Elly in Love (The Elly Series) (11 page)

“I stay in the back until they are ready to go, and then I bring out their custom arrangements.”

“That’s right, just like Vanna White.”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

Elly straightened up and looked in the mirror behind her desk. “I feel like I need one of those petits fours right now.”

“
No
,” echoed three voices.

With chic short brown hair and a surprisingly small mouth, Gemma Reynolds somehow looked exactly like what Elly had pictured in her mind. Dressed from head to toe in black, with tight, high-waisted black pants, a fitted black military jacket, and a plunging black collared shirt, Gemma looked like an assassin. She strolled in, exuding the kind of confidence that Elly could only dream of having. Elly immediately felt insecure in the presence of this alpha female and then cursed herself for doing so. Two nameless male drones followed her in, both dressed in gray suits and carrying briefcases. One of them had a camera around his neck. Elly watched them as they parked in the street and looked up at her store with blank stares. Gemma leaned toward one of the men and pointed at something on the building. Elly saw her mouth the word “old.” She felt like crawling under the table and becoming a large mound covered with rose petals. Her stomach clenched as she tried to steel her nerves.
You have been in much worse situations than this,
she thought.
If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. It’s no big deal.
An opposing voice answered back
, It is a big deal. Don’t screw it up. You spent a lot of money on these flippin’ rose petals.

“
Pssssssttt!
”

Elly whipped her head around to see Snarky Teenager leaning out from behind the black curtain in the back. “
Smile!
” she hissed. “
Suck in!
” And so Elly did.

As Gemma opened the door, she gave a fabulously unhindered intake of breath. Pink petals churned around her ankles and blew into the store. Elly stood by the table, which radiated elegance.

“Wow,” breathed the photographer. “Wow. Wow.” He raised his camera and started taking rapid-fire pictures. After a minute, he lowered the camera and smiled at Elly. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Ever.” He began looking at the photos he had just taken.

Gemma took off her sunglasses, revealing a stern but beautiful face. She reminded Elly of a prize-winning horse. Gemma harshly reprimanded her photographer, “You can’t talk to her. Just take the pictures.” She forced a smile onto her frozen lips. “Hello, Elly, I’m Gemma Reynolds. We spoke on the phone, remember?”

Elly cringed. “Yes, yes, I remember. I always check my phone now to make sure it’s hung up. Ha, ha.”
Oh my gosh, what was she talking about?

“I’m glad. That was certainly unfortunate.” Gemma spoke every word with short, clipped pronunciation. Un-for-tu-
nate
. Her British accent made everything sound a little bit sharp.
Elly wanted to be her.
“Well, I have to say that these rose petals certainly make an, er, overwhelming visual.” She turned her nose in the air. “And overwhelming smell.”

The photographer looked around the store again. “Gemma, this is incredible! I mean, we’ve seen some amazing things in the two years we’ve been doing
BlissBride
, but….”

Gemma held up a hand and the man fell silent
. Silence, minion.
“Yes, yes, it’s very impressive. We should begin the interview. Our next one begins in forty minutes across town.”

Elly gestured to the table. “Please, sit.”

Wading awkwardly through the petals, Gemma sat staunchly, her posture rigid. She pulled a clipboard out of her suitcase and loudly clicked the pen. “So, Elly, we’ll start with some basic questions. First, why do you want to be on
BlissBride
?”

Elly took a deep breath and gave her rehearsed answer. “Well, I believe that our little store, one that offers brides the utmost in personalized and intricate design, would be best suited for
BlissBride
. Our service is based on custom design, and we have over three hundred happy brides who would testify to the fact that our bouquets are not only exactly what they asked for, but they’re absolutely breathtaking. Also, because we are such a custom florist, we will have the liberty to put our entire focus on this wedding and nothing else.”

Gemma nodded and jotted down a few notes. “Very good, although I must say it seems a bit rehearsed.”

Elly bit her lip.

“What kind of flowers do you specialize in?”

