“Of course,” I said.
“Plants respond more readily to care and attention than people do. As a teacher, I felt like I was boring the kids. Why do questions make you anxious?” he said.
“They don’t,” I said.
“They seem like they do,” he said.
“I’m an open book,” I said. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.”
“What did you study in college?” he said.
“Political science and Spanish literature,” I said.
He looked at me and he gave a small nod. “Now that makes sense.”
“I’m glad you approve. To be clear, even if it’s not what I thought I’d do, I like planning weddings,” I said. “I like the ceremony. And people invite you into their lives on what they believe to be the most important day. It’s a privilege.” This was my spiel.
“You know everyone’s secrets,” he said.
“I know a few,” I said.
“You might be the most powerful person in town.”
“That’s Mrs. Morgan,” I said.
“What did you think you’d do?” Schiele asked.
“I thought I’d go into public service, government, politics,” I said. “I briefly did.”
“You didn’t have the stomach for it?”
“I loved it,” I said. “But then I had Ruby, and I needed to reinvent myself. What did you study?”
“Botany,” he said. “You probably guessed that. Why Spanish literature?”
“Because where I grew up, it was useful to be fluent in Spanish if you wanted to work in politics,” I said. “I had high school Spanish already, so I thought I could get more out of studying literature. But honestly, I made the decision pretty impulsively, in about two minutes. It was my junior year. The clock was ticking, and I had to choose something.”
“Tell me something from Spanish literature,” Schiele said.
“I’ll give you a line from my favorite novel. ‘Los seres humanos no nacen para siempre el día en que sus madres los alumbran, sino que la vida los obliga a parirse a sí mismos una y otra vez.’ ”
“I like that,” he said. “What does it mean?”
The door chimed, and Mrs. Morgan walked into the restaurant like she owned the place, which, in point of fact, she did. Mrs. Morgan had just turned seventy. She was outspoken in the way of the very rich. In addition to the restaurant, she owned half the town and the newspaper. Mrs. Morgan and I were in the middle of planning a benefit to restore the statue of Captain Allison in Market Square.
“Jane,” she said, stopping at our table, “I was planning to call you, but as long as I have you here, any word on the yacht club? And Mr. Schiele, how is your lovely wife, Mia?”
Mrs. Morgan sat down at the table. She signaled the waiter and ordered a glass of red.
“Very well,” Schiele said.
“Do you know Schiele’s wife?” Mrs. Morgan asked me.
“I don’t,” I said.
“She’s a ballet dancer,” Mrs. Morgan said.
“She’s retired now,” Schiele said.
“Well, still. What a thing to have a talent like that,” Mrs. Morgan said. “Excuse me, Mr. Schiele. How rude of me. Were you two about done? I have a few things to discuss with Jane about our little benefit.”
Schiele stood. “It’s fine,” he said. “Jane, I’ll give you a call.”
THAT NIGHT, SCHIELE did indeed call me. “We got cut off there,” he said.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “Mrs. Morgan doesn’t understand that the universe won’t always bend to her will. Was there something else you needed?”
“The thing is, I like you,” he said.
“And I, you,” I said. “You’re the most exacting florist I know.”
“Come on, Jane. What I’m saying is I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said. “You must have noticed.”
“Well, you’re going to have to stop thinking of me,” I said. “I don’t date much, and I definitely don’t date married men.”
“I feel like you think I’m a scumbag,” he said. “You should know that the marriage has been over for some time. It’s been bad for some time.”
“It’s good that you know that. It takes real courage to recognize when you’re unhappy,” I said. “I’m glad you called, though. Franny wants to know if we can get a discount on the pots if we order them separately from the orchids.”
“I’ll price it out,” he said. “Can I give you a call back in a couple of days?”
“Why don’t you e-mail me?” I said. “Good-bye, Schiele.”
I really had liked him. Something I have learned, though, is that even a bad marriage isn’t to be trifled with.
My grandmother was married for fifty-two years, until my grandfather died. She used to say that a bad marriage was one that hadn’t had enough time to get good again. And not to put too fine a point on it, but since Schiele was a florist, I will tell you that there have been times when I thought my “pedestrian” orchid would never bloom again, when it looked dead as dead can be. I think of a time when Ruby and I went to San Francisco on vacation, and I left it on the radiator, and every last leaf fell off. I watered it for a year, and first a root, and then a leaf, and maybe two years later, voila! Flowers again. And that’s what I know about marriages and orchids. They’re both harder to kill than you think. And that’s why I love my grocery store orchid and I don’t do married men.
SIX
Franny and I were touring yet another hotel ballroom when she said, “They’re starting to blend together. I think I like this one better than the last one, but I’m not sure.”
“It’s more a feeling. What does it make you feel?” I was saying words, but I was barely paying attention. I was thinking of Ruby. I had gotten a call from Ruby’s school. She had locked herself in a girl’s bathroom stall and was refusing to come out. As soon as we were done here and I had dropped Franny off at her house, I was going down to the school to see who I needed to kill.
Franny’s gaze moved from the slightly dingy floral carpet to the mirrored walls. “I don’t know,” she said. “Nothing? Sad? What should it make me feel?”
“Well, you have to imagine it filled up,” I said. “Imagine it with the orchids and the Christmas lights and the tulle. Imagine your friends and family and . . .” What was the instinct in kids that when they encountered another kid who was different or weaker, they pounced on it? Was it some vestigial survival instinct from a time when resources were scarce?
“What?” she said.
“No, that was all,” I said.
Franny nodded. “I think I’d like to maybe see some other options, if that’s all right.”
“Honestly, we can keep looking, but unless you want to go in another direction entirely, like not a hotel ballroom at all, you’ve pretty much seen what this area has to offer in terms of ballrooms. They’re empty rooms, Franny.” I snuck a glance at the clock on my phone. I wanted to get to Ruby’s school before lunch started.
“Which one would you choose?”