Anthony winked at her. “Yeah, but you two are destined for forever. I can tell these things.”
Elly felt heat rise up to her cheeks. “I hope so,” she murmured before she could catch herself. Shaking her head, she grabbed the contract from the front seat. “Enough of that talk. Okay, we need to put out the centerpieces, then decorate the high chair,” she gave a loud groan, “put the flowers on the buffet table, and decorate the cake.” She glanced over at the monstrous, three-tiered cake that towered over the tables. “Yikes. Okay, we’ll do that last. You got it?”
Anthony gave a nod as he carried the centerpieces toward the tables. “You got it, boss.” Then he started humming “Going to the Chapel.”
Elly rolled her eyes. Kids, huh? Maybe…. She started imagining a pair of toddler twins, their midnight-blue eyes a mirror of Keith’s….
“Um, florist?”
She turned. It was Brad, the super hip Dad in his white polo and dark-teal cargo shorts. She gave him the dazzling Elly grin. “It’s Elly, actually.”
He grimaced. “I’m so sorry. That was rude, to call you florist. I just wanted to say thank you for doing this—the flowers look amazing.”
Elly pulled the long buffet-table arrangement out of the back of her van, fuchsia bleeding hearts lightly brushing her cheeks. “Well, thank you so much. It has been a pleasure. Your daughter is very cute.”
He shielded his eyes from the sun. “Sorry about my wife. She can be … a little difficult. She’s been prepping for this party for months.”
Elly gave a nonchalant shrug, as if every client let their child pull her hair. “Planning events can be super stressful. I absolutely understand.”
“Can I help you?” he asked. This was a surprise. Over the years, clients had done a lot of kind things, but they never offered to help carry. She brushed awkwardly past Brad. “Nope, we’ve got it. But thank you. You should go enjoy the party!”
“No problem.” Brad wandered off in the direction of his wife, who was snapping her fingers at the catering team, who were all dressed in safari gear. Delicately placing the explosion of buffet flowers in between the cheese and kabob platter, Elly spent a few minutes straightening its loose stems, slyly sticking a broken yellow mum into her apron pocket. She stepped back and took in the entire party. With the centerpieces up (Anthony was a quick worker despite his age), the party had turned from a ho-hum backyard into a pink-and-yellow jungle. Orchids, their tiny lips trembling on thin branches, stretched their arms up to the bright-blue sky. Teenagers dressed as jungle animals prowled around, flirting with each other in a scene that was surreal and disturbing. Genevieve, seated under the bright-pink awning, gave a happy cry as her mother attempted to wrestle zebra-striped shoes onto her tiny feet. From across the backyard, Anthony pointed to the cake. Elly trotted back to the van, grabbed the bucket of loose flowers and headed over to the cake, which sat a few feet away from Genevieve and Victoria.
Victoria smiled as Elly approached. “It all looks so beautiful. Thank you so much. You don’t think it’s too much, do you?”
Elly shook her head. “Nope. It looks like just enough.”
Across the yard, a teenager dressed like a lion let out a roar and tackled his buddy, who was dressed like a crocodile. No, she thought quietly, it’s not too much.
“Are you going to decorate the cake?”
Elly put down her bucket in front of the cake table. “Yup.” She stepped back to take it in. The cake was giant, its design an elaborate combination of fondant animals intertwined with sugar flowers. Elephants, monkeys, and seals stood on blown-open peonies, hippos danced above pale-green viburnum, and a crafty-looking snake circled an innocent nerine lily. This cake was well over a thousand dollars, judging by the sugar flowers. She didn’t want to touch it.
“So do you just, like, put the flowers on? Do you use glue or….”
Elly tried to ignore Victoria as she figured out where to put the flowers. A couple at the top, maybe a few on the sides….
“So, you’re just going to stick them in?”
Elly gave a single nod.
“Do you think that Ginny could do it?”
She was unable to control her confusion. She turned to Victoria. “Um, I’m sorry, what?”
“I was just wondering if Ginny could do it. You know, for the memories. And the pictures.”
For the first time in a long time, Elly was speechless. She peered at Victoria. “Uh, I mean, I guess she could … but this cake is really expensive.” She corrected herself. “Expensive-looking.”
Victoria shrugged. “I’m sure you could fix it if anything went wrong.”
Elly bit her lip. A bead of sweat dripped down the front of her chest. “I could try, but I’m not a cake designer….” She decided to go with honesty. “Honestly, I wouldn’t risk it. She could pull down the whole cake.”