eyes landed on the woman that he was surprised had garnered an invitation. Why he was so surprised he wasn't exactly certain. After all, she had become pretty good friends with the bride before leaving. And he had it on good authority that they still talked periodically on the phone. He guessed that it was just a jolt to his system to find her name on the guest list a month prior when Eddie came to him and Alli, stressing out because he had been put in charge of the seating arrangements and he couldn't remember who hated who.

But invited she was and he kept his gaze concentrated on her as she sat with Hannah. He never got over how easily it was for women to fall into easy companionship, a friendship that was barely yearlong appeared to outsiders as though it had lasted more than a decade. He also never got over how easily the two women could be mistaken for sisters with their peaches-and-cream complexions, varying shades of cinnamon hair and crystalline blue eyes. Added in the fact that they shared much of the same sense of humor and interests and one had to wonder if there was a shared ancestor somewhere within their family trees.

"Why don't you go ask her to dance?" Owen turned to find the blonde-haired, brown-eyed groom standing behind him. "We all know you want to."

He hated having friends who knew him so well. For years, he had been satisfied with simple acquaintances that wouldn't give a damn what happened to him. Let alone what he wanted or what he was feeling on any given day. Sure, he had his boys back in high school but as an adult he had chosen to keep a certain amount of distance between himself and other people. It was funny how one simple friendship with a woman changed that aspect of his life as well.

"You're just saying that because you want your bride back."

"Well, she has been spending most of our reception with everybody but me."

Owen chuckled. "You knew the woman was a social butterfly when you married her."

"Yeah, but it's our wedding day." There was a hint of a whine in Eddie's voice that caused Owen to chuckle again. "I thought she'd be able to put those tendencies on hold for a little while so we can spend one of the most important days of our lives together."

"I assumed it was the night that was the most important. My mistake," Owen gibed.

Eddie rolled his eyes and his cheeks became tinged with pink. "Will you just go dance with the woman so I can dance with my bride?"

"Don't worry, Eddie," Owen cajoled, patting the man on the back. "Soon it'll just be the two of you, she'll be nagging you about one thing or another, and you'll be wishing you hadn't taken today for granted."

"You're a funny man, Milligan, really funny," Eddie yelled sarcastically to Owen's retreating back.

Owen shook his head, laughing, as he made his way to the pair of women deep in conversation. "Am I interrupting?" he inquired, resting a hand on the back of the bride's chair.

Hannah raised her head, her eyes sparkling with mirth as they met his. He leaned down, kissed the woman on the cheek and nodded a greeting at the other woman. "No, you're not. Clare was just telling me stories. Did you really pretend to be her boyfriend to get her away from a less than stellar blind date?"

"A few times," Owen concurred. "Which story is she telling you about now? The time when I acted like she was the cheating wife and I was Mr. Mom or when I pretended to be the jealous boyfriend fresh out of prison?"

"P-prison?" Hannah sputtered, squealing with fresh laughter. She tilted her head to the side and scrutinized his appearance. "Although, you may be cleaned up now but I can understand how that would be a convincing story."

"Thanks, Hannah, nice to know how you really think of me." Owen met Clare's eyes, sharing a secret smile with his partner-in-crime and snickering. If he had to be in the hot seat, it was only fair that she had to be too. "But Clare got me out of a blind date or two as well. Did she tell you about when she convinced a woman that she was my parole officer?"

Hannah gasped. "Clare, you didn't."

"I might have thrown in that he was a fugitive wanted for questioning regarding his ex-girlfriend's disappearance," Clare conceded, blushing at the memory.

"Oh Lord, that poor woman must've been frightened out of her mind."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't of had to go through such drastic measures if she hadn't been such a stalker. She had Owen's schedule down pat and knew every detail of their impending non-existent nuptials. She was even convinced that she knew what their children would be like and what she'd name them. And they had only gone on like four date," Clare explained. "That woman was a certifiable nut job."

"She sounds like it." Hannah smiled and turned her attention back up to Owen. "But you didn't come over here to share old stories with us, did you?"

"It's scary that you know me so well. I actually came over because I owe the woman next to you a dance," said Owen, stretching out his hand for her to take. "How about it, Edwards, you want to take a spin around the dance floor?"

Clare looked over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching groom, nodding in acquiescence and taking the proffered hand to allow him to pull her out of her chair. "It was nice talking to you, Hannah. If I don't see you before either of us leave, give me a call after your honeymoon."

Hannah nodded. "I'll make sure of it."

Owen led the woman to the center of the dance floor where he kept his hold of her hand and placed the other on her lower back, leading her to put her free hand on his shoulder. They moved awkwardly together for a few short moments, their movements reminiscent of those found at a sixth grade dance, before they shared a laugh and relaxed to find their rhythm. Soon, it was as though no time had passed and they were able to glide around the floor as one.

"So—" he cleared his throat "—you didn't bring the boyfriend."

The statement was posed more like a question, causing Clare to quirk a brow in response. "Dimitri was planning on it but he had a last minute assignment come up that took him to London. A good thing, I guess, since I fly out on the first flight tomorrow morning."

