Meets to talk about the affair, ultimately (7)
I believe the answer is:
gathers
'meets' is the definition.
('gather' can be a synonym of 'meet')
'talk about the affair ultimately' is the wordplay.
'talk' becomes 'gas' (gas can mean to chat).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'ultimately' suggests the final letters.
The final letter of 'affair' is 'r'.
'the'+'r'='ther'
'gas' going around 'ther' is 'GATHERS'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for gathers that I've seen before include "Draws together" , "Assembles" , "Harvests" , "Gleans" , "Understands" .)