Kim shrieked. “Are you kidding me!? This is about money?”
Elly hung her head. “Maybe. But it’s mostly about reclaiming myself. Kim, I need you to trust me. I will not have my heart held captive by Aaron Schuster forever.” She looked right into Kim’s sea glass eyes. “I have thought this through. I talked to Keith about it for hours yesterday.” Elly couldn’t be sure, but she thought she glimpsed a wink of pleasure in Kim’s eyes when she said Keith’s name. “This isn’t a rash decision. It’s not something I decided because I felt guilty. I was all for declining the wedding yesterday. But I’ve thought it through - I need to do this. And yes, the money is almost too good to refuse.” They stared back at her. “Fine. I’ll give you each a $500 bonus for doing the wedding.”
“SOLD!” said Anthony, banging his hand like a gavel. Snarky Teenager gave her a thumbs-up and headed to the back room to get started on the day’s designing, followed by Anthony, who was looking at color swatches.
Kim and Elly sat alone. Elly ran her hands over her now cool hot chocolate. She looked pensively at Kim. “I can’t do this without you. I need you to support this decision.”
Kim lay back in her seat and rested her hand on her swollen apple belly. “So what’s the next step?”
Elly could have kissed her with relief. “In two days, I have the final consultation scheduled with Sunny and Lucia. I actually think that will be the hardest part. I don’t know if I’ll be able to be in a room with her.” Elly stood and tossed her cup into the trash, as Kim waddled over to the cooler and helped herself to some Blue River delphinium and pale pink lisanthus.
“Don’t take all the lisanthus; I’m pairing it later with some black magic roses,” Elly instructed.
Kim stood back and looked at her arrangement. “I miss designing so much.” She plunked her arrangement sadly into a petite glass vase ringed with pink dots. Brushing her hands on her black lace maternity shirt, she sat down at the table. “Well, I guess if you’re meeting with Lucia in two days, then we have a lot of work to do.”
This caught Elly off guard. “What do I need to do? I already showed everything to Sunny, so we don’t need another centerpiece or table trial. We’re just supposed to run over the contract with the bride.” Elly forced herself to say the woman’s name, a hot liquid on her tongue.
“Lucia. I need to run over the contract with Lucia.” She paused, proud of herself for being so mature. “THAT WHORE!” she yelled, kicking a trash can and sending stems all over the floor.
Kim raised her hands defensively and backed away from Elly. “Yeah, okay. See, that’s what I was talking about. We have a lot of work to do.”
Elly shrugged her shoulders with exasperation. “I’m not at peace with this. I’ve made the decision to do this wedding, but I can’t change that I’m not over him completely.”
Kim smiled at her coyly. “No, you can’t. But you can pretend that you are.”
The swivel chair seemed barely strong enough to hold Elly, as the hairstylist swung her around to face the mirror. Kita looked to be about 18 years old and fresh off the boat from some Eastern European nation that bred supermodels. She had black spiky hair, a nose ring, lush dark eyelashes and a tattoo of a wolf fighting an eagle. Her harsh beauty made Elly feel uncomfortable. Kim had brought her to Krasa, an elite salon in Ladue. Every surface and wall was white, and the place had the feeling of a stylish mental institution. All the stylists wore black and each station had a single orchid on the table. There were no magazines, no couches, no waiting area. Bizarre piano melodies were pumped out of loud speakers set inside the walls. Isaac would like this crazy music, thought Elly affectionately. She was surprised by the warm feelings coursing through her at the thought of his name.
Kita lifted Elly’s glasses off her face and pushed her hair back, peering closely at Elly’s puffy eyes. “You want her to look younger, yes?”
“Yes,” Kim piped in. “In two days she is meeting with the woman who stole her husband.” Kita clicked her tongue.
“I have stolen many husbands in my day, but their wives were all happy to let me take them.” She winked at Elly. “But some were better than others.”
Her red lips quivered next to her ear. This crazy girl is going to lick me, thought Elly. Kita straightened her back and stretched her arms above her head, pulling up her black t-shirt so that Elly was able to glimpse a perfect stomach, complete with a pink rhinestone belly ring.
“Here is what Kita will do for you,” she announced as she leaned backward against the mirror. “Kita can tame unruly curls into gorgeous tendrils. Your coloring is awful, unsophisticated and bland. I will lighten the hair to a wheat blond, with strawberry gold and butterscotch highlights.”
“Am I getting a sundae or a hair cut?” joked Elly.