Anthony gave a guilty shrug. “She bribed me with a J. Crew shirt! I had to tell her.”
Elly took a deep breath, and addressed her staff and Kim who was packing up her purse. “I don’t want anyone to focus on another store right now. This could be a very important day for our business, and I want us all to have tunnel vision. Anthony, make sure you meander around and look like you are doing very important things.” He burst out laughing. “You laugh, but I’m completely serious.” She turned to Snarky Teenager. “And what do you do?”
“I stay in the back until they are ready to go, and then I bring out their custom arrangements.”
“That’s right, just like Vanna White.”
“I don’t even know who that is.”
Elly straightened up and looked in the mirror behind her desk. “I feel like I need one of those petits fours right now.”
“No,” echoed three voices.
With chic short brown hair and a surprisingly small mouth, Gemma Reynolds somehow looked exactly like what Elly had pictured in her mind. Dressed from head to toe in black, with tight, high-waisted black pants, a fitted black military jacket, and a plunging black collared shirt, Gemma looked like an assassin. She strolled in, exuding the kind of confidence that Elly could only dream of having. Elly immediately felt insecure in the presence of this alpha female and then cursed herself for doing so. Two nameless male drones followed her in, both dressed in gray suits and carrying briefcases. One of them had a camera around his neck. Elly watched them as they parked in the street and looked up at her store with blank stares. Gemma leaned toward one of the men and pointed at something on the building. Elly saw her mouth the word “old.” She felt like crawling under the table and becoming a large mound covered with rose petals. Her stomach clenched as she tried to steel her nerves. You have been in much worse situations than this, she thought. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. It’s no big deal. An opposing voice answered back, It is a big deal. Don’t screw it up. You spent a lot of money on these flippin’ rose petals.
“Pssssssttt!”
Elly whipped her head around to see Snarky Teenager leaning out from behind the black curtain in the back. “Smile!” she hissed. “Suck in!” And so Elly did.
As Gemma opened the door, she gave a fabulously unhindered intake of breath. Pink petals churned around her ankles and blew into the store. Elly stood by the table, which radiated elegance.
“Wow,” breathed the photographer. “Wow. Wow.” He raised his camera and started taking rapid-fire pictures. After a minute, he lowered the camera and smiled at Elly. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Ever.” He began looking at the photos he had just taken.
Gemma took off her sunglasses, revealing a stern but beautiful face. She reminded Elly of a prize-winning horse. Gemma harshly reprimanded her photographer, “You can’t talk to her. Just take the pictures.” She forced a smile onto her frozen lips. “Hello, Elly, I’m Gemma Reynolds. We spoke on the phone, remember?”
Elly cringed. “Yes, yes, I remember. I always check my phone now to make sure it’s hung up. Ha, ha.” Oh my gosh, what was she talking about?
“I’m glad. That was certainly unfortunate.” Gemma spoke every word with short, clipped pronunciation. Un-for-tu-nate. Her British accent made everything sound a little bit sharp. Elly wanted to be her. “Well, I have to say that these rose petals certainly make an, er, overwhelming visual.” She turned her nose in the air. “And overwhelming smell.”
The photographer looked around the store again. “Gemma, this is incredible! I mean, we’ve seen some amazing things in the two years we’ve been doing BlissBride, but….”
Gemma held up a hand and the man fell silent. Silence, minion. “Yes, yes, it’s very impressive. We should begin the interview. Our next one begins in forty minutes across town.”
Elly gestured to the table. “Please, sit.”
Wading awkwardly through the petals, Gemma sat staunchly, her posture rigid. She pulled a clipboard out of her suitcase and loudly clicked the pen. “So, Elly, we’ll start with some basic questions. First, why do you want to be on BlissBride?”
Elly took a deep breath and gave her rehearsed answer. “Well, I believe that our little store, one that offers brides the utmost in personalized and intricate design, would be best suited for BlissBride. Our service is based on custom design, and we have over three hundred happy brides who would testify to the fact that our bouquets are not only exactly what they asked for, but they’re absolutely breathtaking. Also, because we are such a custom florist, we will have the liberty to put our entire focus on this wedding and nothing else.”
Gemma nodded and jotted down a few notes. “Very good, although I must say it seems a bit rehearsed.”
Elly bit her lip.