Reed's Reckoning

Ari and Sophie join us, and the conversation turns to wedding planning. Shit! This could go either way. When I tell her, she may be pissed or excited.

“Do you have a date in mind?” Sophie asks.

“I’m thinking—”

“Labor Day weekend.” I interrupt and answer for her.

All heads swing to me and Luke falls back in the sand howling.

“Smooth, Matthews. Thought you had this thing in the bag. Did you forget to tell her?”

“Shut up, dickhead. I was preoccupied. If you were doing what I was doing, talking wouldn’t be on your mind either.” I throw a shell at Luke’s head.

Ari’s staring at me in shock and confusion.

“Angel, I forgot to tell you. We’re getting married in five weeks.”

Her expression changes to disbelief. “We can’t! There is no way I can plan a wedding in five weeks—I don’t even want to! These things take months.”

“Not ours. Five weeks.”

“Are you insane? It’s impossible unless you want to get married at the courthouse.”

“Not happening. Only problem is we can only have about twenty guests at the actual wedding.”

I see it dawns on Ari what I’m talking about and her jaw drops. “You didn’t,” she whispers.

“I did and booked the place for the reception.”

“Hello! Did what? Some of us don’t understand Reed speak.” Sophie waves her hands in the air dramatically.

“Arianna has always wanted to get married in the little chapel on Cumberland Island. I reserved it for us the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It’s the only weekend I can do it because of the season and I am not waiting until possibly February to get married.”

“I can’t believe you remembered.” Ari says.

“Of course I remembered.”

“That’s possibly the sweetest thing you’ve ever done for me.” I can tell she is getting emotional so I go to her.

I lean down over her chair and kiss her forehead quickly before grabbing her chin and catching her gaze. “Nothing I wouldn’t do for you. We’ll do a small ceremony and then a huge party at the Ritz Carlton. The arrangements are already in place. Tomorrow we’ll get an invitation list together.”

She nods and surprises me by throwing her arms around my neck and pulling me all the way down on her. She peppers kisses all over my face, squealing . Sophie and Davis jump around sharing in the excitement.

I notice she is not wearing her ring. “Baby, where the hell is your ring?”

“I left it in the house because I didn’t want to get it dirty.”

“I’ll let it slide today, but never, ever take that ring off your finger. Until I can get you down the aisle and make it legal, that ring is the one guarantee I have you’re going to marry me.”

“Reed, nothing will stop me from marrying you.”

I don’t care there is a beach full of people and everyone can see. I capture her mouth with mine and kiss her deeply until there are whistles around us.

Chapter 29

Ari

Stay strong Ari! This is your decision. I try my best not to cry as I pack up my office. Only my assistant and Phillip know what is going on so people have been stopping by all morning to question me. At first my co-workers congratulate me but then move to the subject of why I’m cleaning out my office. I’ve been vague but stuck to the story that I will be working remotely for a while.

“You ready, Ari?” Phillip asks from my doorway nervously.

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

I follow him to the conference room where Mr. Moore and his associate are waiting for us. When he sees me, he stands and glares.

“Phillip, what the hell is this woman doing here? I told you last Friday how I felt about her and what she has done to my daughter.”

“Mr. Moore, Arianna will only be here a few minutes.”

Phillip motions for me to sit down. I stare at the two men across the table and pray I can get my answers and get out of here.

“Mr. Moore, why did you bring your portfolio to our bank?” I ask politely.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” He answers snidely.

“There are many options, and it seems like a huge coincidence that you would bring millions of dollars to the one bank I work at, especially since you live two hours away. I would like to know what made you choose us.”

“Not that it’s any of your business but I did it as a favor to Alex. She mentioned her friend Sarah was climbing her way up the financial ladder and since I had some money I could get my hands on, I brought it here. Obviously I had no idea who you were and now that I know, my money and me are leaving.”

I look at Phillip and he is pale but urges me with a slight nod to continue.

“Mr. Moore, as of today I will be on a leave of absence from the bank for personal reasons. I will turn in all my bank materials and will be removed from the IT system so there is no way I have access to any accounts or activity. Phillip and I met and discussed the conflict of interest I have being actively employed until you can remove your money. Unfortunately, we made some financial investments that are locked in for ninety days so while you can walk away with a majority of your initial sum, there is still money floating. Lucky for you, I am damn good at my job and made some decisions that have worked out quite well. You will most likely see a twenty-five percent return on your investment at the end of the ninety days.”