Page 26 of Morning's Light

“Maybe…” Astix bent to retrieve her phone and punched a number. “Leo? I’m on the way home. I’ve got news.”

**

Aisanna reached the rear door to the shop moments later, soaked to the bone and shivering. She dug into her purse and only then realized she didn’t have the keys with her.

“You have to be kidding me.”

Her head banged against the metal. Lines of icy rain cut along the plane of her jaw. She kept her face low and raised her hand to pound against the metal, rhythmic booms resounding until she made out the sound of footsteps from inside.

“Come on, come on!” she yelled. “Open up. It’s me.”

Locks clicked and tumblers released. She jolted forward when Elon pulled open the door. “You made it.” He peered at Aisanna. “And you look awful.”

A hand shot to his mouth to squelch the rest of whatever he’d been about to say. “Tell me I look awful one more time and I’m going to permanently sew your lips closed,” she threatened.

“Sorry,” he mumbled through her hand. “You shouldn’t be out in the rain. Get inside.”

“Where’s the emergency? Why did you not call in a backup?” She cut right to the chase, pushing past him with a pained exhalation.

Elon trailed after her. “I did. And here you are.”

“I mean our regular employees,” she said in exasperation.

“The weather, boss. No one else wanted to come out. Johan yelled something about not risking his neck for minimum wage then hung up on me. I tried to call the Petersons and see if they wanted to reschedule but they said everything is still on, no return on their deposit if they cancel the day of. Like I told you over the phone, the freesias did not come in and I can’t put everything together myself.”

He hated getting her out of bed. More than ever she needed to rest, to recover from whatever horrors she’d gone through, whatever harm had come to her body. He blamed himself for the freesias. If only he had been more vigilant with the ordering and kept a better eye on deliveries. Then there would be no need for her to be there. It was true, he couldn’t handle things himself, but he damn well would have tried instead of forcing her to come in.

And there she was. If anyone could pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat, it was Aisanna.

“I understand the weather. It’s just a pain in the ass.” She threw off her jacket and, though her gait appeared unsteady, grabbed an apron from a nearby hook. She took in the familiar scent of the shop, flowers, and greenery, and Elon watched some of the tension ease.

“You don’t feel well and this makes everything ten times worse. You have bigger things to deal with than work crap.”

She shot him a look over her shoulder. After a long breathy sigh, she came out with “Absolutely.”

She would do what was necessary. No questions asked, no hesitation. It was one of the things he admired most about her.

“You’re better at time management than I am. Show me what needs to be done,” he replied.

“You said the magic words.”

Even after four days at home, she was ready to go. His esteem of her bumped up a notch and he summarized the situation for her. They got to work, and Elon tried to add a bounce to his step for her benefit. Time ticked away with neither one glancing up for anything less than moving on to the next bouquet. The next garland. The next centerpiece. They took breaks to switch out buckets beneath the busted water pipe.

Soon she forgot about the pain in her joints. She forgot about her worries, the plan they hadn’t been able to formulate, and dove into the vigor of creation. Elon had music on for her. Another folksy tune with the wail of a fiddle and the richer, sensual tones of a cello. A woman’s voice cooed to them over the music, melodically telling them about the man who did her wrong.

He hummed along with the tune and made up the words he didn’t know. Aisanna listened to the way his voice rose and fell along with the notes he missed and those he did not. He carried her away until the work did not feel like a burden.

She made sure the rest of the arrangements were in order before excusing herself to the back room. “I’m going to go see if I can find some kind of replacement that will work. Or maybe we misplaced those freesias. The temp could have mislabeled the boxes or something.” She started down the hall, then turned around. “Who the hell orders freesias in February, anyway? The Petersons are out of their minds.”

“You can look, but I’m telling you, I searched through the boxes over and over again. There’s nothing back there and I blame myself for the oversight.”

“You can blame yourself later if you want. Now keep a handle on this while I search.”

While Elon distracted himself with the final changes, Aisanna inspected her inventory. Exhaustion threatened her, more now than it had earlier in the day. She was running on fumes and falling short of her very high expectations for herself.

Get it together, girl.

She pushed those thoughts to the side, as well as the overwhelming desire to turn on every single light, and willed herself to focus.

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