Elly In Bloom (22 page)

Thirty minutes and a bit of a workout later, Elly whipped a brush through her curly hair and pushed it back with a headband. She headed down to her kitchen – her favorite room in the house. Aaron had painted the walls a bright and happy red, with his signature flowers along the baseboard. Yellow Georgia light blazed through floor to ceiling windows, and Elly’s bountiful garden peeked in from outside. She kissed her finger and touched the picture of her mother on the fridge.
Miss you, Momma.
She pulled the door open and gathered eggs, cheese and red peppers to make breakfast omelets. As delicious smells drifted up the kitchen, Aaron padded down the stairs fresh from his morning cigarette.

“Mornin’ beautiful,” he said as he dropped into his chair.

“What are you up to today?”

“Not much. I’m sure that Jeff will have me run thankless errands for random items all day. After that, I’m meeting Cassie for lunch at Hopkins. That will be really nice - I miss her. Plus, they have those amazing crab cakes.”

“Those are delicious,” he agreed. He patted his belly. “I would know.”

“Yeah right,” Elly slid an omelet onto his plate. “You never gain weight, no matter what you eat.”

“It’s a gift,” he said, taking a long sip of the coffee Elly placed in front of him next to his steaming omelet.

“What are you doing today? Are you still working on Evening Ghosts?” she asked.

“I think so. I just can’t seem to get the left corner perfect.” He tapped the side of his head. “I know it’s lurking somewhere in here. Let me get some feedback from you.”

Aaron ran up the stairs quickly and came back carrying his canvas. He pulled Elly onto his lap while she ate her omelet and kissed the side of her neck.

“Now look at this. Do you see here how the lines don’t meet up, but rather curve here? It is becoming arcane, no? I wanted it to be sensual, but it seems cold….perhaps if I had a model…”

His hand crept up her shirt.

“NO MORE!” she cried, standing up. “You already had your fun this morning. I’m beginning to think that we have more sex than any married couple I’ve ever met. Also, I’m dressed for work. Like my new shoes?”

Elly lifted a red heel. Aaron loved sexy shoes, and while Elly much preferred flip flops, she loved the way Aaron looked at her when she wore the uncomfortable things.

“El, those are hot.” He grinned naughtily.

She looked back at the canvas. “Aaron, your work is beautiful. I like this new figure here. Maybe you can integrate her with this line, as if they are connected by the stem.”

Aaron’s beautiful face contorted with thought lines. “Hmmm…I could see that. Yeah, I think that might work.” He pushed Elly off his lap. “As for today, I think I’ll probably be locked in the studio, maybe get some more inspiration at the library. I love the old texts and pictures in the Renaissance section.”

“Such a romantic time period,” sighed Elly, “Big dresses, love letters, suitors…”

“You don’t need a suitor, you have me.”

“Then where are my love letters?”

Aaron ran his fingers across her cheek. “Maybe I’ll paint you one.”

Elly grabbed her thermos and threw her plate into the sink. “My favorite kind. Okay, I’m off to work. I love you – have I told you that today?”

Aaron opened the fridge and peered inside. “I don’t think so, but it never gets old.”

“Well, I love you.”

“You too. I’ll call you later.”

Elly headed to the foyer.

“Wait!” Aaron ran up beside her, adorable in a wrinkled t-shirt and flannel pants. He looked nervous as he grabbed her hands. “I don’t deserve you, you know? You’re a marvelous wife, and I’m just a bum who lives with you.”

Elly took his stubbly cheeks in her hand. “Nonsense. You are Aaron Schuster, the most talented painter in Georgia. Your work speaks to women, to everyone. It spoke to me. It made me fall in love with you.” She kissed him again. “I’m going to work. If I stay another minute, I’ll be forced to call in sick.”

Aaron straightened up quickly. “I suppose you must,” he said dramatically. Call me when you are on your way home – I think I want to cook dinner tonight. How does minestrone sound?”

“Incredible.” Elly closed the door behind her.

