Elly in Love (The Elly Series) (23 page)

“Yes, hello?”

Both Elly and Snarky Teenager jumped. Standing in the gigantic open glass doors was a stunning Japanese woman. “You do flowers here, yes?” she asked.

Elly looked over at Snarky Teenager with confusion. She gave a shrug. “I’ll take Hadley.”

Hadley stared at the woman, totally confused. Elly pushed the wheeled chair back from the desk with her foot. What was intended to be a smooth, professional movement quickly escalated out of control. The floor had recently been waxed, and the chair flew backward. Behind Elly was a pile of bamboo shelving that hadn’t been mounted yet. The chair hit the wood, spinning, and launched Elly sideways into the air. She landed on her stomach, smacking her knees down behind her. The chair tipped and landed on top of her shins. Before she even realized what was happening, Elly’s face was against the cool floor
. Oh,
she thought with surprise,
this mountain maple color looks really good up close.
Then,
why am I on the floor?
She heard Snarky Teenager’s shrieking laughter coming from somewhere beyond the desk. Hadley was clapping.

Suddenly, the woman was upon her. “Are you okay?”

Elly pushed herself up with her elbows.
Oh Lord,
her abdomen ached.

The woman reached out and took Elly’s arm, speaking in a thick Japanese accent. “Here, let me help you up.”

Elly sat up, her hair flopping in her face. “What can I help you with?” she asked, trying to laugh it off. Her face burned with embarrassment. Snarky Teenager was now sitting on the floor, tears of laughter dripping down her perfect cheeks as Hadley bounced on her lap.

The woman looked down at the owner, sprawled out on the floor. “You guys are the florist, right?”

Elly gave a nod, brushing off her pants. “We are, but we aren’t open for business yet, as you can probably tell.”

The woman gave a pert nod. Her chin-length bob bounced, and perfectly jet-black hair came untucked from behind her ear. From her years of selling flowers, Elly could tell from the way this woman carried herself that she was probably very important. “Huh. Interesting. Good location. I was strolling through. Well, let me know when you are open. I would maybe be interested in using your services.”

Elly stuck out her hand. “I’m Elly Jordan. I’m the owner of this shop. I also own Posies, down on Wydown, by Keith’s deli?”

The woman clasped her hands together. “Oh! I
love
that deli! And I love your window displays! The one you have up most recently—the display with the black and white? Very good color blocking.”

Elly saw Snarky Teenager make Hadley give her a high five in the corner. “Well, thanks,” said Elly, knowing it would annoy her young employee.

“I’m Karen,” said the woman, stretching out her hand.

Elly shook it, marveling at how her own large hand seemed to completely swallow the woman’s. “It’s nice to meet you.” Elly gestured around the shop. “Today we are just setting up things, so we don’t have any flowers yet. But, if you want to contact me over at Posies, I’m sure we could help you.”

“Oh, I’m not into traditional flowers. But let me know when you are open. Are you the manager?” Elly saw a look of concern cross Snarky Teenager’s face
. What was that about?

“Yes. And once we open, I would love to design you something special, on us. I’ll have it delivered to you.”

Karen raised herself up on her toes and gave a single clap. “That sounds
perfect
. I’ll have my people email your people.”

“Wonderful,” said Elly, trying to regain face from her disastrous chair dive and thinking how “her people” consisted of Cadbury. They exchanged cards, and with a small smile, the woman walked silently out of the store. Elly leaned back, her hands on her hips. “Well, that was kind of serendipitous.”

Snarky Teenager approached her, still holding Hadley, a scowl marring her normally perfect face. “Thanks for not introducing me,” she snapped.

Elly was taken aback. “Why do you care? You were on the floor with Hadley and that woman was important.”

Snarky Teenager rolled her eyes. “How could you possibly know that?”

Elly flipped her card over. “Karen Chow. CEO, Marketplace Industries. She’s a big deal. How did I know? How did you not? If you are going to run this store, you should learn to read people. From the way they stand to how they speak, you should be able to tell who is a big deal.”

Snarky Teenager fidgeted. “Well, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“More reason that you aren’t ready to run this place alone.”

“Whatever.” Snarky Teenager handed Hadley hastily back to Elly. Hadley had been riveted by their argument, but now was looking around for his mom with a whimper.

“Your mom just went to get coffee,” Elly whispered. “She’ll be right back.”

