The Cherry Blossoms (25 page)

Her internal time clock told her it was midnight, so she showered and went to bed.  Tomorrow was going to be a stressful day, so if she could sleep, she just might regain the strength she would need to close her shop.

Daniella was awake and dressed when Grant made his wakeup call. 
“Good morning Grant.”

“Bonjour à vous même, Mademoiselle Daniella.  Je reviendrai à vous chercher ?”

“Thank you, but I think I’d like to walk.  Would you like to join me for breakfast before we go to the shop?  I’ve been eating Nana’s ranch breakfasts, so I woke up starving.”

“Je jouirait de qui.  Vais vous rencontrer au café du coin de l'atelier ?”

“Yes, that would be perfect.  I’ll be able to say goodbye to the café staff.”

She strolled along the sidewalk as Daniella inhaled the smells, the sights and sounds of her Paris.  The memories of these visions may have to last her a lifetime. 
Grant was waiting outside the café when she arrived.  “Daniella, je n'étais pas certain si vous vouliez dîner à l'intérieur, ou ici sur le patio.”

“Ah, it is such a beautiful morning, I think I would prefer to dine outside.”

“Permettez-moi de vous dire le gestionnaire que nous avons choisi de manger à l'extérieur.”

Daniella took a seat at one of the tables and tried to imagine her new life compared to her life in Paris.  It was, to her, a horrible vision.  Colorado held the scent of cow manure, while Paris dazzled her senses with floral blossoms. 

Grant joined her at the table, “The waiter will bring us coffee and menus in just a few minutes.”

While they waited for the waiter, she asked him, “What do you think will happen to Michal?”

Grant looked at her earnestly, “Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to leave Paris for a new life and leave him behind?”

That’s a rather odd question.
  “I really want to know.”

The waiter brought out their coffees and menus, giving Grant a few moments to think.  “Thank you.”  He focused on the menu as he casually asked, “Daniella, what would you like to eat?”

She chuckled, “You’re avoiding giving me an answer.”

“Only to place the order, then I will tell you what I think.”

She gave him her order.  “Daniella, that order is enough food to feed three people.”

She laughed, “I told you that I’ve been eating ranch breakfasts.  Now that the orders are placed, we have our coffees; it’s time for you to tell me what you think.”

Grant stared into his coffee cup as if the answer would appear in it.  “Nothing will happen to Michal.  There will be a fanfare about his being taken into custody, then he will pay bribe money to the police and they will forget about the charges, and release him.”

A feather could have knocked Daniella over.  She was aghast at what Grant had just told her.  “How can that be?”

Grant shrugged his shoulders.  “I cannot say, because I do not know.”

Daniella was getting angry, “Has he done this before?”

He felt the anger in her voice as if he had been stung by a wasp.  “I cannot say for sure, but there have been rumors.”

“Tell me, did you hear these rumors before or while I was involved with Michal?”

He looked close to crying as he pleaded with her.  “Daniella, they were rumors.  When he started dating you, he seemed genuine in his affection for you.  I have offended you, have I not?”

“I don’t know.  I guess I’m just surprised that you didn’t say anything before now.”  Grant started to address her statement, but she put her hand up to stop him.  “I’m okay.  You aren’t prone to spreading gossip, so I’m very okay with you.  I’m just shocked by what you said.  We may never know the truth, but to think that he can bribe his way out is just horrible in my mind.” 

Daniella paid the bill and they walked together to her shop.  “Grant, please believe me when I said that I do not blame you.  Michal is a weasel who manages to squeeze through the tiniest loop in the system.”

When they reached the shop, Grant held the door open for her.  Daniella broke down and sobbed when she saw her staff assembled in the lobby to greet her.  As she made her way through them, she found that each one was also crying.  She was about to announce that she had returned to the shop to close it, when Samanta asked to speak with her and Grant in private.  The staff looked at one and whispered amongst themselves, as the trio left the lobby.

Daniella followed them to her office on the second floor. 
As soon as the door was closed, Samanta started speaking animatedly, “Daniella, nous faisons plus d'argent que nous avons jamais, donc Grant et j'ai parlé il.  Nous ne pas fermer la maison de Daniella, si vous me le permettez à diriger l'entreprise en tant que partenaire.  Nous avons tous les trois pourraient être des partenaires, vous, moi et Grant.”  Samanta then waited for Daniella to speak.

Daniella looked from Grant to Samanta and back at Grant.  They nodded to her in total agreement about something; she just didn’t understand what the agreement was.

Before she could ask what Samanta had said, she went on, “Vous serez un partenaire silencieux et nous vous paierons redevances pour nous permettre de continuer à appeler à la boutique de la maison de Daniella.  Vous puis sera toujours une partie de Paris, et tout le monde aura toujours l'emploi.  Ensuite, vous pouvez venir nous visiter chaque fois que vous le désirez et vous pouvez l'écrire au large comme une dépense d'entreprise.  Cette façon que tout le monde gagne.”

Whatever Samanta was saying, it had her quite excited.  She looked at the two of them and they looked as though they were about to jump for joy.

“Grant I need a little help in understanding what the two of you are up to.”

“Samanta and I are proposing that we, the three of us, enter into a partnership.  You would be a silent partner and we would pay you royalties to retain the name, House of Daniella.  That way we all stay employed.  What do you think of the idea?”

It took Daniella about two seconds to agree with them.  “It sounds too perfect to work.”

“I have checked into it legally; we can do it.”

“I’m stumped for words, but count me in.  Does the staff know anything about this little plan the two of you concocted?

“No, we wanted to wait to see if you agreed with it first.”  Grant went on to say, “I did; however, make lunch reservations just in case you liked the idea.”

