Behind them, Elly heard a deep chuckle, a belly laugh that could have only come from one person: Reverend Mack. She envisioned herself strangling Dennis. In front of the church.
“That guy certainly does talk forever. If I were you, I would try somewhere else, maybe somewhere where they only talk about Jesus for just a short time. You know, so it fits your schedule.” Rev. Mack gave a friendly chuckle.
Dennis’s bold facade crumpled and Elly saw that he was close to having some sort of meltdown.
She stepped in between them. “Revered Mack, this is my brother, Dennis.” I will never get used to saying that, she thought. My brother.
Reverend Mack gave a friendly grin and stuck his hand out. “Hello, brother, thank you for coming to our little Sunday service. I was just kidding by the way. I’m glad anyone comes, even if they leave in the middle.” Apparently, Reverend Mack had no problem saying brother.
Dennis looked slightly amused. Elly concealed a tiny smile behind her hand. It was impossible not to like Reverend Mack. He would win Dennis over if given five minutes.
The reverend glanced at his watch. “I got some premarital counseling coming up here, but I hope that sometime we can talk again. I’d love to get to know Elly’s brother. Where are you from, again?”
Dennis looked at Elly with alarm. She ignored him. “Uh …,” Dennis mumbled something.
“Sorry, son, couldn’t hear you. What did you say?”
“Sewell. Sewell, Ohio.”
“And how did you like Sewell, Ohio?”
“It’s a hellhole.”
Elly’s breath disappeared. Dennis had said “hell” to her pastor. Elly felt like laughing uncontrollably, like a crazy woman.
“Well, then, I’m glad you don’t live there anymore. See you next Sunday?”
Dennis looked at the floor, his face hidden by stringy hair. “Maybe.”
“Glad to hear it! Elly, Keith.” Reverend Mack walked inside, whistling.
The three of them climbed into Elly’s tiny Tercel. They were heading down Big Bend Boulevard with Everest Oppressed playing on the stereo, when Dennis suddenly spoke. “Are you going to tell her now?”
Keith nodded. “I was going to wait until we were alone, but….”
Elly looked in the rearview mirror. Dennis was smiling, he was smiling. Elly felt a surge of hope rise in her chest. Maybe things will be okay after all. I’ll be a model older sister, and Dennis will be a functioning adult who will watch our kids on the weekend.
“You promised, dude,” said Dennis, his smile disappearing.
Keith gave a loud groan and rapped his knuckles nervously on the dash. “So, when you were in church, I promised Dennis that we would go with him to something he cared about since he came with us to church.”
Elly bit her lip. “It’s not like we forced you to go.”
“Yes, you did. You guilted me into going. I’m not even religious.”
“Well, what were your parents?”
“Assholes,” mumbled Dennis. The world’s most-awkward silence filled the car. They pulled up in front of Posies. “See ya,” said Dennis obnoxiously as he leapt from the car. He leaned over Keith’s window. “A promise is a promise.”
Elly watched as he headed up the apartment stairs. She turned to Keith in the car. “What did you do?”
Keith sighed and leaned his head against the window, one hand trailing down the back of her neck with a softness that made her skin tingle. “I told him we would go to a con—”
“What?” said Elly. She grabbed his arm.
His eyes met hers, pleading for mercy. “Don’t be mad at me. He was so angry, but I told him that him going to church meant a lot to you, and then he was talking about this … this thing, and I sort of told him he would go.”
Elly raised one eyebrow. “What sort of thing?”
“I told him that we would go to the comic convention that’s at the Hilton this weekend.”
Elly paused a second. “A what convention?”
“A comic convention. It’s full of all the stuff he loves. You know, it’s like comic books and movies and fans, and I guess World of MageCraft will be there….”
“Like the person?”
“World of MageCraft is not a person.” Keith brushed her curls back. “Maybe it will be fun. We can laugh at the nerds together.”
“I’ve got news for you, buddy. We are nerds.”
“Speak for yourself.” Keith wrapped his arm around Elly’s neck, pulling her in for a warm, lingering kiss. “Want to go to a park or something?”