In the corner, Snarky Teenager began nailing the gray slate order board to the wall.

“That looks great!” Elly called out, trying to be encouraging. She was met with a sneer.

Kim stepped back through the door, carrying two drinks. She immediately sensed the tension in the room. “Is this about the Buddha?” she asked. “Because I was thinking, what if we could find a giant gold Jesus or something?”

Elly took her drink, handing Hadley back to his mom as she mumbled under her breath, “I’m going to have a talk with her. She’s always stomping somewhere or mad about one thing or another.”

But Kim wasn’t listening. Her eyes, Hadley’s eyes, and Snarky Teenager’s eyes were all trained on the door. Elly looked up. Looking more out of place that should have been possible, Dennis stood awkwardly at the store’s entrance, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. To Elly’s delight, he had showered, although his clothes were still dirty.
I need to take him clothes shopping ASAP.
He stared at the floor as he shuffled his feet back and forth. Kim clutched Hadley close to her chest.

Before Elly could say anything, Snarky Teenager stepped in front of Dennis. “The comic book store is down the street, it’s not on this block anymore.”

Dennis pathetically raised his head. His bright-blue eyes opened wide as he stared at her with amazement. Something was changing in him, Elly could see it and do little to stop it. His mouth opened slightly and his posture straightened as he looked at this miraculous creature in front of him.

Snarky Teenager pushed her hair back. “Do you want some change?” she asked nicely.

“I’m not homeless,” said Dennis quietly. Elly, watching silently, felt Kim’s bony elbow in her side. Crap.

“That’s my brother!” she loudly proclaimed. “This is my brother, Dennis.”

Dennis raised his hand in a half wave. “Uh, hey.”

Elly walked over to him. She could have hit him with a brick, it wouldn’t have mattered. His eyes were trained on Snarky Teenager with a wild interest. The svelte teenager was obviously amused by his intense attraction—people like her were used to it.

“So, you’re Elly’s brother. I hear you like
World of MageCraft.
”

Dennis gave a slow nod. Elly could see that he wasn’t sure if he should admit that or not.

“Hmm. That’s … unique,” she replied, with a toss of her blond ponytail. “Hi, I’m….”

“I’m Dennis.” He interrupted her, speaking frantically. “I’m Dennis, I’m Elly’s brother.”

Elly felt a surge of pride well up in her chest.
Yes, he was.
“Dennis, would you like to help us set things up? We could use a strong male to lift some of these shelves.”

Dennis didn’t answer her, his expression frozen in place, his eyes taking in every inch of Snarky Teenager’s long legs.

“
Hey
! Dennis!” Elly snapped her fingers. “Respect!”

He blinked. “Uh, yeah. I can help, I guess. I actually just walked over to ask where the TV remote was.”

Elly knew this wasn’t true.

Snarky Teenager handed him a hammer. “Here. You can start by helping me put up the slateboard and work on the fabric swagging.” She wiggled her hips a little and gave him a wink. Dennis looked like he might faint
. Poor guy
, thought Elly.
She’ll eat him alive, but hey, he’s doing something
.

Dennis tripped over his own feet, careening into the side of the huge desk, while Snarky Teenager looked at him with the kind of amusement you reserve for pets. Apparently, he found walking difficult as well. Hadley reached out for Elly and Kim passed him over so that she could sip her latte without the baby grabbing at the cup. It struck Elly, watching Dennis clamber awkwardly up a ladder, his pants slipping down past the band of his tighty-whities, that she was, at this moment, surrounded by family, both adoptive and biological. A surge of happiness rushed through her, intoxicating and brief. It lasted until Dennis’s pants slipped off his waist.

Elly fixed her hair in the mirror, hoping that this much-anticipated meeting with Lola would go smoothly.
With St. Louis humidity, you never quite knew what to expect
. A line of sweat dripped down her forehead. It was probably time to turn the air on. It didn’t help that she was wearing a mustard-yellow pencil dress with a lacy white cardigan, belted at the waist. If she had her way, she would have her venue meeting with Lola Plumb wearing only shorts and a tank top. Hastily, she grabbed a couple of bobby pins and firmly pinned everything to the back of her head. Gold curls leapt out from her head at random.
That was the look now, messy was in. Bohemian chic. Right?
She thought maybe she had read that somewhere
.
Dabbing on some lip gloss, she headed out to the kitchen. She let out a yelp when she saw the hulking silhouette in her kitchen.