After her fifteen-minute drive to work, winding past both antebellum mansions and trailer parks, Elly entered the office, her thermos of hot chocolate in hand. She had barely settled at her desk when Jeff came around the corner with a mischievous smile on his face.

“You’ll never guess what I have in mind for you today.”

Elly sighed. “I can only imagine.”

“You finished the notes on the Magellan meeting, correct?”

Elly nodded as she organized her desk. “Done and emailed.”

“Fantastic. Here’s what I need: I was thinking that when I was in the service 30 years ago, there was this nurse. She helped me when my leg was shattered. And I would like to send her a gift basket, preferably with exotic fruit of some sort. So, if you could track her down and get a gift basket sent, that would be great.”

Elly suppressed the need to roll her eyes. “I’ll need more information than that Jeff,” she explained patiently.

“Oh, of course, of course. Uh, she had brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.”

And with that, he shut himself back into his office, where Elly knew he would be playing online poker and watching ESPN. She settled herself into her chair, smiled at the picture of her, Aaron and her mother on her wedding day, and then set about finding a woman with brown hair, big boobs and a small waist.

Around 11:00, her desk phone rang.

“Jeff Burhope’s office,” she answered.

“Elly?”

Elly smiled and spun her chair around. “Cassie! Hey! I am so excited to see you today. I miss you! And I am seriously ready for some wine and crab cakes. You would not believe what I have been doing this morning.”

There was a long pause on the line.

“Cassie?”

Elly heard her friend inhale deeply. “I can’t make it today. I’m so sorry. I was really looking forward to it! Maddy has the flu, and I hate to make the babysitter clean up after that. Eight bucks an hour isn’t enough to clean up Exorcist-level puking.”

Elly felt a twinge of disappointment. “That’s okay, Cassie, I understand. Just promise that we will get together next week sometime.”

“We will. I miss you and I have this amazing new teal blouse that needs to be taken out on the town.”

“Okay, well, I better get back to Jeff’s new obsession.”

“I can’t wait to hear details on that. Oh no, Maddy is running for the bathroom….” The phone went dead. Elly hung up feeling a little deflated. Now she had no friend and no lunch, a bad combination on any day.

She picked up the phone and dialed Aaron. The house phone rang and rang. He was probably in the studio – he never heard the phone while he was in there. Once he started painting, the rest of the world was tuned out, and it was him, his canvas and his music, which blared loudly from speakers set around the room. She could either run down to the iffy Indian restaurant down the street, eat the stale Heath bar in her desk, or she could run home and eat with Aaron. Elly made a snap decision. She needed to stop by the library anyway for research purposes, and their house was barely three minutes from there. He seemed off this morning, she thought, like the painting was weighing heavily on his mind. She would grab lunch on the way home and they could talk about it over some salads from Charlie’s.

Elly grabbed her purse and poked her head into Jeff’s office.

“I’m heading to the library to look at some micro-films about nurse stations during the Vietnam War.”

Jeff nodded and waved his hand at her, absorbed in the Falcons game. “Okay, thanks!”

Elly shut the door quietly behind him. She bounced out to her Tercel, thinking of seeing Aaron’s bright smiling face when she surprised him. Things had been a little off since her mother’s death, with bouts of Elly being depressed, combined with the mediocre success of Aaron’s last gallery showing. It seemed, however, that the veil of sadness was lifting, and there had been new life injected into their relationship in the past couple months. Elly couldn’t put her hand on it, but it seemed that one day their quiet arguments had turned into kisses, and that Aaron had a new and passionate outlook on things. When she watched him whistling around the house, cleaning brushes and categorizing his art books, Elly was filled with such a rush of love that it sometimes overwhelmed her in its sheer volume. It crashed over her, leaving her breathless and captive to Aaron’s every look. Aaron was her everything and she was his. Together their love was…
Okay, no need to get carried away,
Elly thought to herself, as she popped in an Elton John CD.

