“El, those are hot.” He grinned naughtily.
She looked back at the canvas. “Aaron, your work is beautiful. I like this new figure here. Maybe you can integrate her with this line, as if they are connected by the stem.”
Aaron’s beautiful face contorted with thought lines. “Hmmm…I could see that. Yeah, I think that might work.” He pushed Elly off his lap. “As for today, I think I’ll probably be locked in the studio, maybe get some more inspiration at the library. I love the old texts and pictures in the Renaissance section.”
“Such a romantic time period,” sighed Elly, “Big dresses, love letters, suitors…”
“You don’t need a suitor, you have me.”
“Then where are my love letters?”
Aaron ran his fingers across her cheek. “Maybe I’ll paint you one.”
Elly grabbed her thermos and threw her plate into the sink. “My favorite kind. Okay, I’m off to work. I love you – have I told you that today?”
Aaron opened the fridge and peered inside. “I don’t think so, but it never gets old.”
“Well, I love you.”
“You too. I’ll call you later.”
Elly headed to the foyer.
“Wait!” Aaron ran up beside her, adorable in a wrinkled t-shirt and flannel pants. He looked nervous as he grabbed her hands. “I don’t deserve you, you know? You’re a marvelous wife, and I’m just a bum who lives with you.”
Elly took his stubbly cheeks in her hand. “Nonsense. You are Aaron Schuster, the most talented painter in Georgia. Your work speaks to women, to everyone. It spoke to me. It made me fall in love with you.” She kissed him again. “I’m going to work. If I stay another minute, I’ll be forced to call in sick.”
Aaron straightened up quickly. “I suppose you must,” he said dramatically. Call me when you are on your way home – I think I want to cook dinner tonight. How does minestrone sound?”
“Incredible.” Elly closed the door behind her.
After her fifteen-minute drive to work, winding past both antebellum mansions and trailer parks, Elly entered the office, her thermos of hot chocolate in hand. She had barely settled at her desk when Jeff came around the corner with a mischievous smile on his face.
“You’ll never guess what I have in mind for you today.”
Elly sighed. “I can only imagine.”
“You finished the notes on the Magellan meeting, correct?”
Elly nodded as she organized her desk. “Done and emailed.”
“Fantastic. Here’s what I need: I was thinking that when I was in the service 30 years ago, there was this nurse. She helped me when my leg was shattered. And I would like to send her a gift basket, preferably with exotic fruit of some sort. So, if you could track her down and get a gift basket sent, that would be great.”
Elly suppressed the need to roll her eyes. “I’ll need more information than that Jeff,” she explained patiently.
“Oh, of course, of course. Uh, she had brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.”
And with that, he shut himself back into his office, where Elly knew he would be playing online poker and watching ESPN. She settled herself into her chair, smiled at the picture of her, Aaron and her mother on her wedding day, and then set about finding a woman with brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.
Around 11:00, her desk phone rang.
“Jeff Burhope’s office,” she answered.
“Elly?”
Elly smiled and spun her chair around. “Cassie! Hey! I am so excited to see you today. I miss you! And I am seriously ready for some wine and crab cakes. You would not believe what I have been doing this morning.”
There was a long pause on the line.
“Cassie?”
Elly heard her friend inhale deeply. “I can’t make it today. I’m so sorry. I was really looking forward to it! Maddy has the flu, and I hate to make the babysitter clean up after that. Eight bucks an hour isn’t enough to clean up Exorcist-level puking.”
Elly felt a twinge of disappointment. “That’s okay, Cassie, I understand. Just promise that we will get together next week sometime.”
“We will. I miss you and I have this amazing new teal blouse that needs to be taken out on the town.”
“Okay, well, I better get back to Jeff’s new obsession.”