“Please don’t hit anyone with a broom.”
Ardelle frowned. “I won’t. That was just ze one woman, and she – how do you say – deserved it? She was only a cleaning person, so technically, it didn’t count.” She walked into the back. Snarky Teenager pointed her finger at Elly and mouthed “RAISE.” Elly groaned and headed to her own design table.
There was a small area, maybe five feet across, that was Elly’s own space. All around her, flowers crowded every inch of room. It felt like being under a breathing canopy – roses, orchids and garden flowers basked in the sunlight. Bright mimosa hung down from above, alighting on their branch like tiny yellow fairies. The corners of the store were filled with different types of twisty branches – cedar, dogwood, and curly willow. Next to Elly on the counter were tall grey buckets, holding all the flowers for the bouquets: calla lilies, white and pink peonies (flown in at 4 am that morning), creamy ranunculus, and blown garden roses. Immediately to her left were fluttery white and pale pink fringe parrott tulips and a pile of loose cattalayas, brushed in the middle with a fuchsia stripe.
Elly stood in front of the table, trying to breathe calmly and enter into her own peaceful mind-set. I can do this, she told herself. I will design these flowers not as if they are for Aaron’s new bride, but rather just that it is the most important wedding of my career. I will be centered and focused when I design this, and I will be filled with love and beauty. She opened her eyes. It wasn’t working. “Forget it,” she huffed. “I’ll just make it as pretty as possible.”
She began with the bridesmaids’ bouquets, lush and full, filled with pale pink peonies, huge white garden roses, unabashedly showing their pollen to the world, and canary yellow orchids. Around each one, she wrapped tiny twigs covered with cherry blossoms, their bright pink in sharp contrast against the white buds. Dark green magnolia leaves rounded the bottom, filling in any tiny holes in the bouquet and giving it an air of drama. She topped each one with an antique lace wrap, accented by white pearls. The result was an ambrosial delight, a lavish garden you could hold in your hands. Elly had just completed the tenth bouquet when she heard the front door chime.
“Hey, babe,” said a deep male voice. Elly ducked behind a bucket of freesia. Isaac? Please no. She had still not overcome the embarrassment of him buying her lingerie. She peeked her head around the corner. Sean, Kim’s handsome husband, stood at the front of the store, one arm wrapped around Kim and the other around a pile of pizza boxes. It’s a shame he’s married, thought Elly, the man brings pizza. She emerged out of her flower jungle, arms wide open.
“Sean!” she cried, giving him a friendly hug, “Thanks for lunch! Kim, you have an amazing husband.” She opened the box and helped herself to a large slice of cheese, not bothering to get a plate. Unlike with Isaac, she had no problem eating like a caveman in front of Sean. Kim’s face glowed as Sean kissed her hand.
“How are you feeling today? Any contractions? Are your hips sore?” He looked accusingly at Elly. “I can’t believe you have her working today.”
Elly felt a flush rise up on her face. “I told her she didn’t have to…”
Kim scoffed. “If I left, this whole place would fall down. I’ve been fielding calls from vendors all day – did you know that the caterers aren’t planning on having the linens down until 2 pm?” she growled. “What’s wrong with people?” Elly grabbed her second slice of pizza and tucked a soda under her arm and headed back to her table.
“You’re ruining my design buzz. I’ll go tell the other ladies that lunch is here. Bye Sean, I owe you one.”
“You sure do.”
Elly snuck a look over her shoulder, and saw Sean give Kim a passionate kiss, one hand pressed against her very pregnant belly. She turned away and felt a familiar twinge in her heart.
The back room looked like someone had blown up a greenhouse. Stems and leaves were ankle deep, and Ardelle and Snarky Teenager were working furiously away, sticking white orchids into wet floral foam and making sure they fit into the candelabras. Ardelle’s normally pristine face was damp with sweat and she had some berries in her hair. Elly swallowed a laugh.
“Hey, Sean brought pizza and cold drinks.”
Snarky Teenager threw down an orchid. “THANK YOU,” she snapped and stalked out of the room.
