Elly in Love. Colleen Oakes

I’ll start it now. Should I meet you at your place at seven?”

      “Sounds great,” said Elly. She paused, carefully weighing the next sentence on her tongue. “Keith, I’d really like to see your place.”

      “I know,” said Keith firmly. “You will, I promise. And I swear that I’m not homeless.”

      “Okay. I miss you,” whispered Elly.

      “I miss you more,” said Keith.

      Elly reached out for the yellow wall behind the desk. “You know, I’m only a few walls away.” There was a loud retching sound from the design area as Anthony made a puking motion with a shower of peach sweet peas. “Okay, we’re gross. I’ll talk to you later.”

      “Bye.”

      Elly hung up the phone and did a little dance. A date tonight, with Keith. In the short time they’d been dating, he had taken her to the St. Louis Zoo, on a riverboat tour, and to the famous Blueberry Hill. He always took her on creative, fabulous dates, and there was always a hot session of kissing to look forward to. Grinning from ear to ear and her heart tilting in her chest, Elly walked to the cooler.

      “I guess we better design today, huh?” Anthony looked up at her from behind a bucket of periwinkle scabiosa.

      Elly cringed. “That, and we have to scrub the floor today, as well as stock the new blue vases. You know, a new store is sounding better and better. If we’re only twirling a piece of grass in a glass tube, that will take a lot less cleaning.”

      Anthony wiped his forehead. “You don’t have to sell me on it. I know you’ll hate me for saying this, but I think you should give her a chance at running the store. I know she’s is only a senior in high school, but she’s more competent than you give her credit for. And trends are changing. You saw the cover of last month’s Floral Trends.”

      Elly began gathering a handful of white veronicas and tiny blue bachelor buttons to put into a moss-filled cylinder. She had seen it—a twisted root, a single orchid, a small puddle of water, and the headline, “Floral Design Sees a Hot New Trend.” One by one, she draped the flowers over the container lid. “We’ll see how the TV interview goes. Honestly, Anthony, we probably won’t get on BlissBride and this conversation will all be for nothing.”

      Anthony shook his head. “You never know what life will bring your way, Elly Jordan.” He straightened up and wiped his hands on a towel. “Well, time to go get my sandwich from Keith.”

      Elly smiled. “Give him my….”

      Anthony looked over at her, a smile stretched across his friendly face. “Give him your … love?”

      Elly bit her lip and looked away uncomfortably. “Just tell him I said hi.”