Elly unbuckled her seatbelt and faced him. “Actually, I have a great idea. Let’s go to your place.” Elly watched the panic flash in his deep-blue eyes, and a crinkle form in his forehead. It disappeared within seconds as his eyes went to the ceiling. Lying. She knew it so well now.
“Elly. I, uh, promise, you’ll see it soon.”
Elly bit her lip angrily. “But I’d like to see Cadbury today. I don’t care about how messy it is if that’s what you are worried about.”
“Well, how about I go grab him and bring him here, and we’ll go for a picnic. I’ll run into the deli and grab sandwiches.”
Sandwiches sounded good. Keith’s sandwiches sounded amazing. Elly was torn between her desire to argue and her desire for deli meat. “Okay,” she said, unsure.
“Great!” Keith practically leapt out of the car. “I’ll be back in a flash, gorgeous! Did I tell you that you look incredible in that skirt? Seeing you in green really does something to me.”
Elly gave an acknowledging nod as Keith sped toward his car, parked in front of her apartment. She knew she should follow him as he pulled up the street, but instead her chest tightened, and suddenly her skin felt as if it were plunged into ice. She was frozen, clutching the wheel. She couldn’t follow him. This was Keith she was talking about. Keith. Steady, reliable, grown-up Keith. This can’t be happening. It … it can’t be. There was no reason for Keith to lie to her, was there? Why wouldn’t he want her to see his house? The logical explanations played out in her mind. It’s messy. It’s an embarrassing bachelor pad. It’s not as nice as her place. He doesn’t have a lot of money.
Elly repeated these things silently to herself. She willed herself not to think it, but the strongest suspicion in her mind overtook all logical thought. He has a woman there. Elly shook her head violently. That was crazy. That was old Elly, the Elly who wasn’t confident, the old Elly who was timid, the old Elly who had let her ex-husband take everything from her, including herself. No. She wouldn’t think that way. She turned off the car and sat in the aggressive heat. What could it be, then? What was possibly keeping her away from Keith’s place?
I’ll call Kim, she thought. She’ll tell me I’m nuts. Or better yet, maybe I’ll just go there. Maybe I’ll just show up and prove to myself that there is nothing to see. With a smile, she turned the car back on. The cool air hit her just as her sudden blast of conviction wilted. She didn’t even know where he lived and finding it would imply … something that she didn’t want to think about.
With a sigh, she climbed out of the car and looked up at her apartment. She saw Dennis looking down at her from her bay window. He raised his hand in a half wave. She glared up at him. He looked embarrassed and slunk backwards, most likely back to his latest quest for dragon gold. Elly swallowed back her tears as she allowed the nagging truth to creep into her brain, the truth she had held back for weeks. Something was wrong. And when something like this was wrong, everything was wrong.
The next day, Elly sat patiently in Posies while Snarky Teenager stalked around her, whining. “I don’t see why you can’t just let me be in charge right away. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Because I said so,” snapped Elly. She buried her head in her hands. She was exhausted. She had only slept a few hours the night before. Her fears about Keith had crept into her brain, one by one. The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out…. She had reasoned, argued, and accused herself, all while trying
desperately to go to sleep. Keith hadn’t even come back for the picnic—he had called Elly suddenly, saying there was something he had to do. Like your wife?, she had thought, before raking herself over the coals for being so crazy. She wanted to call Kim, but Kim had been visiting her mother, a sociopathic head case unto herself, and Elly didn’t want to add to her problems.
“Ridiculous.”
Elly lifted her head. “What?”
“I said,” repeated Snarky Teenager, “that the idea of you running both stores at once is ridiculous.”
Elly gave a sigh. “It’s just to start. I want to see how you handle things. This is my money we’re talking about. Who knows if we will even get clients? This is a huge gamble.”
“Just having a second store is a leg up on our competition,” Snarky Teenager replied. “Plus, you have a hottie like me working there. That’ll draw them in.”
Elly rubbed her eyes, leaving mascara smears on her fingers. “Yes, I’m sure that’s all we need for a successful business. A hot high school senior.”
“I graduate in, like, a month.”
“I know.”
“You’re cranky today.”
Elly rested her head against her palm. “I know.” I need chocolate. In IV form. “Make me a contemporary arrangement.” She mumbled. “Ugh.”
Snarky Teenager rolled her eyes but walked back to the design table. Elly was curious to see what she would do. She was an excellent designer, but not a self-starter. She was always following an order or directions. Could she stock a cooler based solely on her imagination? “I’ll give you three different containers. You are welcome to use anything in the cooler except the buckets marked wedding.”
Snarky Teenager blinked at Elly like she was an idiot. “Like, duh.”
“Well, have at it. Let me know when you are done—I’ll just be checking emails and typing up contracts.”
Her young coworker gave her a sarcastic smile and began pulling florals out of the cooler. Elly willed herself not to spy as she sat down at the computer. Mindlessly, she surfed the Internet, looking first at maxi dresses, then cheesecake recipes and funny videos that revolved around English sheepdogs in lobster costumes. Keith had emailed her a picture of Cadbury wearing a Blues jersey. Elly gave a smile and then inspected the background of the picture for a sign of anything. Underwear, stationery, vacuumed carpet, anything that would suggest a woman was there with him. There was nothing. It appeared to be taken on Keith’s couch. The only thing in the background was a beige wall with a photograph of Italy behind it. It almost looked staged. Typical, she thought. Keith hides his secrets well.
She peeked over her computer at Snarky Teenager and almost gasped. The first container, a low bowl made of bamboo, was now a lush garden of greens: succulents, dusty miller, snapdragons, and a single red protea. Horsetail wrapped around the bottom of the arrangement and then shot up in the air—a dramatic finish for a beautiful composition. Wow. She was good. She was really good. It was both intimidating and edifying. Elly’s training had paid off. Her second arrangement, already in progress, was in a simple glass cylinder. Birds of paradise towered over a low arrangement of deep plum tulips, which was drawn together by a ring of curly willow. A single freesia had been wired to the branch at the peak. Marvelous, thought Elly. She had never seen design quite like it.
She stood up from the desk. “That one is good. Remember, the gift of a true designer is knowing when to stop. These look really great, actually. I’m surprised.” Elly walked over to the arrangements, and put them in cooler with barely a glance at Snarky Teenager. “Okay. Now make five more.”
“But I just made those.”
“Yes, but you have to fill the cooler. And you will have to keep filling it as bouquets go out.”
“This is stupid.”
“This is what it takes to run a floral shop.” Elly crossed back to her desk and wrote out some logistics on a piece of paper. “Store B will open in a few weeks. In the meantime, I’ll schedule you to come in every afternoon to staff the store and help me close, so you can get used to that. I’ll be there most days, so maybe you won’t need to worry about it….” Elly realized she was going to have to hire someone for the morning shifts, when Snarky Teenager had classes and Anthony and she were busy at Posies.
“I don’t know why you would need to be there. I’ll be there. And I can handle it.”
The numbers blurred together. Elly couldn’t even think about something as complicated at scheduling right now. She just needed sleep. And for Keith to still be perfect, the man who rose above all the others. “When you are finished, make sure you put the arrangements in the cooler before cleaning up and closing!” she shouted.
Snarky Teenager pouted. “Alone?”
“Yup. I’m going up to take a nap.”
“Thank God,” Snarky Teenager muttered as she uncurled a jade rose. “Try not to kill someone on your way there.”
Elly thought of snappy retort as she climbed the stairs to her apartment, about five minutes too late. One perk of owning your own business was that if someone was in the shop, you could give yourself some time to rest if you needed it. Still, she felt a little bit guilty. She pushed open the door to a wave of teenage boy: Axe body spray and BO. Oh. That’s right. Dennis lived here. Elly could hear the sounds of his gaming in the other room, the sounds that invaded her every waking hour and dream life. She knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Dennis looked up with a grin. “Hey, what are you doing home early?”