Ardelle smiled simpering at Elly. “I’m surprised, the young madam is actually quite good. Not like me, not in ze ethereal sense, but she has some flair for design.”
Elly nodded, even though she had no idea what Ardelle was talking about. “Do you want some pizza? There’s plenty out there.”
“Pizza? For me? Do not insult me with your common food. I brought my own.” Ardelle pulled out a picnic basket – a basket! thought Elly – from under the table. She delicately unpacked several thin slices of cheese, a tiny handful of crackers, a single wineglass and a small bottle of wine.
Elly shifted uncomfortably. “Uh - is that alcohol?”
Ardelle poured, swirled, sniffed and took a long sip. “Of course. One cannot design without wine.”
Normally, Elly would have grabbed the bottle, thrown it in the trash and reprimanded a worker for drinking on the job, but today was not that day. She grabbed her coffee mug from the shelf. “Fill ’er up”.
Ardelle thoughtfully chewed on a piece of cheddar. “Your young worker told me all about zis wedding, your ex-husband and his lover? Such an interesting scandal for such a plain little shop.”
Elly leaned back against the door. “I can’t believe it myself. I’ve never been a scandalous type of woman.”
Ardelle drank deeply from her wineglass. Elly watched, impressed by her voracious guzzling.
“Every woman needs a scandal. It’s what lets us show zem our teeth.”
Elly smiled and leaned her head back. She could barely see the shop’s exposed beams through the white orchids, exploding from the tall gold candelabras.
“All this is really beautiful. Even though it’s the worst thing I could possibly imagine, it’s still beautiful.”
Ardelle brushed off her hands and tucked her ridiculous picnic basket under the counter. “When you work with beautiful things every day, it can be difficult to see real beauty.”
Elly squinted at Ardelle, surprised at the wisdom pouring forth from this boozy Parisian.
“Now, back to work in the squalor!” Ardelle announced. She looked over at Elly, annoyed. “I cannot work while someone watches me. It destroys all the the magic. One cannot look directly at ze sun.”
Elly headed back to her table. She made quick work of the personal flowers, wiring and taping doughy gardenias, pieces of petite dahlias and tea roses into small bundles, each secured with an antique gold brooch. There were fourteen additional corsages, made of white dendrobium orchids, and twenty boutonnieres for various groomsmen and fathers, all made with white mini-callas and canary mimosa. Snarky Teenager passed her on the way to the back, a slice of pizza hanging out of her mouth. She circled her finger around her temple. “CRAZY,” she announced. She disappeared behind the orchid curtain. Elly looked over the thick contract. Bridesmaids’ bouquets? She made a small check. Personal flowers? Check. Hair Pieces? Elly glanced into the cooler, double checking the pale pink peony she wired to a chocolate lace headband. Check - delicious perfection. She looked over the contract. There was nothing left on this list… except the bridal bouquet. Her heart thudded. Lucia’s bouquet. Lucia, walking down the aisle, looking up into Aaron’s adoring eyes. Lucia, bearing his children, being his wife. Lucia, cradling her husband with her naked body on Elly’s bed. Lucia, carrying this bouquet.
The cry flew from her throat before she could get a handle on herself. She quickly ducked behind the table and covered her mouth with her soil covered hands. She tried in vain to stifle her overwhelming and wrenching sobs, and sat shaking on the floor. It had been a few minutes when Kim crawled up next to her and quietly leaned her head against Elly’s shoulder. They sat for ten minutes in silence, Elly moaning unattractively with big, wet tears
rolling off her cheeks and nose, and Kim sitting solidly against her, not saying a word. There was no hair stroking, no hand-holding. She just simply sat. Elly let out her last long wail and then was silent. She sniffled and pushed her hair back. “Now that that’s done...” She pulled herself off the ground, pushing her shoulders against what felt like a rock, bearing its weight against her body. Kim smiled at her, touched her forehead against Elly’s shoulder and waddled back to the front. Elly turned to look at the back room and heard a quick shuffling of feet, as Snarky Teenager and Ardelle hurried to look busy.
