Elly in Love. Colleen Oakes

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      “Are you surprised? She’s a flipping banshee.”

      He looked confused.

      Elly clarified, “Something with a lot of feelings and a very shrill voice.”

      He gave her a bemused look. “I’m going to guess by that retelling that you did not win the argument.”

      “Well, she left screaming about how my store was old ladyish and that she would not be working today, so I’m not sure that there was a clear winner.”

      Anthony perched on a wooden stool and rubbed his thin hair thoughtfully. “I know that she upset you, but you have to remember, she’s only eighteen and she’s not going to think through all her decisions wisely. She’s ruled by hormones.”

      “Psycho teenage hormones,” muttered Elly, scribbling a message on a client’s card: “Congrats on your great new BOOBS!” She held up the plant in the sunlight, looking for browning leaves. If this plant was for great new boobs, it had better be flawless.

      Anthony cleared his throat. “She looks up to you and Kim. You know she doesn’t have a great home life. Her parents are more worried about their next European vacation than their daughter.”

      “That doesn’t excuse rudeness,” replied Elly quietly. “She didn’t even ask to take down my display.”

      Anthony nodded, obviously trying to stay neutral, maintaining his role as the wise advisor. “That was very rude, I agree. But do you think she has a point? About opening another store?”

      Elly sat down next to Anthony, balancing the heavy pot on her wide thigh. “Maybe. I just … I really don’t know if we could afford it. It would throw Posies’ finances for a loop, that’s for sure. We are perfectly comfortable in the black right now. And do I really want to make my life more complicated?” No, she thought, everything is perfect. For once, everything is good. She didn’t want to rock the boat. Last year had been so emotional, so tangled. Posies was doing great. Elly was doing great. For once, her life was a calm sea. Did she really want to invite chaos in? But a new store … targeted at a younger generation … the thought was becoming more and more appealing the longer she considered it. The fax machine gave a beep, gently jostling Elly out of her train of thought. She gave a shrug and walked over to the machine, glancing at the order. “Romantic arrangement for sixty-five—do you want it?”

      Anthony nodded and pulled it out of her hand. “Just give it some thought. And know that you’ll probably have to call her before the day is over. If you don’t act, she’ll be working at Hot Topic within a week, selling fishnet stockings to twelve-year-olds.”

      “Right?” Elly was laughing at the thought when the phone rang loudly. “Hey, make sure you use up those fuchsia snapdragons.”

      Anthony saluted. “You got it, boss.”

      At least someone remembered she was the boss. Elly pulled her hair back into a messy bun as she ran to the phone. She coughed awkwardly as she answered. “Posies, this is Elly speaking.”

      “Hello, Elly. My name is Gemma Reynolds, and I’m an associate producer with the television show BlissBride.”

      Elly felt as though she received a swift punch to the stomach and suddenly she was very, very hot. Sweat blossomed out from her forehead.

      “Um, yes, are you there?”

      “Yes. Yes, Jemima, I’m here.”

      There was a beat of intense silence. “It’s Gemma, actually.”

      “Oh, I’m sorry, sorry.” Elly gave a high, hyena laugh and stopped short. Oh my gosh, Why did I do that? Calm down.

      “Right. Elly, we are calling some highly recommended St. Louis vendors to see if your shop would be interested in appearing in a very special St. Louis episode of BlissBride. Are you familiar with the show?”

      Are you kidding me? Wednesday nights, after she got back from bible study, she drove up the private driveway to Kim’s house, a bottle of Tintero Moscato D’Asti on the passenger seat. Kim would let Elly put Hadley to bed—the highlight of her week—and then they would curl up on Kim’s couch to watch the most recent episode of BlissBride. The show focused on B-list celebrity weddings, and covered everything from the planning to the big day. The weddings were almost always enormous, and the semifamous brides brought their enormous egos to match. The show reveled in the ridiculous, extravagant details of the wedding (“I just don’t see why it is so hard to get fresh pears covered in gold!” cried a bride on last week’s episode), the vendor meltdowns, and the temper tantrums that were thrown along the way. It was delicious and sinful reality TV, a true guilty pleasure, something that Elly looked forward to every week. So yeah, she was familiar with the show. “Er, yes, I think I might have seen it a couple of times,” Elly lied. She didn’t want to sound desperate. Or did she?

      Gemma cleared her throat. “Well, we have a celebrity that, for some reason beyond me, has decided to get married in St. Louis instead of LA or New York, and we are interviewing local vendors to see if they would be interested in participating.”

      Elly turned to Anthony, who was standing by her side, snapdragons in hand. She mouthed “BlissBride!” and he began silently freaking out. She forced herself to be calm and in control. “I’ll have to consult with my team first, but I think we would definitely be interested. What would our next step be?” She congratulated herself on staying so professional.

      “Well, we interview about three vendors in each category and the vendor that our bride likes best is the one that gets the wedding and the chance to be on national television. We have a viewership of around 1.7 million.”

      This is an incredible opportunity, thought Elly, excitedly tapping her hand on the desk. This could be the wedding that puts me on the national map. She cleared her throat. “Well, Jimma, that sounds very interesting. When can we set up an interview? I have Monday open….”

      The shrill British voice interrupted her. “We will be doing all our florist interviews next Tuesday. The time is not up for negotiation. We will be there at three p.m. You should have a mock-up of the flowers ready when we arrive and make sure the area is photo-ready. The picture of the mock-up will be used for our bride to make her decision. Her colors are hot pink and navy, with an emphasis on pinstripes.”

      Elly rolled her eyes. Holy hideous. “Wow, that sounds really inspired,” Elly lied. “We’re pretty busy this week, but we can definitely come up with something incredible. What is her budget?”

      Elly heard a hard laugh, a sound like screeching fingernails. “Are you kidding me? This is….” Then there was a silence and Elly heard the shuffling of papers. “Never mind. We can’t reveal the celebrity until she has officially chosen you as her vendor. Let’s just say that there are some interesting taste levels at work here.” Gemma cleared her throat. “Okay, Elly, well, I will be there on Tuesday around three p.m. for the interview. Please dress appropriately.”

      What is that, thought Elly. A track suit? A dress? Work clothing? “Thank you SO much for your time,” Elly said.

      “Uh-huh,” tartly replied Gemma, and Elly heard a soft click.

      She dropped the СКАЧАТЬ