“Well, I should let you get to your feast,” he said jokingly.
“Oh yeah, it was a long day, so I thought a special treat would be nice…” What is the next lie you will tell him, she wondered? That you work out every day and really love soy milk?
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around. It was, er, nice to meet you,” he offered.
Elly was now trying to yank the wontons away from Cadbury, who was growling at her and batting her hands with his paws. She stood up and resumed sucking in.
“Yes. It was nice to meet you too. I will see you around. I own the shop downstairs – Posies. You should stop in for some free flowers sometime.”
Isaac rocked back on his feet, hands in pockets. “Maybe I will.”
“Okay.”
He put out his large hand. Elly wrapped her fingers around his coarse ones. Twisting tendrils of electricity snaked up her wrist. Her hand was moist. She pulled it away as he turned to go.
“It was really, really nice to meet you, Elly. Enjoy your dinner.”
Slowly she shut the door and then leaned against it. “Cadbury,” she breathed. “Did that just happen?”
Cadbury didn’t look up from his wontons.
“Wow.”
Elly reached up and felt her face. It was boiling, awash in pleasure and excitement. She took a deep breath and slid down the wall. How long had it been since she felt this way? This rush, this joy, coursing through her body, driving her to quick thoughts of future bliss. The last time…Elly’s joy abruptly dissolved. The last time she felt this joy was with Aaron. The deep abyss in her mind slowly opened: a small fissure on calm ground. She took a deep breath and let the painful memory wash over her, remembering the first time she had met Aaron Schuster.
In Georgia, Elly had worked for a large company, Global Trekking, which provided insurance for large shipping companies overseas. She had worked her way up the ladder until she was the Executive Secretary for the president, Jeff Burhope, and spent most of her days running his errands, typing his documents and dealing with things way beyond her job description. On that particular Tuesday, Jeff had dialed her extension, as he did hundreds of times a day.
“Elly, love, are you busy right now?”
Elly glanced at the piles of papers on her desk. Yes, I am always busy, you ass, she thought, but instead she said, “Nope, I’m not. What do you need?”
“I need some artwork for my billiards room. Today. Something with women in it, you know, a little bit naked, but not too much. My wife will see them. Thanks.”
Elly sighed loudly as she hung up the phone. Her “errands” for Mr. Burhope were always of the ridiculous nature, like finding exotic chocolates that he tasted once in Asia, or calling his wife to request his favorite dinner (Beef Butt Roast with BBQ sauce), or stocking up on foot crème for his weird toes. She was less Executive Secretary than Personal Assistant. She had spent a good portion of that morning noting highlights from his favorite blogs. Per his request that fateful day, Elly had packed her bags and headed out to a local gallery to find some pictures of women who were a little naked.
The gallery was light, starkly clean and full of art Elly did not understand – a red line splashed on a white canvas here, a giant phallic cucumber statue there. It was overwhelming. There were also some beautiful pictures of flowers on the wall. Up close they were messy and had an air of amateurism, but they were bright and vibrant and captured the essence of flowers…Elly’s favorite things. The more she studied the pictures, the more she realized she was looking at erotic flowers. Twisted throughout the flower was the shape of women, naked – through the stems, the petals, the bloom. Oh my goodness. She blushed.
“Do you know what you are looking at?” asked a deep voice behind her.
She turned around and smiled. Aaron stood before her. He was tall, with dark blond hair that drifted below his strong cheek bone. He had soft green eyes, dotted with tiny gold flecks. He was wearing thin, well-worn jeans and a long-sleeved maroon shirt. Elly found herself instantly swept away.
“No, what am I looking at?”
“You…are looking at my latest collection, which highlights the female body within the realms of nature.”
“Oh…that’s…” Elly told herself not to sounds stupid. “That’s very… thought-provoking.”
Aaron smirked at her. “You don’t know a lot about art, do you?”