Dennis turned around, his hair a tangled mess, a coffee cup in one hand and a scone in the other. “Oh. Hey. Sorry I scared you.”

“Yeah, I’m still getting used to you being here.” It sounded meaner than Elly meant. She bit her tongue.

“Coffee?” he asked. The dark bruises under his eyes were getting worse.

He wasn’t sleeping, Elly knew that. It had been a month since he had moved in with her, since that first time he played
World of MageCraft
all night, and every night since. Elly leaned wearily against the counter. Dennis had taken over her life. Socks, boxers, and shirts littered the floor. The sink was always full of dirty dishes, and food seemed to disappear overnight. Elly’s grocery bill had tripled, along with her electricity bill. The TV blared constantly—a randy mix of MTV and the Spike network. Dennis talked all night long, via his headphone, to his friends in Japan about his quests. Elly’s dreams had started being invaded by neighboring horde alliances, paladins, and stealth nerfs, whatever those were. Walking into her apartment, Elly was assaulted by a variety of smells: old burritos, expired sandwich meat that had been left out, body odor, and one aroma that could only be described as “cheesy feet.” The bathroom was…. Elly shook her head.
She couldn’t even talk about it.
Every effort to talk to Dennis ended with him saying quickly, “Well, I better get back to my game.” Elly found herself drifting, unsure of where this was going, unwilling to bring it up. And she couldn’t bring it up with Keith, because he stubbornly stood by the suggestion that Elly get the DNA test. He couldn’t see that everyone in Dennis’s life had pushed him away, and that Elly wouldn’t be that person.

Dennis let out a loud burp and put his coffee cup on Elly’s antique coffee table. She swiftly picked it up. “Coaster,” she mumbled.

“It’s just a table,” he grumbled back.

In that moment, Elly missed Cadbury. He might poop inside occasionally, but at least he didn’t leave coffee rings on her table. “I’m heading out,” she announced. “I’m meeting Lola Plumb at her wedding venue today.”

Dennis gave a sigh. “You’re
so
lucky. She’s so flipping hot. I saw her in
Maxim
last year … oh man.” Elly gave him a warning look. “What I meant was,
oh
man, she should not degrade herself in that way.”

Ah, so there was a sense of humor in there somewhere
, thought Elly. Maybe she wouldn’t murder him after all. “I have to run. Would you mind maybe … doing the dishes?”

Dennis shrugged. “Maybe. Ahora’s getting on later, so I need to be there for that. Or I might stop by the new store.” Of course he would. Dennis had developed a serious obsession with Snarky Teenager, and had taken to trailing her around like a puppy dog. Elly allowed her to use him for manual labor only because it occasionally awarded her a few hours of blissful silence, just her and her many scented candles.

“Great. Well, I’ll see ya later.”

“Enjoy your bread and circuses!” crowed Dennis. There was a minute of awkward silence.

“Uh … yeah,” said Elly. She closed the door behind her.

It jerked open again. Dennis leaned his head out. “Your hair looks weird. I just thought I should tell you.”

“Thanks,” snapped Elly.

Dennis looked hurt. “Uh, the dress looks nice, though.”

Elly gave him an annoyed smile. She was already late. The door slammed behind her.

The Fabulous Fox Theater, located in midtown St. Louis, was a place of legend. It had opened in 1929 by William Fox, and was designed by Howard Crane, a world-famous architect and very worldly man for his time. It was modeled after the Hindu mosques of old India, a dazzling display of golden warrior statues and Hindu gods that hovered over the audiences. Elly had seen several shows there under its exotic jeweled glory, including the latest tours to come from Broadway. When she and Kim walked in, there was never anything less than silent awe played across their faces. Bronze monkeys, elephants, tigers, and snakes covered every surface above and around the stage. All the fabrics were an opulent mix of reds, purples, and golds. You didn’t see a show at the Fox—you saw the Fox while a show played in the background. This, she marveled, just outside the large box-office doors, was indeed the perfect place for a celebrity to get married.
Do I knock?
She peered through the black doors. She could make out Gemma, standing inside with a cameraman. Oh.
Great.

Gemma looked in her direction, rolled her eyes, and stomped over, her thigh-high boots thudding so loudly that they could be heard even outside the door. “You’re late.”