Sunny pushed her chair out from under her and pulled on her gloves. “Thank you again Elly,” she said warmly. Elly motioned to Snarky Teenager, who ran to the cooler, grabbing a vase of explosive pink heather. She handed it to Sunny.
“This is for you, Sunny, for coming in to work with me today. I appreciate it.”
Sunny purred at the vase. “This is beautiful - perfect for my bedside table. Thank you.”
As she turned to walk out the door, Elly remembered one last thing.
“Sunny! Would you like us to do table numbers for you? They’re the pretty little cards with numbers. I have some extras laying around here, and if you want we can nestle them among the flowers…”
Sunny snapped her fingers. “I knew I forgot something! No dear, actually, my daughter’s fiancée is an artist, and we will be using his small prints for the table numbers. I brought one to show you.”
Elly reached out her hand and took the small card. Before she even saw it fully, she knew it was his. The bright splashes of color, the texture, the women woven in between the flowers. This particular work of his was called “Evening Ghosts,” for the grey shades that surrounded the petals. The whole painting looked like it was dripping water. Long smears cascaded down the canvas, pooling a swirl of colors at the bottom of the print. She heard muted voices around her, and felt Sunny’s hand grip her shoulder. Everything swayed in front of her, and Elly felt her knees melting. Her vision tunneled and she thought a single word: Aaron. Her head hit the ground first, but not before she felt her heart break all over again.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
– Two Years Ago
It had been an ordinary Wednesday morning in Peachtree, Georgia. At 6:15, Elly’s alarm went off, blaring loudly. She groaned and buried herself deeper in the covers. Soon she felt Aaron’s warm fingers close on her soft hip and his breath on her ear.
“Honey, you need to get up. Turn off the alarm,” he murmured.
Elly flung her arm out of the covers and found the snooze button. She wiggled her body around so that she was facing him.
“I don’t want to go work. Let’s stay in bed all day.”
Aaron kissed her. “I would like that. Of course, we would probably be homeless. But, as long as we had a mattress in our cardboard box, and maybe some granola bars we would be okay.”
Elly ran her fingers through his thick dirty blond hair. “I could live on sex and granola bars, but I’m not sure you could live without your painting supplies,” she pointed out.
Aaron sighed. “True. But then you would get to stay in bed longer this morning. Maybe long enough…” He flipped her over and Elly screamed with laughter.
Thirty minutes and a bit of a workout later, Elly whipped a brush through her curly hair and pushed it back with a headband. She headed down to her kitchen – her favorite room in the house. Aaron had painted the walls a bright and happy red, with his signature flowers along the baseboard. Yellow Georgia light blazed through floor to ceiling windows, and Elly’s bountiful garden peeked in from outside. She kissed her finger and touched the picture of her mother on the fridge. Miss you, Momma. She pulled the door open and gathered eggs, cheese and red peppers to make breakfast omelets. As delicious smells drifted up the kitchen, Aaron padded down the stairs fresh from his morning cigarette.
“Mornin’ beautiful,” he said as he dropped into his chair.
“What are you up to today?”
“Not much. I’m sure that Jeff will have me run thankless errands for random items all day. After that, I’m meeting Cassie for lunch at Hopkins. That will be really nice - I miss her. Plus, they have those amazing crab cakes.”
“Those are delicious,” he agreed. He patted his belly. “I would know.”
“Yeah right,” Elly slid an omelet onto his plate. “You never gain weight, no matter what you eat.”
“It’s a gift,” he said, taking a long sip of the coffee Elly placed in front of him next to his steaming omelet.
“What are you doing today? Are you still working on Evening Ghosts?” she asked.
“I think so. I just can’t seem to get the left corner perfect.” He tapped the side of his head. “I know it’s lurking somewhere in here. Let me get some feedback from you.”
Aaron ran up the stairs quickly and came back carrying his canvas. He pulled Elly onto his lap while she ate her omelet and kissed the side of her neck.
“Now look at this. Do you see here how the lines don’t meet up, but rather curve here? It is becoming arcane, no? I wanted it to be sensual, but it seems cold….perhaps if I had a model…”
His hand crept up her shirt.
“NO MORE!” she cried, standing up. “You already had your fun this morning. I’m beginning to think that we have more sex than any married couple I’ve ever met. Also, I’m dressed for work. Like my new shoes?”
Elly lifted a red heel. Aaron loved sexy shoes, and while Elly much preferred flip flops, she loved the way Aaron looked at her when she wore the uncomfortable things.