Elly paused. “I would say that we are able to morph our style to that of the bride’s, but we are mostly known for our romantic, bohemian, and garden flowers. We are big on texture and things that make women swoon, like a fully blown peony or the tips of a Queen Anne’s lace.”

Gemma wrote more notes. “Good answer.”
This was going well
, Elly thought,
finally.
“Tell me about your biggest wedding disaster.”

What? A wedding disaster?
Her mind raced.
Wait, what was she asking? Did she know? There had only been one. One big one.
Elly stumbled over her words, letting out a gush of nervous word vomit. “Um, er … well, it’s a bit complicated. See, this last year I was hired to design my ex-husband’s mistress’s wedding. Crazy, right? So, I had this complete nervous breakdown right before, and I was dating this amazing musician, but he wrote these songs that were about my chest, which as you can see is pretty substantial … anyway, I mean, I almost went
crazy
before it. I threw my consultation table over and trashed my store, and drank too much wine, and broke the head off the cake topper…. I mean, I’m not sure what you are really asking…. I can totally handle high pressure. Unless I have another ex out there, or I mean, I don’t….” She gave a high-pitched giggle, like a hyena in heat.
Disaster.
There was no way she was going to get this. She was a kamikaze pilot, going down in flames of her own nervous making.
Gemma was looking at her like she was some sort of unhinged wild animal.

“
Elly!
” Snarky Teenager sashayed out of the back room, looking amazing in her bright-red sundress and jeweled sandals. Gemma and both of the men sat straighter as she approached. “Sorry I’m late. I really apologize. I’m Elly’s assistant manager.” She sat next to Elly and put a hand on her arm. “Please forgive my intrusion, but what were you talking about?”

Gemma stared at Snarky Teenager with glassy eyes. “Are you a model?”

Snarky Teenager gave a laugh. “Oh, goodness, no. I don’t think they would want me.”

Gemma shook her head. “You have a face made for television.” She smiled kindly.

“Well, thank you. How is the interview coming along?”

Gemma cleared her throat. “Well, I just had asked Ms. Jordan here about her worst wedding disaster….”

Snarky Teenager gave a giggle. Gemma and the two men smiled back, entranced with the light radiating from her face.
Oh, to be so beautiful
…. “Oh, did you tell her about the bride that brought her dog to the wedding, who had a particular fondness for aisle decorations?”

Elly choked out a broken laugh. “Oh, I forgot about that! Yes, Ms. Reynolds, that was absolutely disastrous….” She gave Snarky Teenager a grateful glance. The interview went on. Gemma asked question after question, and with Snarky Teenager’s slight guidance and charming effect on the producers, Elly sailed through them with an easy grace.

Gemma leaned back on the chair and looked at her watch. “Well, unfortunately we are almost through with this interview. I must say, I was unimpressed at first, but I feel more, how do you say, comfortable with this shop being in the running. Of course, we haven’t seen the other two places yet, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

Elly nodded and kept saying “thank you” until Snarky Teenager planted a heel squarely in her calf.

“It’s important to us at
BlissBride
to have a person who is comfortable in front of the camera, someone that we can show on national television,” Gemma’s gray eyes remained on Snarky Teenager. “Someone who is calm under pressure. I need to know that you are able to captivate an audience.” She eyed Elly warily. “Do you, the owner, feel you are up to that?”

Elly nodded, a curl falling loose from her elegant updo. “I feel that our entire staff is very calm and camera-ready. And ready to captivate? Please. We have great conversations ranging from philosophy,”—
Anthony talking about how he thought Plato was a planet
—“to current events.”
If Elly was elected President, she would, after brokering a Middle East peace agreement, declare a national monster cookie day.