“Well, in that case, let’s go tell everyone the good news.”

Overjoyed that they would be able to continue to work for the House of Daniella, lunch stretched into dinner, and drinks after.  Daniella was thrilled that she wouldn’t lose all of her ties to Paris.

In three days, she managed to sell her car to the mechanic who had fixed it, boxed her personal items, which Grant would ship to the ranch, and made her return reservations.

When Grant drove her to the airport, he told her, “Daniella, I have never known a woman like you.  It is an honor to call you my friend.”

“Stop it, I’m gonna cry for the next eight hours, so I don’t need to start crying this early.”

“Promise me that you will call to let us know that you landed safely.”

“I’ll call you from Atlanta, which will be 10:00 at night here.  Would that work?”

“No, please call when you land in Denver.”

“Grant, that will mean 1:00 am in Paris.”

“I will wait for your call.”

After a tearful hug and kiss goodbye, Daniella was on her way back to her ranch.  She called the ranch from Atlanta, to let everyone know that her flight to Denver was on schedule to land at 5:17 that evening.  She had a two-hour layover in Atlanta, so she bought a book to read with a couple cups of coffee.  She’d washed her sorrows away with wine in her first class flight to Atlanta.  Sobering up a bit couldn’t hurt.

Garrett was waiting at the passenger pickup with that fucking green monster, he called a truck.  This time she was prepared to get into it on her own.  She had chosen loose fitting jeans and a cotton shirt, along with a pair of flats.  When he opened the door for her, she climbed into it as if she’d done it all her life.

Before he closed the passenger door, he chortled as he asked, “Where’s the luggage that you want me to pick up?”

She laughed, “There isn’t any.  I boxed everything up and Grant’s going to ship it to me.  Not that I’ll need those clothes anymore.”

“Well then, let me be the first to welcome you back home.  How did it go in Paris?”

“Better than I could have ever dreamed it would.  I am now the silent partner for the House of Daniella.  They’re gonna pay me royalties to use the shop name, so that means no one needs to look for a new job.  How are things here?”

“Good, the rehab program started this week.”

“Excellent, I can’t wait to see it in action.  I need to make a quick call to Grant.  I promised him that I’d call when I was in Denver.”

Grant must have fallen asleep, so Daniella left him a voice mail.

They made small talk during the rest of the drive.  Danny desperately wanted to ask if Michal called, but kept that question to herself.

Nana was waiting in the driveway when the truck pulled in.  Danny jumped out of the truck to hug her.  “Child, we held dinner until you arrived.  We’re eating in the dining room to celebrate your arrival.”

Nana chattered away as they walked to the dining room, where Danny almost fell to the floor when she saw Michal sitting at the table.  Garrett took her arm, and announced to everyone, “Please excuse us for just a moment.”  He then led Danny into her office.

Before he had the chance to explain the situation, she was all over him.  “What the fuck is he doing sitting at the table.”

“Danny, he showed up unannounced.  I made a reservation for him to leave at 1:00 am tomorrow.  I plan to drive him to the airport myself leaving the house about 11:00 tonight.  I know that something’s going on with him, but you’re gonna have to wait until I get back home to tell me about it.  So, let’s walk back into the dining room and get through this celebration dinner that Betty insisted we do.”

Danny laughed, “Did you pay for his flights?”

“I sure as hell did.  I wasn’t going to leave it up to him.”

“Did Michal tell you that he prefers to travel first class?”

“He did, but that boy’s flying coach and doesn’t seem pleased with it.”

“I have never met such an asshole in my life.  I’d like to ride along with you to the airport if you don’t mind.”

“No, you may not.  I have a few choice words I want to say to him, and I don’t want to mince words.”

The only way Danny could deal with Michal was to ignore his presence.  Nana of course, wanted to know all about Paris and how her staff took the news.

Knowing that Michal would be listening intently to every word she said, she told Betty, “Nana, I’m going to be a silent partner in the House of Daniella.  Samanta and Grant will run the operations, keeping all the staff employed while I collect royalty checks for using the shop’s name.  I’m delighted with the plan.”

Michal spoke, “Daniella, that is wonderful to hear.”

“Yes Michal, it is.”

He tried to talk to her once after dinner, “Daniella, please let me explain what happened.”

“You don’t need to explain anything to me.”

“But, my love, I believe that I do.”

“Michal, have a nice flight home.”

Garrett interrupted their conversation, “Danny, I know this is your first day home and you’re excited about it, but I think it’s best if you turn in early.  We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow.”

Danny understood what he wasn’t saying, “I think you’re right.  It’s been a long couple of days, so I think I’ll take my leave.  Goodnight gentlemen.”

She waited in her room until she heard the front door open, then close.  She listened for the truck to pull away.  She then went into the living room to wait for Garrett to return home.  She turned the television on and stretched out on the sofa to watch some old movie.  She must have drifted off to sleep because when someone put a blanket over her, she shot up like a bullet.  She expected to see Nana; however, it turned out to be Garrett.  She sat up, “Tell me about the drive to the airport.”

“Traffic was light this time of night.”

“Garrett, you know damn well that I don’t want to hear about the traffic.  I want to know what you talked to him about.”

“We just did the guy talk thing.”

“What the hell are you saying?  I want to know what you said to him.”

“Like I said, it was just guy talk; it wasn’t anything you need to fret over.”

“Is he coming back?”

“I don’t think so.  Let me walk you up to your bedroom so that you can get some good sleep.”

Danny woke early the next morning jetlag or not, she needed to help Nana with breakfast.  “Morning child, how’d you sleep?”

“I slept incredibly well.”