“Always.” Elly stood and gave Kim’s shoulder a squeeze, and kissed Hadley lightly on his satin cheek. “I’m going to go and give you guys some family time.”
Kim nodded distractedly, unable to tear her eyes from her newborn son.
“I’ll call you later.” Elly ushered Sean to her chair. “Congrats, Daddy!”
Sean gave Elly a quick hug. “Thanks for coming.”
Outside the hospital, the air was crisp, and Elly’s breath lingered in front of her face. Her steps were light and buoyant, and she danced across the parking lot. The black night sky didn’t hold enough depth to contain her joy. Her happiness, however, rapidly gave way to exhaustion as she drove back to the shop.
Flicking on the neon lights, Elly let out an exaggerated groan. The shop was an absolute wreck. Stems and greenery covered the floor, inches thick in most places. The air reeked of decaying stems and wet moss, and Elly noticed a dead ranunculus hanging from the swirling ceiling fan. Geez, what happened here? She carefully stepped over overturned buckets, loose floral wire and chunks of green foam as she made her way to the back. Pushing a flower cart out of her path, she fought her way to the cooler door. The last thing she felt like doing was making an arrangement, but she knew she had to capture this intoxicating freedom. The cooler was full of sporadic leftovers from the wedding: smaller pink peonies, yellow tea roses, some exotic greenery, one cattalaya orchid, three fringe tulips. Elly gathered them quickly and laid them down on the design table, which was covered in greens. Reaching into her vase shelf, she pushed the other vases aside, feeling for a special vase in the very back. Elly’s fingers curled around it, and she pulled it out, sending a flurry of dust bunnies into the air.
It was a small antique vase with a gold leaf top and a narrow neck. Its porcelain molding was covered in the blue outline of clouds that hovered delicately above magenta water lilies. It had been her mother’s favorite vase. Normally, she didn’t have it out because the mere sight of it was enough to send her into weepy hysterics. Tonight, she felt different.
The lackadaisical arrangement fell beautifully into the open container, the tulips draping over the sides with dramatic flair. Elly waded her way to the front of the room and placed it on her desk – the only neat space in the studio at the moment. She smiled. It was simply wondrous. She made the decision right then that the vase would never leave her desk, that it was here to stay. She yawned, every fiber of her body aching and screaming for rest.
As she headed for the stairs, she noticed the back room light was still on. For the love, she thought and stomped over to the door, jerking it open. Her first instinct was to scream. Her second was to laugh. Snarky Teenager was pressed up against the shelves, her toned arms wrapped around a brown male head that was nuzzling her neck as his hands grabbed her waist passionately, her dress hiking up her thigh. She looked up at Elly with horror, and then gave a casual “I couldn’t help myself” shrug, followed by naughty smile. The mane of brown hair whipped around, and Elly recognized the handsome Russian student from this afternoon.
“Good evening, Ma’am” he said stoically, backing away from Snarky Teenager, who looked at him with playful eyes. Elly noticed she was holding a belt in her hand, which she was twirling around like a whip. She didn’t want to know.
Elly let out a sigh, feeling the weight of the day sink around her. “Try not to make this place even messier, okay? And be good.” She switched off the light and shut the door, muffled laughter and shrieks of delight following behind her.
At the top of the stairs, Elly noticed a familiar note on her door. With an exasperated eye roll, she ripped it off and opened it.
Elly, I’m so sorry about today. Please come over when you are done, Love, Isaac
She crumpled the note before letting it flutter facedown to the floor. Elly opened the door to her apartment and was covered in doggie kisses as Cadbury leapt joyfully into her arms. Burying her face in his soft fur, she headed into the bedroom. She kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed, her clothing still on, her shirt collar pressing uncomfortably against her neck. In the seconds before she was asleep, a faint smile flitted across her face. She felt the door in her heart open, and the dark smoke that had filled it was sucked out and replaced by cool, clean air. She could finally breathe. A deep peace swept over her, one she hadn’t know since those hot mornings in Georgia, with her mother humming hymns over her shoulder. Her last thought that followed her into the inky blackness was a small mix of sadness and relief that her and Aaron’s love story was finally over. Elly closed her eyes, and was wrapped in the gentle arms of unconsciousness.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO