Elly folded the note and pressed it against her heart. It was good to have a reminder of her reasons for doing this as she gazed at the intimidating pile of ceremony décor. She greedily gulped the lemonade down and got to work.
It had been an hour and a half before she took a five minute break. Flushed with sweat, Elly stood back proudly to look at her work in progress. The back of the ceremony site had been transformed from an outdoor living space into an elegant utopia of orchids, branches and dripping urns of flowers. The fire pits had been filled with beeswax candles and pale pink peonies and lined with gold votives. Each bamboo chair had been draped with a satin chocolate brown ribbon and covered with a cascade of gardenias and tulips in different shades of white, from diamond to a creamy ivory. Blown garden roses and gladiolus lined the aisle, making a heavenly path to the altar area. At the front, two gigantic urns overflowed with antique hydrangeas and hanging Dutch tulips, giving the courtyard a whimsical effect as they blew slightly in the wind. She was only half done.
Her hands were covered in charcoal as she flipped open her phone and dialed Isaac for the ninth time in the last hour. It went straight to his voice-mail. Again.
“Hey, it’s Isaac, give me some love! If this is a booking for Everest Oppressed, press one, everyone else, press two. Leave a message or do whatever your soul compels you to do!”
Elly rolled her eyes. Her soul was compelling her at the moment to be pissed off. “Hey, it’s me. I was just wondering if you got lost, or if you were confused about the time…I can’t wait to see you and…” She paused, trying to keep the edge out of her voice, “I could really use the help.”
She hung up the phone with irritation and looked at the monstrous job before her. She began gathering thick manzinita branches into large bunches and placing them in their respective urns. In a large black bucket, she soaked her light green floral foam until it guzzled up the water, turning it a hunter green and giving it the consistency of a sponge. She shoved the heavy foam into the urns to secure the branches in place, and covered the foam with a thick, green moss. She stood up and brushed off her face. One down, five to go. She felt like crying. She plunged the second bunch of foam into the water, enjoying the cool splash rising up to her elbows. Her phone vibrated against her thigh. She snapped it opened, annoyed.
“Isaac? Where are you?!”
She heard Isaac chuckle and murmur to someone in the background. “Hey baby! I’m so sorry that I didn’t get back to you sooner. You will never guess what happened this morning!”
Elly felt her fingernails pressing into her palm. “What?”
“Stanley from Gemini Records called, and he needs an opening band for Valentine’s Marine on Sunday night and they asked us! Isn’t that SWEET?”
Elly pushed the phone closer to ear. “Yes, that’s great, but WHY AREN’T YOU HERE?”
She heard Isaac’s joyful mood go somber. “Well babe, we have to practice if we are going to be opening for them on Sunday night! The whole band is here – Tifah made veggie lasagna, it’s so awesome…”
“Isaac!” Elly heard her voice on the edge of tears. “I told you that I needed you here with me today! I am setting up this ceremony site all by myself, and it’s taking forever because I thought I would have an extra hand today.” She choked. “Not to mention I wanted you here to take my mind off the fact that this is Aaron’s wedding!” Elly hissed the last words.
Isaac was silent. “Babe…who is Aaron?”
“Forget it. And don’t call me babe,” Elly snapped, a wide surge of anger pouring out of her. “I depended on you today. I never ask anything of you! I do everything you want me to do. I go to your shows and sit through your four hour practices with your stupid band!” She took a deep breath and starting yelling. “I cook for you, and I take you out to dinner, and I just asked this one little thing of you, and you couldn’t even do it. Do you even care that this is the most important moment of my year? That this could mean everything for my business? Not only that, but that my emotional well-being is dangling from a thread?”
Isaac inhaled sharply. The background noise had vanished, and Elly was sure that everyone in the room with him was now party to their conversation. His voice changed when he spoke again. Now, it sounded like a pleading child, rather than a grown man.
“Don’t be mad at me. Are you breaking up with me? You can’t. Elly, you’re my muse.”
Elly was bewildered. He truly was taken aback by her anger. “I’m not breaking up with you, but I’m…” She took a deep breath and looked up at the impassive job still before her. “I’m overwhelmed and exhausted and I can’t fight about this right now. I have more work to do then you could possibly imagine.”
Isaac’s voice wavered. “I love you, Elly. I told you that. I’m sorry. Do you want me to come there right now?” He paused. “Do you really think my band is stupid?”
Yes.