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
The alarm sounded at 4:30 am, jerking Elly out of a dense, dreamless sleep. She felt as though she had been drugged. She showered slowly, letting the hot water drip over her throbbing back and legs. Elly dressed in silence, a pulse rising in the corner of her brain. She pulled on her long khaki pants and the black ruffled blouse that Anthony had purchased for her so she wouldn’t wear her normal pink delivery polo. Her golden curls were swept up into a loose ponytail – she couldn’t deal with hair in her face today. She gave Cadbury a quick nuzzle and headed into the studio, which was still a complete wreck.
When Elly had left yesterday, the floor was a sea of compost, and the chaos of a giant wedding evident in every corner, but they had all been too exhausted to clean. Today, amongst the chaos, the arrangements stood lined up at the front in stately rows, and the bouquets pulled out so that they would be fully opened. The back design table was covered with the ceremony arrangements. Everything was organized and ready to go, all within a disastrous mess. A wave of love swept through Elly as she looked at her employees standing among the flowers, breaking through the numbness that had overwhelmed her that morning.
“You guys…what have I done to deserve you?”
Kim handed her a hot chocolate. “Nothing. But you are paying us VERY well.”
Ardelle stuck her nose in the air. “She’s not paying me ZAT well. I am a one of a kind.”
Elly ignored her and took a sip. “Let’s run over today – does everyone have their notes?” Her team nodded.
Elly, Kim, Snarky Teenager and Ardelle sat at the consultation table, shoving aside candles and buckets of rose petals. Each had typed up detailed notes of their schedule for the day.
“Okay. Kim, tell me your schedule.”
“I wait here for the delivery drivers that are coming at 7 am. I tell them exactly what to load and where it goes, along with giving them a map to the hotel and a list of all our cell phone numbers. I then periodically check in with you via your cell to see if you need anything, or if any of the delivery drivers are not where they are supposed to be.”
“And?”
“And, I make any last-minute arrangements if they are needed.”
“Yes. Wonderful.” She turned to Snarky Teenager. “And you?”
She gave an exasperated sigh. “Do I have to go over it AGAIN?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I take all the personal flowers straight to the bride’s room. I set up the bouquets, making sure that I double check them with Lizette, who will be with Lucia all day.” Her face distorted when she said Lucia’s name. “I then pin all the groomsmen, the fathers, the ushers, the grandparents, aunt
s and moms. After that, I meet Elly in the Grand Ballroom to help with the reception set up.”
Elly nodded. “What else?”
Snarky Teenager groaned. “I watch Ardelle.”
“Yes. Ardelle, you know what you are doing?”
Ardelle ran her French manicure over the table. “Oui. I do whatever she,” she gestured flippantly to Snarky Teenager, “tells me to do. Also, I fix any arrangements zat might encounter travel damage.” Ardelle sat primly at the table, her lavender scarf tied in a giant bow around her neck.
“And what do we we not do?”
Ardelle winked at Elly. “We do not hit anyone with brooms. But I might trip people if zey get in my way.”
Elly waved a hand at her. “That’s fine. Just no brooms. We’re all set, yes?”
There was a deafening silence.
“You have to tell us your schedule,” Kim said gravely.
“Right.” Elly took a deep breath. “I stay here to help Kim load all the delivery vans and direct the drivers, who will then unload everything for us. I then drive over and set up the ceremony in the hotel courtyard. Isaac is meeting me there and helping me.” She smiled at the thought of his cheerful face. “After that is done – and I imagine it will take at least two hours – I will decorate the reception venue, and will be joined by the other two. We will all ride back together. If all goes perfectly, we should finish setting up the reception right before the ceremony begins.”
Ardelle started to say something.
Snarky Teenager shushed her. “No crazy today.”
Ardelle stopped, and Elly stood up. “Are we all ready?” She sounded much more confident than she felt.
Kim held up a finger. “Wait. We aren’t saying what needs to be said.” Everyone’s eyes were riveted to her. “Don’t forget; under NO circumstances is Elly to see either Aaron or Lucia. Do you both understand that? Elly is setting up the ceremony and some of the reception alone – easily the biggest job of the day.”
“Isaac will be there,” Elly interjected.