“There it is!” she cried, picking it up and shaking it out. She smelled it. Not great; a faint odor of cheese clung to the fabric, but it wasn’t too offensive. She pulled it on over head, sending her hair up in a frizzy wave.
“Crap!” she yelped, trying frantically to push it back into place. Oh, why couldn’t it look the way it did when Kita did it? Curse that beautiful Ukrainian! Her hair was worse than ever. She heard Snarky Teenager’s frantic voice call up the stairs, “Elly! Their car just pulled up!!” This can’t be happening...
Elly ran to her window that overlooked the front of the store. Sunny climbed out gently from the driver’s side of an elegant blue Lincoln Continental. The passenger door opened slowly, and Lucia, the woman who filled her waking nightmares, climbed out of the car. Her deep red hair cascaded over her shoulders, which were covered by a grey shawl. Lacy black leggings and tall, dark green designer boots covered long, lithe legs, and her delicate hands carried a knit tote, worn from years of use and covered with patches. Without a doubt, this was the woman who had been in her bed that day.
A white hot rage filled Elly, and she clutched the windowsill, wrestling with the fury of wrath consuming her. You took him, you took him! one half of her mind screamed in a frenzy, while the other whimpered quietly back, you are in control, stay in control. Elly felt hot tears burning her eyes as her emotions whirled and rampaged within her. Just when she felt the jealously had won, as she let herself drown in pity, Elly felt something wet on her hand and looked down to see Cadbury looking expectantly at her as he licked her palm. It shook her back to reality, giving her the chance to breathe. She placed her hand gingerly on Cadbury’s head and rooted to the ground.
“I’m okay. For now.”
Outside, Lucia tossed her thick mane behind her shoulder as she opened the door to the store. Elly walked to the stairs, and took them one at a time, savoring each step.
“God help me,” she whispered, and she turned the corner that led into the back room of the shop. There was a moment, a beat of silence and Elly stepped out of the shadows.
“Hello, Sunny.”
Lucia looked up from her BlackBerry. Her eyes widened and she stepped backwards. Once, twice, and then again, until she stumbled over a basket of wedding books. Her pointed petal mouth opened and Elly heard Lucia inhale sharply. She dropped her BlackBerry onto the floor, and Elly noted with delight that she was obviously taken aback. Her emerald green eyes reflected a storm of wild confusion. It was delicious. Elly shook hands with Sunny, each tiny controlled movement a conscious decision.
“Sunny, I’m so glad you could make it. This must be your daughter. I’ve heard so much about her.”
In a flash, Lucia seemed to recover, twisting her neck menacingly and making her eyes slits of seething arrogance. She took a bold step toward Elly. “Yes mother, this must be the florist that you’ve talked about so many times. I don’t believe you ever mentioned her name.”
Elly winced at her voice, digging her nails into the palm of her hand.
“It’s Elly, right?” Lucia raised her eyebrow sarcastically. “What is your last name?”
It was Schuster, thought Elly, until you stole him from me.
Snarky Teenager strode up beside Elly, taking her arm gently. “It’s Jordan, as you could see from the sign on the door.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Elly felt a surge of strength flowing from Snarky Teenager’s arm into hers.
“Why don’t we all sit down and get some these details ironed out?” she offered.
Elly sat down in front of the contract, picking up the pencil and trying not to show her shaking hands to Lucia. Snarky Teenager sat on her left and Sunny on her right. Lucia seated herself across from Elly, forcing Elly to look directly into her infuriatingly magnetic face. Her red lip curled in a sneer as she glowered.
“Mom, I can’t stay too long. Aaron is waiting at the hotel and then we have a lingerie fitting.”
HOW DARE YOU SAY HIS NAME, Elly screamed inside her head.
Sunny looked over at Lucia, “We don’t need to rush this. I want to make sure that you have everything you want.”
Lucia burrowed her eyes into Elly’s chest, causing her heart to compress. “I always get everything I want.”
“That’s good honey, we know,” Sunny absentmindedly patted her hand.
Elly was having a hard time breathing and passed the contract over to Snarky Teenager. “My assistant is learning to do final consultations, so I’m going to let her take over from here, with my supervision.”
Snarky Teenager tapped her pencil against the contract. “Okay, so first we have the bride’s bouquet. We are using a variety of blown garden flowers in shades of white and pink with fringe parrot tulips and flowering cherry blossoms…”
Lucia interrupted her. “White? Are we really going with that patriarchal symbolism for the flowers? The color white says to me, ‘old fashioned’ or ‘matronly’ – don’t you think?”