Chapter 7 All My Heart
SEVEN
ALL MY HEART
Shanti’s vodka tonic reloaded, I made myself an elderflower, blackberry gin concoction, we switched to plastic tumblers (most of us at the Oasis had plastic cocktail gear for safe courtyard consumption), and we headed out.
As per usual for an OSRA meeting, the outdoor furniture and the tenants’ personal furniture we had outside our doors had been arranged in a mish-mosh theater style setting in the grassy area by the big shade tree.
Also as per usual, Zach and Bill, our association co-presidents, who were a couple, were up front, fiddling with a portable microphone.
Not as per usual, there were two tall-ish, wide-ish blobs covered in sheets standing at the front.
And really not as per usual, Martha was hanging with Zach and Bill (we could just say Zach and Bill had horned in as OSRA co-presidents, Martha dissented, everyone outvoted Martha, Martha wasn’t over it, and this was often reiterated at OSRA meetings).
Raye, Luna, Jess and Harlow were there, but Joey and Gemma were still on shift at SC, so they were not. Though, most of the other tenants were.
More usual: Cap, Eric, Javi and Jacob had assumed badass poses (the one Luke pulled off in the parking lot yesterday: crossed arms, planted feet set wide) off to the side because, we’d learned, badasses stood at the ready even at tenant meetings.
Alexis, sitting front and center, waved at us as we approached, and we headed her way.
When I sat beside her, she took my hand and said excitedly, “After this, I’ll come over and we’ll talk cake.”
She bounced in her chair on the word “cake.”
And this was a cake I could get behind, no burnout, I was so happy for her and Jacob, so I smiled. “Absolutely.”
Shanti, seated next to me, leaned forward and asked Alexis, “Any clue what this is about?”
Alexis shook her head. “None.” She looked to me. “And I hope it doesn’t last long. I have so many ideas for our cake, and so many pictures, I worry you’re going to wish you wouldn’t have agreed to make it for us.”
“Babe, I’ve dealt with many a bride in my time. I’ve got practice. We’ll narrow it down,” I assured.
She smiled gratefully as we heard Zach’s voice coming from the speakers Bluetoothed to the microphone, “Testing, testing. Sibilance. Sibilance.”
“You aren’t a roadie for Blue Oyster Cult, for shit’s sake,” Martha snapped at him.
“More cowbell!” Rhea shouted.
I suppressed a giggle. Shanti beside me, and Raye, Luna, Jess and Harlow in the row behind us, didn’t bother and laughed out loud.
Zach gave Martha a glare then turned to the crowd. “Bringing the ad hoc Oasis Square Residents Association meeting to order. Is our secretary ready to take minutes?”
“I am!” Linda called, pen poised over her notepad.
“Jeez, we’re probably going to be discussing the pressing matter of how short we want the grass clipped,” Shanti muttered. “We hardly need minutes.”
She wasn’t wrong.
The OSRA was a relatively new thing, but since it formed, we’d had a lot of meetings that were really just covers for community cocktail hours because the company that owned the complex was the greatest (I’ll bid you to remember my mention of window boxes we didn’t have to take care of), therefore, we didn’t have anything to discuss.
Though, Martha often called them simply to bitch about how Zach and Bill horned in as co-presidents, but even then, they became cocktail hours.
“All right,” Zach said. “For the first and only matter of business, I’m turning it over to Martha.”
There was a collective groan, which made me stifle another giggle.
Martha shot an acid look to her audience and took the microphone.
I noticed movement out the side of my eyes, turned that way, and saw Gabe assume his position with the Hot Guy Brigade.
And yep, there was that thrill again.
Ugh.
He was looking at me, and when he caught my eye, he jutted his chin, and his lips did a sexy little curl, taking his equally sexy beard with them.
My hoo-ha woke up with a purr.
Ugh!
He’s so scrummy, Dreamer cooed.
God made them that way to test us, Logic countered. And we will best the test, I vow it!
You are so not fun, Dreamer accused.
“Okay,” Martha began, regaining my attention. “As we all know, that ma—”
Zach, standing close to her, elbowed her visibly and aggressively.
Martha loaded up another acid look and unleashed it at him before she cleared her throat, forgetting the microphone was close to her mouth, which was a rather unpleasant sound when it was amplified, and she continued.
“As we all know, Alexis’s…” she seemed to struggle for a word and settled on, “sire…”
“Sire?” Shanti whispered on an amused chuckle.
“…has refused to do his fatherly—”
“Martha,” Bill bit.
I looked to Alexis.
She’d gone pale.
I turned to Jacob.
He’d gone homicidal.
Okay, what was up?
And if Martha fucked up whatever this was, Jacob might have to wait in line to kill her.
I grabbed Alexis’s hand as Martha started again.
“Okay, fuck it,” Martha spat. Then she got to it.
“Alexis and Jacob are paying for their own wedding, and we all want them to have what they want without worrying about money, so we took a collection and…” She turned to the speaker, grabbed something off the top of it, strode to Alexis and shoved a fat, stuffed-full-of-cash envelope at her.
“There it is. Seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-five dollars.”
Alexis gasped.
I gasped.
Slowly, Alexis took the envelope.
