Wiping her swollen eyes, Elly hurried over to the stereo, put in her favorite CD and let the soothing music wash over her. She picked up the contract and looked over the details of the bridal bouquet.
“Just get through it,” she said out loud, and instantly regretted it, hearing snickers in the back. She smiled in spite of herself. She was Elly Jordan, the owner of the most popular florist in St. Louis, and she wasn’t going to let some red-haired homewrecker ruin her life…again. And she may not be a lanky supermodel, but she had pride and talent, and a hot piece of tail waiting for her in the apartment next door. Isaac, Keith, Aaron…the images started swimming around her mind, touching lightly her last hold on sanity. She stomped her foot. NO. Not today - I will not think of them today. She consciously cleared her mind and grabbed what would be the foundations of the bouquet.
Lucia’s bouquet was to be a large cascade – an architectural waterfall that poured from her clutched hands. She began with the white ranunculus, pulling the tiny petals open with gloved fingers and blowing on them delicately to billow them out like silky clouds. Round and flushed white garden roses were followed by the exquisite and expensive cattalaya orchids and then topped with fringed parrot tulips, full hussies, their pale eyelashes kissing the edges of the other flowers. The palest pink tissue sweet pea topped off the bouquet, adding an air of innocence. Tucked deep into the bouquet were tiny lily of the valley stems, secreting their intoxicating and tart scent. And just like that, three hours later, she was done.
Stepping back, she examined the bouquet. It was the most beautiful arrangement she had ever created, for the woman who destroyed everything she had. She took a deep, restorative breath, suppressing the urge to tear the entire thing apart with her teeth.
Kim came around the corner. “How is –?” She stopped dead at the site of the bouquet. “Oh, Elly. That is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s…heartbreaking.”
Her wording couldn’t have been more correct. Dripping and gorgeous, the bouquet conveyed a sense of deep loss, and it knowingly spoke of the betrayal of a lover. Elly had mixed herself into the pillows of flowers, intermingling in the whites and creamy pinks. It was her greatest work and just looking at it pulled bright pangs of pain straight into her chest.
Kim carefully took the bouquet from her hands and put it into the cooler. “Have you started on the reception bouquet yet?”
Elly leaned her forehead against the table. Her spine felt twisted around, her hands were cracked with dryness and her legs quivered in exhaustion. “I don’t think I can do another bouquet for Lucia. I’m done.”
Kim nodded and took the contract from Elly. “I’ll give it to Ardelle. Take a little break, okay?”
Elly took a large swig of water and, wiping the sweat from her brow, peered out at her lovely store, a mirage of leaves and flowers.
“What’s next?” she asked.
Kim glanced over her shoulder. “The ceremony décor.”
Elly’s mouth dropped open. That was a massive undertaking. “Why did I take this wedding again?”
Kim waved her hand. “Hell if I know. Oh right, because you can pay off your apartment.”
For the next six hours of designing, Elly gritted her teeth, muttering “Apartment. Apartment, Apartment…”
It was ten minutes to midnight when Elly wearily climbed the stairs to her apartment. Her body screamed with every step. She leaned heavily on the stair rail, trying to protect herself from the exhaustion that threatened to take over at any minute, one that would leave her sleeping on the stairs like a hobo. Elly didn’t bother turning on her lights when she got inside. Methodically, she poured herself a glass of milk, petted and fed Cadbury and wrapped herself in pajamas, a sweatshirt and a thick fleece blanket. The oddly silent sheepdog at her side, Elly made her way to the roof, curling against him on her soft terra cotta couch. Minutes ticked slowly by, as stars crept through the sky, their bright light reflected in Elly’s glass. She was struck, in this quiet moment, by just how alone she truly was. At the end of the day tomorrow, it would still be her, and the wedding would be over. Aaron and Lucia would be married, and Elly would be back here, staring at a dark and howling November sky. The empty part of her heart – the one that Aaron had cut out of her - would still be a vast and ugly scar. Her apartment would be paid off, but when she looked at the walls, she would know the price she paid…that having her heart broken twice was the cost of financial independence.
Cadbury’s soft breath heaved against her chest as her whispered prayers disappeared in the wide sky. Something that felt like an iron determination rose up inside her. It would have been exhilarating if it hadn’t been wrapped so thickly in sadness.
Tomorrow was Aaron’s wedding.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX