Elly nodded enthusiastically. “I was actually thinking that, as well. Also, I could see some white garden roses here, maybe instead of the yellow tea roses, and I’d like to add some curly willow to the top – I think it would give it an enchanted, almost whimsical feeling.”
Sunny clapped her hands gaily. “Oh Elly, that sounds beautiful. This wedding will be the talk of the Clayton elite. All my friends are coming from Paris, and I’ve been telling them about the work you have been doing, they are so excited! And Lucia, she cannot wait to meet you. She’ll be in town in two weeks for our final consultation. What are your thoughts for the bridal bouquet?”
Elly placed several pictures down on the table. “I looked at these for inspiration, and came up with a concept: For the ceremony, I see a ring of lily of the valley tucked into the back of her updo, which will accent her bouquet. I imagine a cluster of white blown garden roses and ranunculus, peonies, rare cattalaya orchids, fringe parrot tulips in pale shades of pink and white, and sweet pea accents with small flowering cherry branches. For the reception, we’ll go with a timeless look: a gardenia in her hair, which will be side swept, and a hand-tied bouquet of cattalaya orchids in a gold tussie. For her departure, a pale pink peony strapped to a chocolate headband.”
“That is going to look SO freaking sweet!” chirped Snarky Teenager.
Elly shushed her with a look. “Sunny, what do you think of this?”
“Well, I would have to look over it with Lucia, but I think that she’ll love it. She’s very artsy, and that sounds right up her alley.”
“Where does your daughter live?” Elly asked. Sunny sipped her tea demurely.
“Where hasn’t my daughter lived? She is a world traveler, definitely a free spirit, bohemian girl. She has lived in New York, Europe, L.A, Berlin…I never thought she would settle in the South. We don’t talk as often as I’d like, but I keep up with her travels. I can’t believe she is finally marrying someone.”
Sunny frowned and Elly saw a flash of internal struggle on her green eyes. “Between you and me, I’m so relieved that my youngest, my wild-child has finally found a man to pin her in place. She has given her father and me a run for our money. My ex-husband and I don’t agree on much, but we both agree that she needs a firm hand and large amounts of discipline.” A hint of displeasure flitted across her elegant face. “Truth be told, her fiancé is very aesthetic as well. He doesn’t seem like a good provider. I hope that they’ll be able to take care of each other.”
Anthony brought out a tray of tea and set it on the table. Elly took a sip and winced as it burned her tongue. “Ouch. Hot. Well, I have done many weddings and I know that it will be beautiful, despite any fears you might have about awkward family dynamics.”
“Thank you my dear, that’s very reassuring. You’ve been wonderful to work with.”
Elly clamped the papers together. “Well, I have just a few more questions for you to wrap things up, and then we should be pretty set until I meet with you and Lucia. First, I need the ceremony and reception start times.”
“The ceremony will be in the hotel garden at four-thirty in the afternoon, and the cocktail hour starts at six, with the reception beginning promptly at seven.”
“Great.” Elly made notes on her paper. “Does anyone have any floral allergies?”
“No, I asked my daughter and she couldn’t think of any.”
“Wonderful. Your wedding coordinator?”
“Lizette Kobul.”
Elly clenched her jaw. She hated Lizette with her big beehive hair and fake accent and the way she always managed to sneak in a comment about Elly’s weight. She was demanding, unrealistic and irrepressibly snide. Lizette being in charge was going to make Elly’s job that day all the more difficult. However, she refused to convey these thoughts to Sunny, reminding herself that she must remain professional even though the thought of Lizette hovering over her made her want to scream.
“I’ve worked with Lizette many times. She has a great way of getting everything done.”
Sunny smiled as she patted her mouth with her napkin. “She’s a little scary and very neurotic, but I trust in her to execute.”
Elly cleared her throat. “Next question – in our email correspondence you had said that the monograms should read ASL, correct?”
“That’s correct, my darling.” Elly smiled at being called a darling – it reminded her of her mother. She loved when sweet older ladies doted on her. Who didn’t? She exhaled happily and thought of the warm chicken enchilada casserole waiting for her upstairs, along with a glass of moscato.
Time to wrap this up, she thought. Besides, Snarky Teenager was acting ridiculous. Eyes on the ceiling, twisting her hair around her finger, she was horrible at hiding her utter boredom. Elly was going to kill her. She stood.
“Thank you so much for coming in, Sunny. I have all my notes and will send you an updated contract tomorrow.”
Sunny pushed her chair out from under her and pulled on her gloves. “Thank you again Elly,” she said warmly. Elly motioned to Snarky Teenager, who ran to the cooler, grabbing a vase of explosive pink heather. She handed it to Sunny.
“This is for you, Sunny, for coming in to work with me today. I appreciate it.”
Sunny purred at the vase. “This is beautiful - perfect for my bedside table. Thank you.”
As she turned to walk out the door, Elly remembered one last thing.
“Sunny! Would you like us to do table numbers for you? They’re the pretty little cards with numbers. I have some extras laying around here, and if you want we can nestle them among the flowers…”
Sunny snapped her fingers. “I knew I forgot something! No dear, actually, my daughter’s fiancée is an artist, and we will be using his small prints for the table numbers. I brought one to show you.”
Elly reached out her hand and took the small card. Before she even saw it fully, she knew it was his. The bright splashes of color, the texture, the women woven in between the flowers. This particular work of his was called “Evening Ghosts,” for the grey shades that surrounded the petals. The whole painting looked like it was dripping water. Long smears cascaded down the canvas, pooling a swirl of colors at the bottom of the print. She heard muted voices around her, and felt Sunny’s hand grip her shoulder. Everything swayed in front of her, and Elly felt her knees melting. Her vision tunneled and she thought a single word: Aaron. Her head hit the ground first, but not before she felt her heart break all over again.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
– Two Years Ago
It had been an ordinary Wednesday morning in Peachtree, Georgia. At 6:15, Elly’s alarm went off, blaring loudly. She groaned and buried herself deeper in the covers. Soon she felt Aaron’s warm fingers close on her soft hip and his breath on her ear.
“Honey, you need to get up. Turn off the alarm,” he murmured.
Elly flung her arm out of the covers and found the snooze button. She wiggled her body around so that she was facing him.
“I don’t want to go work. Let’s stay in bed all day.”
Aaron kissed her. “I would like that. Of course, we would probably be homeless. But, as long as we had a mattress in our cardboard box, and maybe some granola bars we would be okay.”
Elly ran her fingers through his thick dirty blond hair. “I could live on sex and granola bars, but I’m not sure you could live without your painting supplies,” she pointed out.
Aaron sighed. “True. But then you would get to stay in bed longer this morning. Maybe long enough…” He flipped her over and Elly screamed with laughter.
Thirty minutes and a bit of a workout later, Elly whipped a brush through her curly hair and pushed it back with a headband. She headed down to her kitchen – her favorite room in the house. Aaron had painted the walls a bright and happy red, with his signature flowers along the baseboard. Yellow Georgia light blazed through floor to ceiling windows, and Elly’s bountiful garden peeked in from outside. She kissed her finger an
d touched the picture of her mother on the fridge. Miss you, Momma. She pulled the door open and gathered eggs, cheese and red peppers to make breakfast omelets. As delicious smells drifted up the kitchen, Aaron padded down the stairs fresh from his morning cigarette.
“Mornin’ beautiful,” he said as he dropped into his chair.
“What are you up to today?”
“Not much. I’m sure that Jeff will have me run thankless errands for random items all day. After that, I’m meeting Cassie for lunch at Hopkins. That will be really nice - I miss her. Plus, they have those amazing crab cakes.”
“Those are delicious,” he agreed. He patted his belly. “I would know.”
“Yeah right,” Elly slid an omelet onto his plate. “You never gain weight, no matter what you eat.”
“It’s a gift,” he said, taking a long sip of the coffee Elly placed in front of him next to his steaming omelet.
“What are you doing today? Are you still working on Evening Ghosts?” she asked.
“I think so. I just can’t seem to get the left corner perfect.” He tapped the side of his head. “I know it’s lurking somewhere in here. Let me get some feedback from you.”
Aaron ran up the stairs quickly and came back carrying his canvas. He pulled Elly onto his lap while she ate her omelet and kissed the side of her neck.
“Now look at this. Do you see here how the lines don’t meet up, but rather curve here? It is becoming arcane, no? I wanted it to be sensual, but it seems cold….perhaps if I had a model…”
His hand crept up her shirt.
“NO MORE!” she cried, standing up. “You already had your fun this morning. I’m beginning to think that we have more sex than any married couple I’ve ever met. Also, I’m dressed for work. Like my new shoes?”
Elly lifted a red heel. Aaron loved sexy shoes, and while Elly much preferred flip flops, she loved the way Aaron looked at her when she wore the uncomfortable things.
“El, those are hot.” He grinned naughtily.
She looked back at the canvas. “Aaron, your work is beautiful. I like this new figure here. Maybe you can integrate her with this line, as if they are connected by the stem.”
Aaron’s beautiful face contorted with thought lines. “Hmmm…I could see that. Yeah, I think that might work.” He pushed Elly off his lap. “As for today, I think I’ll probably be locked in the studio, maybe get some more inspiration at the library. I love the old texts and pictures in the Renaissance section.”
“Such a romantic time period,” sighed Elly, “Big dresses, love letters, suitors…”
“You don’t need a suitor, you have me.”
“Then where are my love letters?”
Aaron ran his fingers across her cheek. “Maybe I’ll paint you one.”
Elly grabbed her thermos and threw her plate into the sink. “My favorite kind. Okay, I’m off to work. I love you – have I told you that today?”
Aaron opened the fridge and peered inside. “I don’t think so, but it never gets old.”
“Well, I love you.”
“You too. I’ll call you later.”
Elly headed to the foyer.
“Wait!” Aaron ran up beside her, adorable in a wrinkled t-shirt and flannel pants. He looked nervous as he grabbed her hands. “I don’t deserve you, you know? You’re a marvelous wife, and I’m just a bum who lives with you.”
Elly took his stubbly cheeks in her hand. “Nonsense. You are Aaron Schuster, the most talented painter in Georgia. Your work speaks to women, to everyone. It spoke to me. It made me fall in love with you.” She kissed him again. “I’m going to work. If I stay another minute, I’ll be forced to call in sick.”
Aaron straightened up quickly. “I suppose you must,” he said dramatically. Call me when you are on your way home – I think I want to cook dinner tonight. How does minestrone sound?”
“Incredible.” Elly closed the door behind her.
After her fifteen-minute drive to work, winding past both antebellum mansions and trailer parks, Elly entered the office, her thermos of hot chocolate in hand. She had barely settled at her desk when Jeff came around the corner with a mischievous smile on his face.
“You’ll never guess what I have in mind for you today.”
Elly sighed. “I can only imagine.”
“You finished the notes on the Magellan meeting, correct?”
Elly nodded as she organized her desk. “Done and emailed.”
“Fantastic. Here’s what I need: I was thinking that when I was in the service 30 years ago, there was this nurse. She helped me when my leg was shattered. And I would like to send her a gift basket, preferably with exotic fruit of some sort. So, if you could track her down and get a gift basket sent, that would be great.”
Elly suppressed the need to roll her eyes. “I’ll need more information than that Jeff,” she explained patiently.
“Oh, of course, of course. Uh, she had brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.”
And with that, he shut himself back into his office, where Elly knew he would be playing online poker and watching ESPN. She settled herself into her chair, smiled at the picture of her, Aaron and her mother on her wedding day, and then set about finding a woman with brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.
Around 11:00, her desk phone rang.
“Jeff Burhope’s office,” she answered.
“Elly?”
