“The store is one hundred percent not going to be called Red Zen.”
Snarky Teenager gave a huff as she winged her tea into the nearest trash can. “Whatever.”
Elly sighed. “You need to quit saying ‘whatever.’ It’s very juvenile and you can’t say stuff like that to clients and expect them to take you seriously.”
Snarky Teenager gestured to Elly like she was a queen. “I can sound respectable if I so desire. I just don’t really care about what I sound like in front of you. I mean, your pants have a tea stain on them, how seriously will they take you?” With an eye roll, she moved her gigantic aviator sunglasses to the top of her head.
Where do you even get sunglasses like that? Elly wondered as she tried in vain to get the stain off her khaki Bermuda shorts. Snarky Teenager walked toward the office building, her long blond ponytail swaying wildly with each step, heels clicking loudly on the gray granite. She looked chic and confident, someone totally at ease in the business district. She looked like money. Elly tucked a blond curl into her bobby pin, knowing that she did not look like money. She looked like someone who ate pastries. Well, looking like money and being able to make money were two different things and she was pretty sure that Snarky Teenager didn’t know the difference.
Elly looked down at her clipboard, suddenly aware of just how frumpy it was to be holding a clipboard. “The landlord’s name is Zachary—he should be here any minute.” They headed inside the steel and glass building through a complicated revolving door. The center of the lobby was taken up by a vast, two-story rock waterfall. Rising out of the water were bronze sculptures of men emerging from suitcases holding lotus flowers. Water poured out from their hands, mingling with the low plants and white rocks that piled lazily around their ankles.
“Wow,” breathed Snarky Teenager, without a hint of irony. “I love this.”
“Pretty impressive,” mumbled Elly, “if you’re into that fountain thing.”
They sat down at a tiny table across from a Starbucks. “I could get used to this.” Snarky Teenager smiled.
The trickling sound of the fountain lulled Elly into peaceful nothingness.
“So, how’s your brother?”
She opened her eyes and saw Snarky Teenager peering down at her, her thick lashes split wide in honest curiosity. “Um … he’s, you know, new.” Elly had talked to Dennis twice since that horrible night in the shop. Both times on the phone had been clipped and awkward. Keith had checked on him daily at the Holiday Inn Express, and both times, Dennis had cracked the door open, mumbled that he was fine but wanted to sleep, taken the food from Keith, and slammed the door in his face. At the end of her patience, Elly had the front desk deliver him a handwritten note saying that she wanted to see him as soon as she could. Finally, Dennis had called and agreed to meet Elly for dinner tonight. She had woken up full of anxiety, her heart hammering in her chest.
“I can’t wait to meet him.” Snarky Teenager gave a dazzling smile. “I have always dreamed of meeting a male version of you.” Elly rolled her eyes.
“Are you Elly?” A male voice boomed through the lobby. Zachary, it turned out, was a much better salesperson than the previous agent had been. Considerably more attractive, with a chiseled face and a disarming boyish grin, he greeted them with bottles of water and a tape measure—“just in case.”
Elly gave a rhino-like snort. How convenient. How old was this kid? His teeth were so white that Elly suspected that they had been whitened within the last hour. Snarky Teenager was smitten, and a flirty waltz began, much to Elly’s misery. He led them down the hall from the fountain and through the twisted maze of the lobby. “As you can see here, you will have some impressive neighbors: Johnson Investors, Adama and Lee Insurance, Diggory International Shipping, Tacchi Financial, Bears and Bazookas, and about a hundred other companies all have their corporate headquarters here.”
Elly nodded, barely listening, her mind on Dennis.
“Well, here we are.” He gestured to a wide open space framed by glass in between the office doors. “It once was a wrap shop, but they went out of business pretty quickly.”
Elly raised her eyebrows at Snarky Teenager. Zachary saw it and jumped in with alarming charm. “Oh, it would be totally different for you guys. Their wraps were total crap. I heard some guy who works here almost died from their crab rolls.”
Snarky Teenager batted her eyes at the leasing agent. “That’s a shame. I, like, totally love seafood.”
