“What fountain?”
Snarky Teenager shook her head as she continued to climb up the ladder. “Trust me, it’s going to be beautiful. We need to create an atmosphere of beauty and Zen.”
“Well, I am not feeling very Zen right now as I look at an invoice for five-hundred-dollar koi fish,” growled Elly.
Kim scampered past Elly, swooping Hadley up in the air near her face. “Look at the lights!” she cooed. “Don’t freak out, Elly,” she warned, looking backwards. “You promised a fun day of pizza and Japanese-style decorating.”
“We’re having pizza?” replied Snarky Teenager. “So many calories.”
Elly walked over to the new desk that Keith had brought in for them this morning and picked up her clipboard, letting out a moan as she gazed at her to-do list. It was still about eighteen items long. Glancing around the store, Elly couldn’t believe the transformation that had already taken place. Under Snarky Teenager’s talented direction, the store was radically different than the starkly barren space it had been before. The sterile white walls had been painted over with a vibrant lime-green paint, accented by one plum and gray accent wall. Light bamboo shelves lined one entire wall, and in the corner, a huge kentia palm stretched its leafy arms toward the ceiling. A round mahogany desk sat in the very center of the room, which made the entire store center around its clean lines and impressive shape. Elly admired the desk from a distance. It was lovely—rich and cherry colored, with tiny striations in the wood. She had had her eye on this desk for months for Posies, but once she had decided to open this store, she knew it was a much better fit here than it was in her cute little antique-y shop. She was still admiring it when Snarky Teenager placed a giant gold Buddha on it.
Elly paused. “Um, what the heck is that?”
Snarky Teenager looked at it. “It’s a Buddha.”
“I know what, or who, it is. Why is it in this store? Or better yet, why is it on my new desk?”
“Because it looks great there, that’s why. This adds to the atmosphere.”
Elly looked over at Kim, who curled her lip and quickly shook her head before placing a wet raspberry on Hadley’s soft cheek. He screamed in delight. Elly turned back to her upstart employee. “That’s ostentatious. No. It’s not going there. Besides, no one in this room is Buddhist.”
“I’m pan-religious,” declared Snarky Teenager.
“Well I’m mono-Baptist,” replied Elly, “and I’m pretty sure that it’s insulting to real Buddhists that we are using their deity for decor.”
Snarky Teenager’s eyes clouded over with anger. “Well, I like it. It goes with the feeling of the store, and the koi fish and the bamboo. We want this store to feel like a spa, not like a tent revival.”
“Not having a Buddha hardly makes this store feel like a revival.”
Snarky Teenager stomped her foot angrily.
Pick your battles, Elly silently reminded herself. “Fine. You can keep it, but put it in the corner.”
“Nobody puts Buddha in the corner,” mumbled Kim before she and Elly burst into giggles.
Snarky Teenager rolled her eyes at them. “I don’t get your old-people jokes.” They laughed at her all through lunch.
As the afternoon light crept through the office windows, the hours flew by and the shop was really taking shape. Kim, still looking fresh in her pink paisley summer dress and gladiator sandals, cradled Hadley lovingly in her arms. She handed him to Elly. “I’m going to get a coffee. Want a hot chocolate?”
“You know me so well,” Elly replied. “If Hadley and I are gone when you get back, no worries, I just stole your baby.”
Kim gave a tired grin. “I might let you keep him.”
“Liar.”
Kim planted a kiss on his head and walked out. Elly, ever so careful, carried him over to the desk on her hip, sinking down into an old computer chair. “Hi, munchkin,” she mouthed, running her fingers over his face. Hadley grabbed at her hand, making cooing sounds. His impossibly bright sea-glass eyes stared back at her, and his chubby cheeks flushed pink when she blew on them. “This is the most gorgeous baby ever,” she announced.