Driving through Peachtree, Elly relished the air conditioning that blasted her hair back from her shoulders. She loved Georgia fiercely, but it got so hot that it sometimes made her nauseous, and this July was the hottest on record. Humming along with the music, she wound through the streets and pulled up outside her house after a quick stop at the library and Charlie’s. It was her dream house. Beige and grey brick cemented the walkway up to the white columns and washboard roof. Balsam apple vines wove around fire red celosia that Elly had planted on the side of the walkway. She loved the way the porch creaked when she placed her foot on the thin wood, and the way the door swung open so grandly to announce that she was home.

Walking in the door, she could hear Aaron’s music blaring wildly from his studio upstairs. She smiled and placed the salads onto the counter, and pulled out two crystal wine goblets. Above the fridge were a couple of wine bottles, remnants of house warming and dinner parties. She grabbed a bottle of Pinot Noir and poured it into two glasses, making sure that Aaron’s brimmed to the edge. Moving her hips to the pulsating music coming down from upstairs, Elly swung open the fridge and grabbed a brick of cheese. She sliced it into small squares and placed it on a large serving plate with the two salads and the wine. She glanced in the mirror over the stove. She was a little disheveled from the heat, but at least her hair was tame. Her wide blue eyes blinked back at her. This should be fun, she told herself. She picked up the tray, balancing it delicately against her heavy breasts and headed up the stairs.

Aaron’s studio was on the top level of the house. Tiptoeing was unnecessary – Aaron’s music was so loud that Elly could barely hear herself think. Rounding the small corner of stairs, she pushed open the black door to the studio. It was empty. The lights were off and the Evening Ghost canvas stood silently under the skylight. Huh, she thought, where is he? She heard some rumbling from the middle level of the house. Oh, he was in the bedroom – hopefully showering since he didn’t yesterday. She smiled in spite of herself.

Having an artist for a husband made certain things, like not showering on a normal basis, not only tolerable, but sometimes adorable. She turned around on the stairs and made her way to the master bedroom, singing along softly with the music. She kicked open the master bedroom door, her hands holding the tray.

“Guess who brought…”

There was a naked back. That was the first thing Elly saw. Long and curving, ribs covered with glowing pale skin. A single bead of sweat ran from her neck to the curve of her butt. Her hair, long, thick and red, was tangled up in Aaron’s ink-stained hand.

Elly was struck by how a hand could grasp so desperately. His face was intense, staring into his lover’s eyes, a sigh on his lips. She had never seen him look more determined, or more passionate. Elly felt the whole house was collapsing around her. She dropped the tray, flinging cheese, wine and salad all over their hardwood floor. Aaron’s lust-filled eyes met hers.

“ELLY!!! Oh my God, GET UP!” The girl leapt off Aaron and pulled the sheet around her, but not before Elly had a chance to see a model’s naked physique.

Aaron was heaving. “Elly, it’s not what it looks like. I mean, it is, but it’s not...”

“GET OUT!” Elly screamed at the top of her lungs. “GET OUT, GET OUT!”

The girl grabbed for her clothes and tried to move around Elly. Her green eyes were unrepentant and defiant as she walked past her, reeking of sex and oil paint. She stopped and eyed Elly up and down.

“It makes sense,” she said dismissively, striding down the stairs before Elly had a chance to push her.

Aaron stood before her, naked and shaking.

“Elly…” he said, reaching toward her.

Elly’s fury rushed at him. “How DARE you say my name? Who is she?? WHY would you do this to me??” Her hands were shaking, and she swallowed the sob building in her throat as tears ran down her face. “You are my
husband! You took a VOW
…WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS??”

Aaron shook his head sadly. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Understand
what
?” Elly whispered.

Aaron yanked on his pants. “I needed to feel again. I needed that passion back. My work has suffered since you checked out. You used to be my muse, and now…now you are just my WIFE. The last six months I’ve spent taking care of YOU. Seeing you sad all the time, making sure you don’t get too depressed, listening to you endlessly talk about her…”

Elly lost control and screamed at him. “My mother DIED, Aaron! What’s
your
excuse?! It’s not MY fault that your show failed, that your work sucks! And yes Aaron, it sucks!”