Save The Date Part 9

"Something like that. Not all men are like Leo, you know. Some of us are actually faithful and caring and thoughtful. And fun to be around."

"All the men I know who fit that description in this town are gay," Cara pointed out.

"You never meet any new men. All you ever do is work. And you'll never meet anybody nice again if you keep up like this," Bert said.

"Has it occurred to you that I don't want to meet anybody new?" Cara tried to keep her voice light. "I'm done with men." She reached down and scooped the wriggling Poppy into her arms, burying her nose in the dog's rose-scented curls.

"I've got a dog now," she informed her a.s.sistant. "She never steals the covers. Never lies. And she would never, ever sleep with some s.k.a.n.ky dental hygienist with short arms and big b.o.o.bs. Plus, Poppy loves me unconditionally."

"Except when she runs away," Bert said.

"That reminds me," Cara said. "When I was out walking Poppy earlier, the jerk ran right past me-with his real dog in tow."

"But he did go to all the trouble to track you down here and bring her back yesterday," Bert said. "So he can't be that big a jerk."

"You don't know him like I do," Cara said. "Look, Bert. I've got to get moving if I'm going to get over to Breitmueller's for Lillian's flowers. Will you keep an eye on Poppy?"

"That's cool," Bert said. He looked down at Poppy, who was standing by the window, wagging her tail as she watched a woman walk by with a pair of dachshunds on leash. "But maybe you should think about getting Poppy microchipped. Just in case she gets out again. Right?"

"All right, all right, I will," Cara said. "The very next time I have a day off."

11.

On Tuesday, Cara used one hip to b.u.mp open the door at the Savannah Golf Club at 10:45 a.m. Her face was beaded with perspiration and she was well aware that she looked a hot mess.

The previous day's pickup from Breitmueller's had been a failure.

She'd arrived at the wholesaler shortly before noon. But the buckets of flowers holding her order were nothing like what she'd been promised.

Gaudy hot pink dyed carnations, some sad-looking cream spray roses, a few Stargazer lilies, and loads of stiff yellowish baby's breath.

She marched over to the office, where Wendy Breitmueller was typing away on her computer terminal.

"Oh, hi, Cara," Wendy said, not looking up. "We pulled your order, it's back out in the warehouse."

"That's not what I ordered, Wendy," Cara said sharply. "Come on! Baby's breath? And those yucky dyed carnations? Where are my tulips? My pink spray roses? My gerberas?"

Wendy sighed. "Look, it's not my fault. Allen took a big phone order just before I talked to you, and he'd already promised all the stuff you wanted to another client. You know how it goes. This is our busy season, and unless you call up a week ahead of time and let us know what you need, you take what you get. First come, first served."

"But you promised me," Cara reminded her. "Not less than an hour ago. I've got a baby shower tomorrow for one of my regular clients, and there is no way I can show up at the golf club with that mess out there."

"You're welcome to walk around in the warehouse and pick out whatever else looks good," Wendy said with a shrug. Reluctantly, she got up from her computer and led Cara back into the chilled air of the warehouse.

Cara saw a huge cl.u.s.ter of buckets lined up near the loading-dock doors, holding what looked like a whole greenhouse full of blooms: peonies, tulips, hydrangeas, orchids, roses, ranunculus, lilies, and more.

"That!" Cara said, pointing. "That's what you promised me."

"Sorry, like I told you, it's all spoken for. Allen's new customer."

"Wow. All that for one client?"

"He's got two shops. Been open in Charleston for a while, and now he's moved over to Savannah too. And he's just as particular about his flowers as you."

Cara felt a twinge of jealousy. "Are all these flowers for Cullen Kane?"

"Sure," Wendy said. "You know him?"

"Just of him," she said. "I guess he has some pretty fancy clients."

"I'd say so," Wendy said.

Cara was still looking at all those flowers by the loading dock. "Wait a minute, Wendy. He's got tons of pink tulips. But I didn't get any. And I specifically ordered three dozen."

Wendy shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it, Cara."

"Since when?" Cara asked. "You're the owner. Come on, Wendy. You know this isn't right. I might not order as many flowers as this new guy, but I've been a good customer. You can't just short me like this. At least split the order with me."

"Oh, Cara," Wendy sighed.

Cara could sense she was softening.

"Wendy? Don't do me like this. Please? I need those tulips."

She shook her head, then gestured toward the buckets of flowers, looking furtively around the warehouse. "I can spare a dozen of these pink tulips."

"Two dozen," Cara said, not too proud to beg. "I've got all these tabletops at the golf club."

"Eighteen," Wendy said. "Take 'em, but be quick about it. I don't want Allen to catch me raiding his customer's order. I'll adjust your bill. Now shoo, before I change my mind."