Zachary reached out and took her arm. “I know a great place down in Ladue….”
Elly was grateful for their hormone-fueled conversation—it gave her time to look around the place. It was about a third of the size of Posies, and yet, she didn’t feel that it mattered. This would be a different kind of shop—the kind of shop where a delicately placed protea would replace mass tulips, a place where orchids would sell out over roses, and where tiny potted succulents crowded the counter, instead of fall mums. It was big enough to fit one, maybe two large coolers. They would have to build a desk and a design table. Other than that, there would be a tiny space for an elegant display in the middle of the store. The main displays would be in the huge windows, crisscrossed with metal beams. The long, thin room was small but useful. She turned to the chatty pair, who were both pretending to look at the walls, but were very focused on each other. “Excuse me, sorry, wow, holding hands already, okay … Zachary where would our deliveries come out?”
Zachary pulled himself away from Snarky Teenager’s smoldering eyes. “Ah, what? Oh, sorry, deliveries. Well, if you look back here….” He walked to the back and pulled a door out from the wall. “This door goes straight out to the delivery dock. No stairs, no elevators, nothing. You’re lucky this is on the first floor.”
Elly nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, saying a small prayer for guidance. It felt as though there was a tiny finger pressing against her chest, a fluttering. She had known when she saw Posies that it was perfectly right. The world moved under her feet in that moment, a righting of her future. She was having that feeling again. This tiny store was exactly right in every unexpected way. This location would be everything: petite, contemporary, and hip. It wasn’t big enough to design weddings, but Posies would be their home base for weddings—she had anticipated that. This would be purely commercial flowers—flowers delivered to high-end bankers, accountants, and successful artists. Elly knew she should ask more questions, seek more answers, and act like she was not that interested. But that would be a waste of her time, and at this moment, between BlissBride, Keith, and Dennis, she didn’t have a lot of time to waste. Besides, Zachary looked like he had a manicure to get to.
She felt a soft, small hand on her elbow. Snarky Teenager nestled against her, her perfect little mouth in a hopeful question mark. “Can you give us a second?” her young worker asked Zachary, giving him a small smile that was sure to break his heart someday.
He nodded. “Absolutely, ladies.” He strolled out to the sterile hallway.
“I think this is perfect,” she hissed at Elly.
Elly, amused, smiled smugly. She agreed, but why not let her sweat it out for a few minutes? “Really? Why do you think so?”
Snarky Teenager began pacing in circles around Elly. “The location is ideal, right in the center of downtown Clayton. I mean, you couldn’t get any closer to the businesses if you tried. It’s in an office building that probably employs thousands and thousands of people, so that’s business you don’t have to advertise to get, they’ll walk by it every day. We can put sample arrangements in the Starbucks for free and get that connection, like Ada’s Coffee by Posies. The deliveries would be convenient—maybe even more convenient than Posies!” She spun on her heel to face Elly. “I know I can do this. I can make this store amazing. And we can price things really high here, just because of where we are.” Her tone rose dramatically. “I’m not sure we will find a better place than this. Zachary says he will cut us a deal if we go with him today, an
d I have a little bit saved up and maybe if I give that to you, you could do the first month’s rent….”
Elly suddenly felt compelled to give her an affectionate hug. Snarky Teenager’s body straightened awkwardly. It was like hugging a rain stick. “I agree with you. I just wanted to see what your case for this place was.”
Snarky Teenager pulled out of the hug. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. But we have to come up with a name. A real name. It can’t be Red Zen.”
Snarky Teenager whipped her hair around. “Yeah, I guess it really doesn’t fit this place. We can’t just keep calling it Store B.”
Elly gasped. “Oh my gosh, yes we can. That’s the perfect name for this place!”
Snarky Teenager tilted her head. “Store B?” She walked around the industrial space, all steel and light, and turned back to Elly with a huge grin on her face. “Store B: Posies reinvented. It’s perfect.”
Elly turned to the hallway. Zachary was standing in between the floor-to-ceiling windows, hands shoved deep into his pockets and staring at Snarky Teenager, who bent over, fixing a strap on her shoe.