Martha then pulled a folded slip of paper out of her bra and thrust it Alexis’s way.
“Tex, Nancy and Tito’s contribution,” she stated.
Alexis unfolded the paper.
It was a check for twenty-five hundred dollars.
Alexis gasped.
I gasped.
I mean, she didn’t even work at SC!
“And the tall GI Joe guy from that Nightingale shop said they were covering booze,” Martha kept on.
“The tall GI Joe guy” could mean any of them, but I was guessing she was referring to Mace, the managing partner of the Phoenix branch.
Patsy stood. “And I can’t pay for the flowers, but I can arrange them. I’m really good at it. I did my cousin’s wedding, and she was so happy. We’ll talk.”
If I wasn’t shocked enough at all that was going down, this was when Gabe spoke. “My cousin Ava is a graphic designer. She’s gonna do your invites. The Rock Chicks are paying for printing. She’ll call you.”
Alexis was sniffling, but Zach called grandly, “Bill!”
At that point, Bill whisked the sheet off one of the tall-ish, wide-ish things up front to expose a big easel, on which was a massive, colorful, professional illustration of right where we were sitting.
But on it, instead of a mish-mosh of chairs and a makeshift speaker, there were tidy lines of white chairs, extravagant sprays of flowers, ribbons, bunting adorning the upper balcony railings, and an exquisite arch.
And there was a bride and groom standing facing each other under that arch. She was blonde, he was black-haired and bearded, and they had more than a hint of looking like Alexis and Jacob.
Bill then went to the other stand and yanked off the sheet.
Such was his exuberance, the easel tipped over and the poster floated down, but he rushed to right it.
When he did, we saw it was another illustration, this time of the whole courtyard, but now the congregation chairs were gone, and in their place were tables and chairs, seating arrangements that included couches and spread rugs, fountains, more bunting and an abundance of flowers.
There were guests drawn in, all faceless, but among them were that blonde and dark-headed guy, sipping champagne.
Zach wrested the microphone from Martha and spoke into it.
“So, Bill and I have a friend who owns a party supply company, the kind that does all the chic stuff rich and famous people use, and they’re gonna give us half off rentals of whatever you pick. Though, we have to do transport, setup and return.”
Bill strode up to Zach and took the microphone from his partner. “Now, these are just ideas.”
Ideas?
They were professionally illustrated and poster-mounted in color and on easels with someone drawing Alexis and Jaccob in them.
“If you want to be in a church when you say, ‘I do,’ or have your reception somewhere else, we get it,” Bill said.
“It’s your wedding. We all want you to have what you want.
” He slung his arm out to the drawings like a model trying to get people to look at the car she was promoting, and not her in a bikini.
“This can be whatever you want, and it can be set up wherever you want. This is just a ‘for example.’ We’ll sit down with the party supply people when you pick a venue. ”
Shanti was at my ear, whispering, “You weren’t asked for a contribution because they knew you’d already gifted the cake.”
I nodded as I squeezed Alexis’s hand.
Then I released her hand and took her in my arms when her sob sounded.
I had to let her go when she doubled over, buried her face in her hands and kept sobbing.
A tick after she did that, Jacob was crouching in front her, reaching to stroke her back and murmuring, “Hey, baby, hey.”
Alexis didn’t straighten so Jacob did, and while he did, he lifted his woman in his arms.
He started striding toward their apartment, but when he got close to Bill and Zach, Zach said in a horrified tone, “We didn’t mean to upset her.”
At that, Alexis leapt gracefully like the ballerina she was from her man’s arms and threw herself at Zach, who caught her.
“You’re the best big brother ever!” she wailed.
Zach rounded her with his arms and stared at Jacob, stiff backed and clearly fighting emotion, because he wasn’t her blood brother, but no one missed her meaning.
Bill didn’t fight it. He started crying.
I started crying.
I heard Harlow whimpering behind me.
Alexis threw herself at Bill next. “You too!”
“Oh, girlie, you know we love you,” Bill said.
She pulled free and whirled on Martha. “And just to say, I know this was all instigated by you. So you don’t fool anybody. You’re pure gold.”
Martha rolled her eyes and let out an offended, “Puh.”
Shanti whispered, “It was so instigated by Martha, and let me tell you, she didn’t let you scrimp on the contribution.”
Collecting over seven thousand dollars?
I had no doubt.
“She should quit her job and become a collector for a loan shark,” Shanti continued.
And now I was fighting laughter again, along with tears.
Facing the crowd, Alexis tossed both her arms out. “You all are, and I love every single one of you with ALL MY HEART!”
Then she dissolved back into sobs, Jacob swung her again in his arms and strode to their apartment, both of them disappearing behind the door.
“She dropped the envelope and check,” Shanti told me.
I reached down to grab them, slid the check in with that thick stash and tucked it in my lap to give it to her when she came over to talk cake.
No one said anything.
The door to Jacob and Alexis’s apartment opened, Jacob’s handsome head appeared, and he called, “We’re having it here.”
A joyful cheer rang from the crowd.
Jacob shut their door.
Oh yeah.
Oasis Square was the best apartment complex in Phoenix.
And maybe the whole damned world.