Dimitri Maheras, the man she had briefly discussed with him during her visit in December, had officially become relationship material when she returned to Seattle two days following. The photographer had been spoken about many times but Owen had yet to meet the man or even hear his voice over the phone. All that was really known about him other than his career was that he was from San Francisco; his grandparents were immigrants from Greece and his parents ran the family restaurant along with his two older sisters.

He was also tall and good-looking with strong Mediterranean features. The only thing that kept Owen from truly hating the stranger on those basic qualifications alone was that he treated Clare the way she deserved. However, he still wanted that face-to-face conversation with the man who had swept his friend off her feet just to be certain that the man was on the up-and-up.

"Aw, that's too bad." His less than sincere tone of voice used to commiserate earned him an eye roll and a quiet guffaw that was filled with barely concealed skepticism. Owen cocked his head to the side. "You don't think I mean it?"

Clare shook her head side-to-side. "I know you too well."

He pushed her out of his arm to twirl her before pulling her back to their original position. "Well, maybe you're right. But I did want to meet him. Have to make sure he's good enough for you and all."

"I think he is," she said, allowing him to twirl her again followed by a dip. "It's still a relatively new relationship though. We've only been seeing each other…a little less than three months?"

"You sound a bit uncertain about that."

Clare hummed her answer, her eyes scanning the couples surrounding them. A smile came onto her face when they fell upon one in particular. "So when did that happen?"

Owen spun them so he could see the same sight as she was viewing. "Alli and Dave?" he asked. She nodded. "You know she broke up with that junior professor about a month and a half ago, right? Well, he was supposed to be her date for the wedding. About a week later, she bumped into Dave at her usual coffee shop where they got to talking. One thing led to another and another and before anyone knew it, he was her date for tonight."

"She didn't tell me."

"It was so new that she didn't want to jinx it."

"We used to tell each other everything," Clare murmured, her gaze downcast. "We never worried about jinxing things when we shared our innermost secrets. Now you know everything that I should and you hated each other a year ago."

He furrowed his brow, concern over her sudden depression that overwhelmed the easy companionship they had been experiencing. Disengaging from the dance, he grasped her hand in a firm grip and began to weave through the couples still on the floor until they had exited the ballroom as well as the hotel itself. Finding a bench just outside the door, he led her over to where it stood and pushed her down gently.

Sitting beside her, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and allowed her to snuggle into his side. "Clare, you had to know everything was going to change when you moved. Even the close relationship you had with Alli."

Clare shrugged dejectedly. "I knew but I guess I didn't really know, you know?"

"You're going to have to explain a little further, Edwards."

She looked at him; eyes that shined with unshed tears almost appeared to be two bottomless pools of blue. "I love my job, Owen. And I kind of like living in Seattle, even with all the rain. But I miss Toronto, my family and my friends. No matter how much time passes, I just can't think of another city as home. And no matter how great of a guy Dimitri is, he's just not you."

Her words felt like a sucker punch to the gut. It had been difficult but he was starting to move on with his life and he had been pretty certain that she was doing the same. Now it seemed that she was returning at least some of his feelings, just in time for her to have some of those same feelings for some other guy who still remained faceless in Owen's mind.

Why was it that they always seemed to be on two separate wavelengths? Why did they always move two steps forward in their relationship only to be knocked back five? Why couldn't the dance they were immersed in be a bit closer to a smooth waltz instead of a complicated tango?

Owen swallowed, wanting nothing more than to give into the desire to fulfill just one more fantasy. But he knew that going back down that path would be detrimental to the still shaky footing their friendship was standing on. And he knew that there was no way that either of them would survive the blow that would come when she irrevocably returned to Seattle. It was her home now, after all. No matter how much she wished it wasn't.

"Clare, you can't do this."

"What?" She looked up at him, her face stricken by his words. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"You can't blow through town, lay this at my feet and think that we can go back to how things are if we act on whatever feelings we're having." He swallowed again, the lump in his throat refusing to disappear. "We tried that once, remember? And it nearly killed me."

"I wasn't…I didn't…that wasn't what I was trying to do."

"So you weren't trying to use me to alleviate some of the guilt you've been carrying because you can't be around like you used to? And you weren't trying to use me to fill a certain void because you've been homesick?" Red seeped across her cheeks and her gaze became focused on her lap. "You don't know how much I wish I could be that guy again but let's face it. I'm not him anymore. I can't just spend the night with you and then act like it means nothing the next morning. I can't be the one who satisfies that temporary need and fills that empty space for a few hours until a better offer comes along."

He hadn't even realized that she had started crying until he saw her hand come up to swipe at her cheeks and he pulled her even closer to him. There was a great amount of guilt to be had for causing her tears—he had promised once to never be the one to make it happen—but he knew that everything he was saying had to be said despite the pain it caused to both of them.

"When we spend another night together, Edwards, it's going to be because we are both on the same page. It's not going to happen because I'm scared to let you go or because you're lonely and missing your old life. There won't be a Dimitri or some other person in the picture. When we sleep together again, it's going to be just us in each other's lives and it's going to be because we both want the same thing," Owen stated determinedly.

"Oh, yeah?" She raised her head to look at him. "And what exactly would that thing be?"

He hesitated slightly, knowing that the answer would bare his soul more than he had ever done before. "A future together," he finally answered. "It'll happen when we decide that the only thing we're ever going to want or need again is a future together."

To Be Continued…