Elly In Bloom (30 page)

“You have a gorgeous man that wants to ravish you and run his hands through your hair. You don’t think that’s the boost you need before going into the meeting with Lucia?” Kim fiddled with the radio, before she rested her hand on her belly, exclaiming sharply. “Wow, she is kicking a lot today! Anyway, I’ve never been completely convinced that you belong with Isaac. There is something about him that doesn’t sit quite right with me. But I think tonight his ridiculous guitar strumming and lame poetry is exactly the tonic you need.”

“I hope you didn’t imply that there would be wild adventures under the covers tonight. I’m not sure I can fight him off again. He was like an animal last time,” Elly pointed out, a laugh light on her tongue. “Like a crazy, bohemian animal.”

A light mist had crept across the windshield by the time Kim pulled her Lexus up to the curb in front of Posies. She patted Elly’s hand lightly. “Go enjoy yourself a little. There are tough times a-coming.”

A wave of gratitude and affection washed over Elly as she climbed out the car.

“Thank you Kim. I’m not sure how to say just how thankful I am for you.”

Kim smiled at her. “Reel it in. No need to be emotional,” she said in her best Kita imitation, then, softly, “And you’re welcome.”

The black SUV roared away. Elly looked up to her apartment, where she could see lights glowing through the wavy glass. Isaac had let himself in. She smiled and headed upstairs.

At the door, she took out her keys and unsure of what to do next - knocked.
Weird,
she thought,
you’re so weird
. Isaac yanked it open, chopsticks and a wine glass in his other hand.

“Hey beautiful, I ordered – Whoa.” He grabbed her hand and twirled her around. “Elly.” He started to let out a string of compliments and then stopped abruptly, a flush running up his cheeks. “You take my breath away.” Violently, he swung Elly into his arms, chopsticks pressing into her back and caressed her mouth with his lips. Elly kept her eyes open, watching raw passion rush over him like a flame.
Make me forget
, she thought,
take me away from my own thoughts
. She let her eyes close softly, surrendering to this perfect and adoring distraction.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

Elly had always felt that the best mornings started with the best breakfasts. This is why, on the day of the dreaded consultation, she began the day with homemade raspberry and brown sugar oatmeal. She followed this with a shot of vodka. The studio, which Elly had immaculately cleaned the day before, was empty save for the single table in the middle of the room. She went to the cooler and started pulling for the arrangement that would sit on the table during the meeting.
Hmm,
she thought
, what says “you wrecked my life?”
A crackled vase, broken, like her. Blood red roses, symbolic of Lucia’s fiery hair, along with dusty miller to frame the outside of the arrangement like creepy intrusive fingers. Fuchsia nerine lilies added a bright splash of betrayal, and vibrant yellow costus French kisses added a distorted, misshapen feeling to the vase. She topped it all with dark brown branches, their decaying berries adding a tart, sickly smell. She placed it in the middle of the table, and laid down the contract, with three sharpened pencils on the side of it.

Snarky Teenager came in the front door, unlocking it and then flipping the sign to open. She stopped when she saw the flowers on the table. “That is the ugliest arrangement I’ve ever seen. Did you make that blindfolded?”

Elly smiled grimly. “It was how I was feeling.”

“Yikes,” breathed Snarky Teenager, hanging her black trench coat on the coat rack. Her white lace sweater dress barely covered her upper thighs, and there was nothing between that and her heeled brown leather boots. For once, Elly was glad for her near-nudity - perhaps Lucia would be threatened by this younger and more vibrant woman. Snarky Teenager burped loudly and took a large sip of tea.
Not likely
, Elly thought.

There had been massive preparations for today. Four chairs sat at the table. Elly had placed both Sunny and Snarky Teenager between her and Lucia, hopefully allowing her as little contact as possible and putting Lucia well out of punching range. Snarky Teenager was to do most of the talking, under the guise that she was undergoing training for final consultations. Elly was hoping to do as little conversing as possible, and she was going to attempt to direct most, if not all, of her questions to Sunny. The consultation was to last no more than an hour, and Elly had called Sunny that morning and informed her that they had another meeting beginning at noon. There was no water or cookies on the table, no cute cards or favors. This was business, and Elly wanted to get it done. She looked at the clock. 10:30. They would be arriving in a half hour. Her adrenaline pumped wildly, and her stomach writhed like a wild animal.

That morning she had forced herself to cry, hoping that it would get out any tears that threatened to fall during the consultation. Facing herself in the mirror, eying the haircut that looked much better when Kita did it, Elly told herself that no matter what, she would not lose control of the consultation. That was key. She had to maintain the control, both over her emotions and over Lucia
. I can do this
, she told herself, standing in front of the store
. I have control
.

Snarky Teenager’s voice boomed across the store. “Oh. My. GOD! Is that a hickey?” She pranced up to Elly, pulling at her collar. “No way, that is
totally
a hickey.”

Elly looked at her, wide-eyed. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no.” She raced over to the small mirror next to her desk. Sure enough, just above her clavicle was a large dark mark. She closed her eyes and saw Isaac nuzzling deep into her neck, his hand clutching the curve of her hip. He was an incredible kisser, and even though nothing truly intimate had happened, Elly had lingered on every breath and caress.

Snarky Teenager stood behind her and poked her long finger against the hickey. “Are you going to cover it up?”

Elly smiled. “No, I don’t think so.”

“That’s not very classy, considering Sunny will be here.”

Elly fell violently out of her daydream. “Sunny. Yes, that’s right. I probably should cover it up.”

She ran up the stairs to her apartment, pushing Cadbury back from the door with her foot. Her heart hammered nervously in her chest.

