11. Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Lydia
A fter the epic fail at the Star Rangers gig. I’m hard-pressed to come up with another idea for my Luke/Sheena pairing. Perhaps I should let them steer their own love ship and trust that they’ll get together without my help. But someone needs to take that first step. Sheena is pretending to be cool, and Luke just seems too shy. Anyway, my matchmaking has been pushed to the back burner because of Rita and Brodie’s wedding preparations and some new bookings that I need to follow up.
In the workshop at Blossoms in Bloom, I assemble a mood board for a silver wedding anniversary. The couple’s family is throwing a surprise party at the church hall here in Oak River. It’s a sizable space to transform into a party fit for a silver celebration. But I’ve done it before a number of times. The church hall is a blank canvas for me to design with color, form, and fragrance.
According to my notes from the consultation, they want loads of blue hues and lavender. The centerpiece is all worked out. It will be a massive wicker heart that I already have in my props store. It gets reused a lot for various events and occasions. The woven wicker is ideal for threading flowers, leaves, trails of vines, ribbons, and twinkly fairy lights. When the heart structure is festooned with blooms it guarantees a ‘wow’ factor when guests arrive at a venue.
I hear the bells tinkle as someone comes into the store. Marty says hi. It’s someone we know. I half listen to what Marty is saying, then he taps the door to my workshop.
“Hi, Lydia.” Molly pokes her head in. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Hey,” I say looking up from the laptop screen and removing my glasses. “Not at all. What’s up?”
“Have you seen this?” Molly waves a folded piece of glossy green paper at me. A flyer, some advertising material, I’m guessing. She walks toward me then lays the brochure down on my worktable. Clear white letters read Green Acres – Horseback Riding hand in hand on the trail; picnic at a gorgeous viewpoint; relaxing on the porch with a glass of vintage Merlot. Love. Smiles. A Happy Ever After. “Let’s register right now.” I hurriedly type the web address into the browser.
“Okay. I’d love to go. Cam is working, so he can’t make it.”
“So, you, me, and Sheena. That would be good.” I click on the registration page and scroll down.
“Alright. I didn’t think about Sheena,” says Molly. “But yeah. Why not?”
“Well, things didn’t really go according to plan at the Star Rangers gig. She had a migraine, left early, and missed the opportunity to slow dance with Luke.”
“Lydia! I thought we’d talked about that, and we agreed to leave love to take its natural course… What will be, will be .”
“No. That’s not what I remember.” I find the website and click the button to register for the event. “Anyway, for whatever reason, it didn’t work out for them at the gig. So, I think the Open Day gives them another go. Another bite of the cherry, so to speak. Don’t you think?”
“Well, from where I was standing, it looked very much as if all the romance was happening to you, my friend.”
“When?”
“At the gig. When they played that Bon Jovi song,” Molly says enunciating each syllable as if I’m hard of hearing.
“No. I don’t think so. I mean, yes, it’s true, I danced with Luke. And I don’t know what you think you saw, Molly. But it was like dancing with my grandpa.” I turn my attention to my phone and pretend to be busy.
“Whatever.” Molly gives me one of her looks, then wanders around my workroom looking at the semi-chaos of half-finished bouquets and arrangements; color charts; botanical posters; shelves of vases; buckets and other receptacles. “Don’t you think you should call Sheena to find out if she’s free to come?”
“Ah, yes. You’re right.” I hadn’t considered that Sheena wouldn’t be free to finally connect with her handsome cowboy at his ranch.
I dial Sheena’s number. She picks up straight away. “Lydia! I was just about to call you.”
“You were?”
“There’s an Open Day at the Dixon place,” Sheena says enthusiastically.
“Green Acres – Horseback Riding Deluxe, includes the centerpiece, table arrangements, and two stands; and Wowzers, includes the centerpiece, table arrangements, five stands, plus garlands and fairy lights on walls and ceiling, and anything else the client has on their wish list. In my experience, a client will consider the Basic first, then nearly always opt for Wowzers in the end.
“It should be pretty quiet today,” I say to Marty as I lean on the counter watching for Sheena’s car. “I think we’re on top of everything regarding the wedding. If you could do a window, that would be brilliant.”
“Great. No problem,” says Marty tidying the rolls of ribbon. “Do you have a theme in mind or are you going to leave it completely up to me?”
“Marty. I trust you one hundred percent. Do one of your showstoppers.”
“Fab.”
Sheena pulls up outside Blossoms in Bloom and toots for me. I grab my purse and wave to Marty as I shoot out of the store.
“I feel like I’m skipping school,” I say as I climb into the back seat of the hotel car. Molly sits up front, beside Sheena. “This is going to be fun.”
“Yes. Fun and I’m getting paid…,” says Sheena. She shifts the car into gear and pulls away from the curb. “…which is a bonus because my new kitchen is going to be fantastic. Although, it’s not cheap. Everything is top of the range, state of the art.”
“I can’t wait to see it, when it’s all done,” I say, leaning forward to listen to Sheena.
“And I can’t wait to have you over for a marvelous dinner that I’m going to cook. Oh my. I’m so happy with what Gary’s doing. He’s completely ripped out the horrible old units that I’ve hated for years. Since Archie walked out.” Sheena indicates then turns down the street leading out of town. “I tell you, getting your living space worked on is like therapy. It really is.”
“That’s so good to hear, Sheena,” says Molly.
“I was going to say you have more pep in your step these days.” I dig Molly’s ribs without Sheena noticing. “Is it just a new kitchen, or is there something else going on?”
“Oh, I think it’s the kitchen. And I feel good. Really good.”
“It’s a shame you left the Star Rangers gig early,” says Molly. “They played one of my all-time favorite Bon Jovi songs, ‘Always’.”
“I love that song,” says Sheena dreamily. “I remember slow dancing with Archie to that song at a high-school dance. We were very young.”
“Well, you could have slow danced with Luke to that song. It’s a shame you had a migraine and had to go home.”
“Oh yeah. It was a shame. The music was way too loud for me. Migraines are no fun, at all.” Sheena drives to the highway. “Did you have a good night?”
“Yes, we did,” I say thinking about slow dancing with Luke. “I had the best dance... with Kate and Molly. But we missed you.”
A stab of guilt causes me to wince. I twist uncomfortably in the back seat. I did miss Sheena on Friday. I had the date all set up for her to dance with Luke. Then when she left and Luke danced with me, that turned things around. But only a bit.
I’m going to do my best to follow through with matchmaking a friend who needs me to do just that. I can’t be falling for the target. That would be ridiculous, against my better judgment and the rules of matchmaking. Although memories of the slow dance and the words of Bon Jovi’s ‘Always’, fill up my imagination and turn me all gooey on the inside.