Elly rested her fingers against her temples. “I’m not feeling very well, so I think I’m going to take a nap.”
“Cool.” Dennis turned back to the screen.
“Would you mind turning that off while I sleep?” She saw his hand grip the mouse. “It’s just that I haven’t been sleeping very well lately….”
Dennis looked up at her. “Can I just turn it on silent?”
“That sounds good, but actually, I can hear the keys through my wall, so no?”
“Oh. It’s just that Ahora is on, and I wanted to run over some strategies with her. She might call later….”
Elly gave a sigh. “Oh, okay. I’ll just tell a certain blond coworker of mine who is currently downstairs that you won’t be able to help her after all. She asked after you and is working alone until six….”
Dennis’s computer chair was still spinning when Elly made it to her bed. He was Snarky Teenager’s problem now. She flopped down onto her soft turquoise-and-teal bedspread, the pillows flying to the floor. There was no other way around it, she told herself, as wild sleepy thoughts ran through her mind, she just had to talk to Keith. That was how grown-ups in a relationship acted. She just needed to ask him straight out, and deal with the answer, as much as she would rather push it under the rug and continue on in ignorant, kissy bliss.
In her absorbing dreams, Elly saw Keith stripping a tree of its bark. One handful at a time, he was peeling the tree like an orange, throwing the shattered bark pieces onto a pile of ornate cupcakes. Elly was standing beside him, staring as he pulled down this perfect tree, handful by handful. I love him, she thought. I love him, I do. The last strip of bark pulled away to reveal something gold and shiny underneath. Then Keith opened his mouth wide and began eating the cupcakes with a terrifying ferocity. With a muffled cry, Elly dropped into sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
Elly tried to subtly stick her nose out the car window. She couldn’t be sure, but she was almost certain that Dennis was stinking up the backseat. It smelled terrible. She looked over at Keith, who was making a disgusted face. “I’m going to open the windows,” he said.
“But it’s like a billion degrees out there,” argued Dennis. Keith gave a shrug and opened the window closest to Dennis. “Hey!”
They were on their way to the annual Star-Fan Convention, which apparently was held every year at America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis. They were definitely not talking about how Keith had stood Elly up earlier th
at week. She couldn’t help but steal glances over at him as they drove, trying to gleam some understanding of what was going on. Keith looked over at her with a wink, and Elly gave him a small smile. She knew nothing. Dennis’s handful of papers snapped in the wind and he read to them with joyful abandon. “Star-Fan convention is the third largest multimedia sci-fi and fantasy convention in the United States. It started in nineteen sixty-eight with a handful of comic book artists, and has grown to feature more than two thousand vendors and host over thirty thousand people each year. Costumes are encouraged and encompass all pop culture, science fiction, comic book, and fantasy lore.” He looked up. “We should have worn costumes.”
“No,” said Elly and Keith at the exact same time. They looked at each other with skepticism. Elly grinned. Even with the smell seeping up from the backseat, today was turning out to be more than tolerable. The warm sun blazed through her car windows, illuminating Keith’s brilliant deep-blue eyes. He was a handsome driver, she noted. He was handsome in just about everything he did.
Dennis coughed loudly to break the moment and continued. “There are over twenty-nine hundred hours of programs, presentations, demonstrations, signings, photo opportunities, and contests, in addition to the private conversations with heroes of film, literature, comic books, and gaming.” He gave a sigh, sounding like a lovelorn teenager. “I’m hoping to get a signed copy of X-Dragons, edition nine forty-six and get my World of MageCraft box signed by the booth girls.”
Keith wiggled his eyebrows at Elly. “I wouldn’t have invited you along if I knew there would booth girls.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m hoping to find an orc, myself.”
“Why would you want to find an orc?” asked Dennis, annoyed. “They are disgusting, half-bred murderers who eat humans.”
“I didn’t mean that, I meant….”
“Elf?”
“Elf, that’s right.” Elly was just thrilled to hold a conversation with Dennis that didn’t revolve around dishes or his computer game. She turned around to face him. “So, what is the difference between an elf and an orc?”