Gemma shook her head. “I think you misunderstand me. What I need to know is that, when the chips are down, and our celebrity is screaming in your face, that you will be able to stay calm and cool and not buckle with the cameras right in your face. These weddings are larger than you could ever imagine, and many a vendor has failed. We don’t want a wedding without flowers because someone choked. To be honest, I’m not sure that I see that here.” Elly felt an old anger stirring inside her, something ancient and deeply buried. It forced its way up inside her mouth. She stood quickly, the chair sailing out behind her, sending a poof of rose petals into the air. “Ms. Reynolds, with all due respect, last year I watched my ex-husband marry his mistress. And even though every piece of my soul was breaking, their wedding was perfection. In fact, you can see pictures of it in the
St. Louis Chronicle
and in
Martha Stewart Weddings
magazine. So if you don’t think I can handle some entitled reality star who has imaginary issues, then you are
sorely mistaken
.”

Gemma tilted her head as she stared up, bewildered by the outburst. Then she looked Elly straight in the eye and turned her mouth up in a half smile. Elly went to open her mouth again and then thought better of it. Snarky Teenager reached across the table and grabbed Ms. Reynolds’s hand. “Look, I know that Posies is kind of a quirky store. And it’s true, we’re a little different. Elly Jordan is superweird, but she is the
best
designer in St. Louis. Her flowers are intricate and gorgeous, and you will not find an equal, I guarantee it. I mean, look at these centerpieces. Look at the floor! The other florists you visit today, I can tell you what you will find: you will find something ordinary.” She sat back in her seat. “We are extraordinary.” Her eyes twinkled and Elly swore she had never seen her look so mesmerizing. She had been on a roll until she proudly declared, “And I am also extraordinary.”

Gemma glared back at her with annoyance, but Elly swore the man holding the suitcase was actually drooling. “Yes, you are,” he murmured quietly.

Gemma clicked her pen once and then packed her clipboard into her suitcase, slamming it shut. “We’ll be in touch. Are you ready to go?” The photographer was running around the room, taking pictures of every surface. “These petals have the most gorgeous texture!” he cried.

“That’s great, let’s go,” Gemma ordered.

At that moment, Anthony strolled out of the back, carrying a bucket of pink and white gerbera daisies. His eyes panicked when he saw the photographer. “Oh hello!” he said cheerfully. “My name is Anthony! I do many important things here at Posies. Yes. I work here.” He looked at Elly and shrugged.

Gemma eyed Elly with fascination as she rose from the table. “I’ve left a contract for you to look over
if
we pick you.” Looking over at Snarky Teenager she said, “If you’re ever interested in a career in television, let me know. You can’t want to make flower arrangements for the rest of your life, can you?”

She clicked out the door to where an idling black Lincoln Town Car waited for her. The man with the suitcase followed her, but not before he not so smoothly slipped his business card to Snarky Teenager and gave her a wink.

The photographer walked up to Elly and took her hand warmly in his. “Thank you for letting me photograph your breathtaking work. It’s incredible. This made my month.” He kissed her hand fondly.

The door to the shop closed, sending a flurry of pink petals into the street. Elly walked over and sat down at her desk, angrily kicking the rose petals out of her way. “It was a nice try,” she sighed. “I blew it. I totally blew it.
Why
did I talk about Aaron’s wedding last year? I wasn’t thinking. There were way better examples. I think I probably was quite rude to her when I got upset.” She looked down at the table with tears swimming in her eyes. “What is wrong with me? Why did I even think I could get this? I knew I would never be a person someone wanted to watch on TV. Let’s face it, I would be a train wreck on camera.”

Anthony walked over and put his arms around her. She clutched his arm. “And you, you were almost as terrible as I was! All around, we are a wreck.” He smiled.

Snarky Teenager stared silently out the window. She turned, the bright spring colors bursting out from behind her. “No. We totally got it.”

Elly frowned. “
What?
”

“We got it.”

“Were you at that interview? Did you see how Ms. Gemma Reynolds
hates
me?”

“I don’t know. She might have a begrudging respect for you, but I don’t think she wants our shop for the job. But did you even bother to look at the card that guy handed to me?”