“We’ll take it,” Elly said. “We’d like a one-year lease, and we can pay for the first three months up front.”
Zachary blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, we’ll take it.”
Zachary blinked again. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Wow, you guys are easy!”
Elly glanced over at Snarky Teenager, who was rubbing glittery lotion on her arms in slow massaging circles, and laughed. Store B’s roots were planted.
The rest of the day sped by in a blur of signing documents, touring the rest of the office building and the delivery dock, and taking Cadbury on the world’s longest walk. Five p.m. came rather quickly, and Elly suddenly found herself at a loss of what to wear for dinner with Dennis. What does one wear for a first conversation with her brother? She asked herself. A dress would be too formal, but jeans might say we are comfortable with each other already, which we aren’t. A skirt was lame, and khaki pants implied she was some sort of teacher.
Frustrated, she called Kim. She could hear an intense wailing in the background. Oh, Hadley. “What do I wear on my first date with Dennis?”
She heard Kim call Sean loudly, followed by a “Here, take him!” Kim took a deep breath. “Okay, first of all, don’t call it a date. It’s not. That’s weird.” Oh. “Second of all, why do you care what you wear? Just grab the first thing that comes to mind.”
Elly frowned. “Yoga pants and my Cardinals T-shirt?”
Elly heard a loud sigh. “How do you live without me? Never mind, don’t answer, I don’t want to know. Wear jeans, a nice shirt, and a cute pair of flats with dangly earrings.”
Elly grinned. “Okay, thanks. Give Hads a kiss for me.”
“Don’t call my kid Hads.”
“Okay, Kimmy.”
“Arrgghh.” Elly felt her heart warm as she hung up the phone. She was so blessed to call Kim her best friend. And now she had something to wear.
Elly wrung her hands together nervously as the elevator chugged up to the third floor of the Holiday Inn Express. Elly had promised Keith that she would text him through the night to keep him up to speed on what was happening. Keith was suspicious of Dennis’s vague intentions, and it brought Elly some comfort to know that she wasn’t navigating this minefield alone. The elevator doors drew open, revealing a long beige hallway dotted with small lanterns. It was pretty nice, this place. She should know, it would have cost her about seven hundred dollars if Keith hadn’t insisted on paying. Thank you Keith, she thought. He was such a generous man, even though she imagined that he only made about as much as she did from Posies. Which wasn’t much.
She arrived at room 237 and took a deep breath. I can do this, I can do this, he’s been through so much, just try to be cool…. Elly knocked on the door. “Hello? Dennis, it’s me, Elly.”
He opened the door, blocking the entrance. Dennis was wearing a similar outfit to the one she had seen him in the first time she had met him—but this time he had on a Star Wars T-shirt with acid-washed jeans. With a start, Elly realized that they hadn’t offered to buy him clothing. Maybe tonight, after dinner, they could run by Target.
Dennis stared at the floor. “How’s it going?”
“Good, good, good.” Why did I say that three times? What is wrong with me? She tried to change the subject. “How is your hotel room?”
A smile cracked on his weary face. “Uh, it’s pretty awesome. Did you know they have free breakfast here? And cable? And a bathtub? I’ve been watching this show called The Sopranos—have you seen it? It’s pretty awesome. There’s this mob boss, and he kills all these people and he’s like ‘It’s for the family! Bam!’” Dennis chortled and then fell silent. “I mean, whatever. The hotel works. It’ll do.”
Elly suppressed the urge to push his long blond hair out of his eyes. “Well, I’m glad that you like it. It was nice of Keith to get this for you.”
Dennis shrugged. “I don’t like that guy.”
There was an awkward silence as Elly gazed past Dennis into his room. It looked like a disaster—towels everywhere, the bed linens stretched to the side of the bed, and breakfast trays and pillows littered on the floor. Also, there was a noticeable body odor lurking around. Ugh. She tightened her hand on her purse. “Hey, could I leave my umbrella here? I think the rain has stopped.”
“Sure,” Dennis mumbled, without inflection.
Elly brightened her voice as she put her umbrella down, taking a better look into the room. Was he a hoarder? “Shall we go? Do you like burgers?”