“Hi, good boy, Mommy needs a turtleneck.”

Cadbury let out an overblown sigh and went back to sleep in front of the door. Elly clawed at her closet. Where was it? She knew she had a flattering black turtleneck in here somewhere! Racing to her laundry basket, she dumped the entire thing upside down, sending clothing and underwear flying all over the floor.

“There it is!” she cried, picking it up and shaking it out. She smelled it. Not great; a faint odor of cheese clung to the fabric, but it wasn’t
too
offensive. She pulled it on over head, sending her hair up in a frizzy wave.

“Crap!” she yelped, trying frantically to push it back into place. Oh, why couldn’t it look the way it did when Kita did it? Curse that beautiful Ukrainian! Her hair was worse than ever. She heard Snarky Teenager’s frantic voice call up the stairs, “Elly! Their car just pulled up!!”
This can’t be happening...

Elly ran to her window that overlooked the front of the store. Sunny climbed out gently from the driver’s side of an elegant blue Lincoln Continental. The passenger door opened slowly, and Lucia, the woman who filled her waking nightmares, climbed out of the car. Her deep red hair cascaded over her shoulders, which were covered by a grey shawl. Lacy black leggings and tall, dark green designer boots covered long, lithe legs, and her delicate hands carried a knit tote, worn from years of use and covered with patches. Without a doubt, this was the woman who had been in her bed that day.

A white hot rage filled Elly, and she clutched the windowsill, wrestling with the fury of wrath consuming her.
You took him, you took him!
one half of her mind screamed in a frenzy, while the other whimpered quietly back,
you are in control, stay in control
. Elly felt hot tears burning her eyes as her emotions whirled and rampaged within her. Just when she felt the jealously had won, as she let herself drown in pity, Elly felt something wet on her hand and looked down to see Cadbury looking expectantly at her as he licked her palm. It shook her back to reality, giving her the chance to breathe. She placed her hand gingerly on Cadbury’s head and rooted to the ground.

“I’m okay. For now.”

Outside, Lucia tossed her thick mane behind her shoulder as she opened the door to the store. Elly walked to the stairs, and took them one at a time, savoring each step.

“God help me,” she whispered, and she turned the corner that led into the back room of the shop. There was a moment, a beat of silence and Elly stepped out of the shadows.

“Hello, Sunny.”

Lucia looked up from her BlackBerry. Her eyes widened and she stepped backwards. Once, twice, and then again, until she stumbled over a basket of wedding books. Her pointed petal mouth opened and Elly heard Lucia inhale sharply. She dropped her BlackBerry onto the floor, and Elly noted with delight that she was obviously taken aback. Her emerald green eyes reflected a storm of wild confusion. It was
delicious.
Elly shook hands with Sunny, each tiny controlled movement a conscious decision.

“Sunny, I’m so glad you could make it. This must be your daughter. I’ve heard so much about her.”

In a flash, Lucia seemed to recover, twisting her neck menacingly and making her eyes slits of seething arrogance. She took a bold step toward Elly. “Yes mother, this must be the florist that you’ve talked about so many times. I don’t believe you ever mentioned her name.”

Elly winced at her voice, digging her nails into the palm of her hand.

“It’s Elly, right?” Lucia raised her eyebrow sarcastically. “What is your last name?”

It was Schuster,
thought Elly
, until you stole him from me.

Snarky Teenager strode up beside Elly, taking her arm gently. “It’s Jordan, as you could see from the sign on the door.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Elly felt a surge of strength flowing from Snarky Teenager’s arm into hers.

“Why don’t we all sit down and get some these details ironed out?” she offered.

Elly sat down in front of the contract, picking up the pencil and trying not to show her shaking hands to Lucia. Snarky Teenager sat on her left and Sunny on her right. Lucia seated herself across from Elly, forcing Elly to look directly into her infuriatingly magnetic face. Her red lip curled in a sneer as she glowered.

“Mom, I can’t stay too long. Aaron is waiting at the hotel and then we have a lingerie fitting.”

HOW DARE YOU SAY HIS NAME
, Elly screamed inside her head.

Sunny looked over at Lucia, “We don’t need to rush this. I want to make sure that you have everything you want.”

Lucia burrowed her eyes into Elly’s chest, causing her heart to compress. “I always get everything I want.”

“That’s good honey, we know,” Sunny absentmindedly patted her hand.

Elly was having a hard time breathing and passed the contract over to Snarky Teenager. “My assistant is learning to do final consultations, so I’m going to let her take over from here, with my supervision.”

Snarky Teenager tapped her pencil against the contract. “Okay, so first we have the bride’s bouquet. We are using a variety of blown garden flowers in shades of white and pink with fringe parrot tulips and flowering cherry blossoms…”

Lucia interrupted her. “White? Are we really going with that patriarchal symbolism for the flowers? The color white says to me, ‘old fashioned’ or ‘matronly’ – don’t you think?”

Snarky Teenager looked up from her paper. “It also says classy, so probably that wouldn’t be the best choice. Perhaps bright red roses?”

Elly interjected before Sunny could catch on. “White is classic and traditional. The white we will be using will be the pinnacle of elegance, and since your colors are white, pink, gold and a hint of pale yellow, it would be the ultimate compliment to the rest of the wedding. It’s refined. But we can change it for a...” Elly shot a precise glance in Lucia’s direction, “
looser
look.”

Sunny leaned over and rested her hand on Lucia’s. “You don’t like white dear? I had thought that we agreed on the color scheme, but if you don’t like it, we can change it.”