Elly smiled and spun her chair around. “Cassie! Hey! I am so excited to see you today. I miss you! And I am seriously ready for some wine and crab cakes. You would not believe what I have been doing this morning.”
There was a long pause on the line.
“Cassie?”
Elly heard her friend inhale deeply. “I can’t make it today. I’m so sorry. I was really looking forward to it! Maddy has the flu, and I hate to make the babysitter clean up after that. Eight bucks an hour isn’t enough to clean up Exorcist-level puking.”
Elly felt a twinge of disappointment. “That’s okay, Cassie, I understand. Just promise that we will get together next week sometime.”
“We will. I miss you and I have this amazing new teal blouse that needs to be taken out on the town.”
“Okay, well, I better get back to Jeff’s new obsession.”
“I can’t wait to hear details on that. Oh no, Maddy is running for the bathroom….” The phone went dead. Elly hung up feeling a little deflated. Now she had no friend and no lunch, a bad combination on any day.
She picked up the phone and dialed Aaron. The house phone rang and rang. He was probably in the studio – he never heard the phone while he was in there. Once he started painting, the rest of the world was tuned out, and it was him, his canvas and his music, which blared loudly from speakers set around the room. She could either run down to the iffy Indian restaurant down the street, eat the stale Heath bar in her desk, or she could run home and eat with Aaron. Elly made a snap decision. She needed to stop by the library anyway for research purposes, and their house was barely three minutes from there. He seemed off this morning, she thought, like the painting was weighing heavily on his mind. She would grab lunch on the way home and they could talk about it over some salads from Charlie’s.
Elly grabbed her purse and poked her head into Jeff’s office.
“I’m heading to the library to look at some micro-films about nurse stations during the Vietnam War.”
Jeff nodded and waved his hand at her, absorbed in the Falcons game. “Okay, thanks!”
Elly shut the door quietly behind him. She bounced out to her Tercel, thinking of seeing Aaron’s bright smiling face when she surprised him. Things had been a little off since her mother’s death, with bouts of Elly being depressed, combined with the mediocre success of Aaron’s last gallery showing. It seemed, however, that the veil of sadness was lifting, and there had been new life injected into their relationship in the past couple months. Elly couldn’t put her hand on it, but it seemed that one day their quiet arguments had turned int
o kisses, and that Aaron had a new and passionate outlook on things. When she watched him whistling around the house, cleaning brushes and categorizing his art books, Elly was filled with such a rush of love that it sometimes overwhelmed her in its sheer volume. It crashed over her, leaving her breathless and captive to Aaron’s every look. Aaron was her everything and she was his. Together their love was… Okay, no need to get carried away, Elly thought to herself, as she popped in an Elton John CD.
Driving through Peachtree, Elly relished the air conditioning that blasted her hair back from her shoulders. She loved Georgia fiercely, but it got so hot that it sometimes made her nauseous, and this July was the hottest on record. Humming along with the music, she wound through the streets and pulled up outside her house after a quick stop at the library and Charlie’s. It was her dream house. Beige and grey brick cemented the walkway up to the white columns and washboard roof. Balsam apple vines wove around fire red celosia that Elly had planted on the side of the walkway. She loved the way the porch creaked when she placed her foot on the thin wood, and the way the door swung open so grandly to announce that she was home.
Walking in the door, she could hear Aaron’s music blaring wildly from his studio upstairs. She smiled and placed the salads onto the counter, and pulled out two crystal wine goblets. Above the fridge were a couple of wine bottles, remnants of house warming and dinner parties. She grabbed a bottle of Pinot Noir and poured it into two glasses, making sure that Aaron’s brimmed to the edge. Moving her hips to the pulsating music coming down from upstairs, Elly swung open the fridge and grabbed a brick of cheese. She sliced it into small squares and placed it on a large serving plate with the two salads and the wine. She glanced in the mirror over the stove. She was a little disheveled from the heat, but at least her hair was tame. Her wide blue eyes blinked back at her. This should be fun, she told herself. She picked up the tray, balancing it delicately against her heavy breasts and headed up the stairs.
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