Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
SUNNY
Both chrysanthemums and rosemary protect against evil spirits.
I stand back in my shop, barely seeing anything. Did I imagine that he wanted to kiss me?
No. I know we had a moment. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him. Pure desire emanated from him and enveloped me. My whole body is freaking out from it. I fan myself then take down and put back up my hair.
I wish he hadn’t left like that. My heart hurts at the thought that I’ve hurt him. I wish I could give him a bouquet that means you confuse me, arouse me, and I’m sorry I hurt you: red carnation for hurt love, sainfoin for confusion, coriander for lust, and rue, of course. That’s for regret.
Do I have any funerals coming up at All Saints Church? What a ridiculous thought—that because I’ve seen him there twice, he’ll be there again. It stops me in my tracks on the way back to my counter. But…the way he just disappeared…
The bell over the door behind me shoots adrenaline through every circuit of my body as I whirl around. But it’s not him. It’s Bev, smiling and waving as she enters.
“Hey Bev, how are—” She’s holding the flowers I just gave to Cor. “Wait…where did you get those flowers?”
“You wouldn’t believe it. This handsome young stranger just handed them to me down the street.
He said it was to make me happy, but it feels like a sign.
It’s Ginnie’s favorite.” She smells them with a wistful sigh.
“But I can’t really bring them home. Orpheus might get into it, and I can’t have him getting sick.
I saw your sticker on them and thought I’d bring them back so you can sell them again.
Do you know what his name is so I can thank him properly? ”
I take them, but I’m so confused. “He told me it was for his mother.”
She winks at me. “Maybe he just wanted an excuse to buy flowers from you.”
“Ha. I doubt it. You know the right man for me has never been born.”
Bev smiles weakly at my standing joke, one she’s heard a hundred times before.
“But…” I persist. “Didn’t he seem a little odd to you? Something not quite…usual?”
Bev’s laughs devolves into a cough. “He was wearing a full wool suit in the middle of July, so his levee isn’t holding back all the floodwaters, if you catch my meaning. But he sure was good-looking. You know, for a man. Didn’t you think so?” She pulls a water bottle from her bag.
“Yeah, he’s gorgeous.” And his lips taste like honey.
“But he just doesn’t seem, I don’t know.
Like a regular person.” I turn back into the shop and walk to the counter.
“He was at two different funerals in the past two weeks, dressed the same way he was today.” I laugh.
“I mean, is he a ghost or some kind of angel of death?” I start taking the bouquet apart and look up to be sure Bev isn’t questioning my sanity.
But she’s still standing by the door, her hand on a display shelf. “I think I’d better head home. I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”
I freeze. “Bev, are you okay?”
She crumples to the floor.
“Bev!” I grab my phone and run to her. Dial 911 while I feel for a pulse. It’s there, but weak.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
With shaking hands I put them on speaker. “3313 Azrael Street, Sunny Day Flower Shop. My friend just collapsed. She’s in her eighties. Please come fast.”
“What is the phone number you are calling from?”
I rattle off my number and grab a heart pillow from a display and gently lift her head to place it underneath. “Are paramedics on their way?”
“Yes, they’re on their way. Is the patient conscious?
“Bev?” Her eyes are closed, and she’s not reacting to me. But her chest is rising and falling. “No, I don’t think so. But she’s breathing.”
Bev opens her eyes and turns her head away from me. With a soft smile and even softer breath, she says, “It’s you.”
I freeze. There’s no one in the shop with us. “Bev! Beverly, look at me. Stay with me,” I cry. “Help’s coming.”
Movement on the other side of the door. The paramedics must be—
Cor steps through the solid glass door, and my heart slams against my rib cage. I’m not even surprised, I’m betrayed. He tilts his head and frowns sorrowfully at me.
“No!” I roar, placing my body across Bev’s. “You can’t have her,” I shout.
“Ma’am, is there someone else there? Are you in danger?”
I ignore the dispatcher because Cor is walking slowly toward us.
“All is well, Beverly. All is well, Sunny Day,” he says quietly.
“What are you?” I yell. “The Grim Reaper? The Angel of Death? Are you coming to steal her soul away?” He kneels before Bev, and his gaze shifts to her. She’s staring back at him so peacefully. His mouth is moving, but I can’t hear anything he’s saying.
“Don’t listen to him, Bev. He’s trying to steal your soul!”
“Ma’am, can you repeat that, please?”
His brows lower as his gaze flicks to me, but his expression smooths as he keeps talking to Bev. He holds his hand just beside her head with the gentlest expression on his face.
He feels right, but this is all wrong. “Don’t touch her!” I slap at his hand, but my hand goes straight through it. “Go away!” I cry. “You can’t have her!” I grab a handful of chrysanthemums and fling them at him, but they go right through him, and he doesn’t even seem to have noticed.
“Ma’am, I need you to tell me what’s happening. Is someone threatening you?”
Bev smiles at Cor, closes her eyes, and all of the air leaves her body.
“No!” I cry. I throw a potted rosemary right through his chest. My tears have made a prism of the world, and in its refraction I see Cor stand up with his hand outstretched. A pale, insubstantial ghost of my friend separates from her body and stands, too.
All the hair on the back of my neck raises, and I stagger back. “Hurry!” I whimper at the phone, rooted to the spot. “He’s taking her soul!”
“Ma’am, I need you to stay calm and tell me what’s happening. Who is there with you?”
Bev reaches her hand toward Cor. Her mouth moves, but I can’t hear what she says.
“Don’t take his hand, Bev! Please, don’t take his hand!” I cry.
Her ghostly hand hesitates, and she turns to look at me.
It feels like all my blood drains from me at the supernaturally piercing gaze of my friend. She turns back to Cor and gestures to me. I can’t hear what he’s saying to her now, but he puts his open hand closer to her. She smiles and nods and puts her small hand into his big one.
“No! Don’t go with him!”
But they ignore my sobbing screams. They turn toward the door together and step forward. Their luminous lights go out, and I’m alone.
“What did you do?” I shout to nothing.
“Ma’am the paramedics are arriving now. Can you tell me what’s happening? Are you safe?”
I’m sobbing with grief and fear and relief at the red and blue lights appearing outside my shop door. But they’re too late. Bev’s body is here, but she is gone.