Dennis nodded and meandered out the door, not bothering to grab anything. Elly continued awkwardly. “I know this great place in University City. They supposedly have the best burgers in St. Louis.” Her brother—her brother!—gave an ambivalent shrug and headed down the hallway.
Elly waited until he was a few feet ahead of her and quickly flung the “Do Not Disturb” sign into the bedroom. That room needed to be turned over, badly. She smiled as she caught up with him in the hallway, trying not to convey the unease tightening in her chest. The elevator door opened with a loud chime, and Elly and Dennis stepped inside. They rode down the three floors in silence, then walked out of the hotel lobby into the bright May light, making their way to the car.
Dennis let out a hefty sneeze that made Elly jump. “Bless you.”
Dennis looked at her like she was an alien. “Yeah. I have allergies.”
Elly pounced at the opportunity to make conversation. “Oh yeah, like hay fever?”
Dennis rubbed his eye with his meaty fist. “I think so. It wasn’t really a problem in Ohio, but I can’t stop itching my eyes here. And sneezing. I haven’t even left the hotel.” He let out another loud bellow. “Do you have allergies?” he asked as he wiped his runny nose on his sleeve.
Elly fought back a gag at the stream of snot on his shirt. “Uh, nope.”
Dennis rested his arm on the hood of Elly’s little Tercel. “Well, I guess that’s one more shitty thing that was only passed on to me.”
Elly felt herself freeze. A wall of awkwardness, thick as glass, came down between them. This was weird. How would this ever work? Elly caught Dennis’s angry look before it shot to the ground. “Sorry. I’m a downer.”
Elly felt a counterfeit smile pass over her lips. “Don’t worry about it.” He is so peculiar, she thought. Almost as peculiar as I am. There was a deafening silence as they drove to University City. Elly flipped on the radio. An upbeat Celine Dion song pumped out of the back speakers. Elly tried to sing along, figuring that if she was singing with the radio, she wouldn’t look as nervous as she felt. After wailing her way through “Because You Loved Me,” she looked over at Dennis, whose face had paled. He looked like he was about to vomit. “Are you not a Celine Dion fan?” she asked.
“Is anyone?” he replied. She turned the radio down
and he looked out the window with a huff. When they pulled up in front of the bright neon lights of Blueberry Hill restaurant, his face lit up. “Thanks” he said, and pressed his nose up against the window.
“This place looks semi-interesting.” Elly grinned as a piece of curly blond hair fell in front of her face. Well, it was something. They were seated quickly at a booth in the back, surrounded by toys and pop-culture memorabilia. Above Dennis’s head, Beavis and Butthead dolls stared down at their table, and scantily clad waitresses swaggered past Roy Roger dolls and comics. She glanced over at Dennis, who was looking all around them in wonder. “Cool, huh?” Kids said ‘cool’ these days, right?
“Bangin’.” Dennis raised an eyebrow in her direction and shrugged. “I guess.” He was lying. Elly could see a joyous little kid longing to burst through his eyes.
She casually picked up a menu. “Well, get whatever you would like. Apparently the burgers here are world famous.”
Dennis gave a slight nod and gazed at the menu. Ten long minutes of silence passed before a sickeningly cute waitress tottered up to their table, her ponytailed bright-pink hair bouncing with each step. “Hey guys. I’m Carlie. What can I getcha?”
Dennis stared at her chest, which was threatening to spill forth from her tight button-down uniform. Elly, annoyed, snapped her fingers at him, and then instantly regretted it. She turned to Carlie. “Yes, I’ll have the jerk-chicken sandwich, with fruit and an iced tea, sweetened. Thanks.”
Carlie turned to Dennis with a sly grin. “And you, you big boy, what will you have?”
A blush spread up Dennis’s cheeks as he stammered out his order. “Um, I’ll have the pretzel sticks with nacho cheese to start with, the chili mac after that, a chocolate shake, and a barbecue burger with cheese.”
Carlie gave a bouncy nod. “Hungry?”
Dennis stared back at her chest. “Uh … yes, ma’am.” The waitress walked away.