Left at the Alter

“And we out here looking for forever homes in case we make it and I’m over here with a whole teenage crush on some guy.”

“Girl wedding bells must be on the horizon. I wouldn’t sweat that little shit with Jeremy. That’s a little crush because you don’t connect with a lot of people and you connected with him. Now your brain is trying to figure out what it means.”

“Girl! What the hell does it mean?”

“Not a damn thing. It means you set him straight and if he behaves yall can remain friends and if he can’t well yall…”

“Can’t” I finished for her as she put her finger to her lips to signal me to shut mine. I did as I was instructed and squeezed my eyes shut while she misted my face with her setting spray. I would look like a million bucks all night thanks to my girl. Eli had this dinner planned for months and with everything going on we barely got the opportunity to get away and I missed him tremendously. 

---

Eli and I were  hanging out at the bar. I told him how earlier that day I received a notification stating that our number one pick of homes was no longer available. 

“You said you wanted to stop looking for homes.”

“Yes, but damn that one was perfect.” 

Eli had agreed with me as we both loved everything about the home. The long windy driveway, the wrap around porch and the pond in the backyard were just a few of the things that drew us in. The first thing we would do would be to extend the deck to get just a little closer to the pond, to build me a deck like the one we had on our first getaway. We pulled up the ‘homes you might like instead’ and got sucked into real estate all over again. We were having so much fun scrolling and talking that I forgot we were actually waiting to be seated for dinner. Tomko, as he introduced himself, came to whisk us to our table. We walked past plenty of what appeared to be clean and ready to go tables. A few of them sat two people and would have been perfect for us but he continued past all of them. As we neared an exit, I began to get an ill feeling. I slowed my pace as I noticed Elijah was lingering behind me. 

                   “Where the hell do you think he is taking us?” I whispered to him anxious to see how far in the back we were going to have to sit and hoping we weren’t seated anywhere near the restroom. 

                   “Right, all those empty tables would have been fine.” He stated but his eyes never strayed from the path the waiter was going.

                   When we reached the door, I knew he had to be kidding. He turned his back to the door and I turned to look at Elijah clearly confused. 

                   “You are about to experience a rare form of indulging in cuisine. This room was made for an exceptional dining experience. You have to be ready before I open this door.” You could tell through his smile that he enjoyed his job. 

                   Again, I looked at Elijah before asking “Are there people in there?”

                   It was hard to gauge how big the room was from the outside. But now that I was paying attention there were other doors like it on some of the other walls in the restaurant. It is a dimly lit restaurant, so it is easy to miss them. 

                   “There are just a few other people in here.” he stood with his back to the door, facing us with his gloved hands behind his back. “There are privacy walls though.” 

                   “Ok. Uh, Eli are you ready?”

                   “Up to you love.” 

                   “I am ready.” I said uneasily, but a little excited. I had never dined at a place like this. It had a sort of mystery to it that I liked. 

                   Tomko opened the door and it was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. It was more like a short hall than a room. It was lined with mirrored walls that lead to a table. There were candles that lit the way to a short table on the floor surrounded by the plushest purple and creme pillows I had ever seen. The reflection of them flickering was so beautiful I had to take a picture before we sat down. I turned to ask Elijah to hand me my phone and he paused.

                   “Take a solo picture of me.” He said, handing me my phone. 

                   “Ok,” I said. I fumbled with my phone to get the flash on. I took one of him standing by one of the mirrors posing goofily. He made me laugh and I snapped a couple more. 

                   “Tomko will you take a few photos of us?” Elijah asked.

                   “Absolutely, sir.” he replied taking the camera from Eli’s hand. We did a few couple’s poses and then Eli asked him if we could begin. He seemed to be speaking more to Tomko than to me. 

                   “A few more pics babe.” he told me. 

                   “On the pillows.” I suggested, but he shook his head and held up a finger as if to tell me to wait. I didn’t like that, but I waited anyway, and Elijah told me to turn around towards the table. I did as I was told and watched Tomko take a solo picture of me from behind. I watched as he came around in between me and the table and snapped another picture. 

                   “Can we open up the room some?” Elijah asked. 

                   “Certainly sir.” 

                   He kept the camera in his hand as he walked to the back mirrored wall and moved the lever on what appeared to be a switch to dim the lights. The room darkened, at first, as the mirrors that were reflecting the lights of the candles disappeared. Right before the total disappearance, other lights came into focus. There were people behind the mirrors holding up their phones, the flashlight glowing bright. This caught me so off guard I wasn’t paying attention to what Elijah was doing. I was seeing who all had joined us. When I noticed my daddy amongst the guests, I knew then what was happening. I gave myself a pat on the back in my head knowing that this night would be heavily documented, and I was serving in this black dress and these strappy heels. Torre gave me a thumbs up when I looker her way, and I knew it was about the dress. I blew her a kiss. Abigail and her husband stood beside Anna and Jeremy. Despite everyone’s eyes being on me it took an act of congress to unlock my eyes from his. He was magnetic. He wasn’t smiling but didn’t look upset, was just… there. He kept a straight face and then gave me a smirk and a shrug. I nodded. I turned to find Elijah exactly where I knew that he would be.