Cara spent all Tuesday morning scrounging up enough greenery to fill in for the missing flowers for her centerpieces-snipping asparagus ferns from one friend's garden in Ardsley Park, Meyer lemon leaves from a client's courtyard, and silvery-gray lamb's ears from the hip-pocket-sized container garden she tended behind the shop. She made a trip over to Whole Foods and bought four fat pots of pink hydrangeas, wincing at the cash register while she paid retail prices for the flowers.

She'd even made a quick trip out to Wilmington Island, where she knew of a thick patch of blue plumbago growing in the Publix shopping center parking lot. She'd parked her car right by the patch, snipped a big batch, then fled like a thief in the night. It wasn't really stealing, she'd told herself. The plumbago needed tr.i.m.m.i.n.g.

All that foraging put her behind schedule-she'd intended to get to the golf club by ten. She had her arms full-a huge cardboard box containing eight square gla.s.s centerpieces, plus the corsages in their clear plastic clamsh.e.l.l boxes. She looked around the nearly empty lobby, wondering where the party was being held.

Lillian Fanning hurried toward her. She wore a sleeveless coral sheath, matching sling-back heels, and a necklace of twined turquoise, coral, and seed pearls. "Cara!" she called. "We're back here, in the grill." Lillian looked pointedly down at the thin gold watch on her wrist.

"Hi, Lillian," Cara said. "Sorry to be a little late."

Lillian glanced over at the box. "Those look nice," she said. "I'm so glad you could do this. I know it was short notice, but after seeing all the beautiful centerpieces you did for Torie, I just couldn't settle for those dreary little half-dead flower sprigs the club puts out for luncheons."

"Happy to do it," Cara said, struggling to keep up in Lillian's wake.

The tables in the grill had already been set for luncheon. Pale pink cloths covered the rounds, and somebody, Lillian, she a.s.sumed, had placed tiny wrapped boxes at each place setting. Cara hurried around the room, depositing the centerpieces where Lillian directed.

They heard voices coming from the doorway. "Oh good," Lillian said, turning to see the first arrivals. "That's Lindsay."

"Then I'll just get out of your hair," Cara said. She unloaded the corsages onto a chair and made a beeline for the door.

She was streaking across the lobby when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Cara! Yoo-hoo!"

Vicki Cooper and a woman Cara didn't recognize were walking toward her.

Cara pasted a smile on her face and wiped her palms on the seat of her capris. She was sweaty and her clothes were smudged with specks of mud from her morning of greenery wrangling, and she should have stopped back at the shop to change her clothes before delivering the flowers to the club, but time had been her enemy all morning.

Vicki Cooper, on the other hand, looked fresh as a daisy in a sleeveless black silk dress, silver wedge sandals, and chunky silver bracelets and hoop earrings. Vicki's s.h.i.+mmery white hair hung to her shoulders. Her deep blue eyes were lightly made up and she wore a peach-colored lipstick. At sixty, Vicki looked like what Cara wanted to be when she grew up.

"Pretend you don't see me," Cara told Vicki, giving her a quick hug. "I've been playing in the dirt all morning, and I'm a big mess."

"You look fine! Cara, I want you to meet Faith McCurdy. Faith, this is our favorite florist in town, Cara Kryzik. She did all the flowers for our son's wedding, and she's an absolute genius."

The other woman was in her early sixties, dressed in a tidy s.h.i.+rtwaist dress, heels, and hose. "So nice to meet you," she murmured.

"Faith's nephew Tyler Carver is married to Lindsay Fanning," Vicki said. "Is that what you're doing here? Flowers for the baby shower?"

"Just delivered them," Cara said. She looked around the lobby and saw several groups of women walking toward the entrance to the grill. "And I better move along."

"Oh, don't run off just yet," Vicki protested, catching Cara by the arm. "Faith, you go ahead on. I'll be along in a minute. I just want to chat with Cara for a moment."

Vicki drew Cara to an alcove on the far side of the lobby, gesturing for her to sit on a settee looking out on the golf course.

"I won't take a minute of your time," Vicki started. "Just wanted to check. Did you hear from Marie Trapnell?"

"I met with her yesterday. Thanks so much for the referral."

"Well?" Vicki raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"It's ... complicated," Cara said. "Marie is very nice, and we hit it off immediately. But it sounds as though her ex-husband is the one who is really running the show. She says he's got another florist in town he's very interested in working with. I told her I understand..."

"What?" Vicki's voice echoed through the high-ceilinged room. "Are you telling me Gordon Trapnell now fancies himself as an event planner?"

Cara looked around the room, uneasy at discussing a client's private life, even if the client might not even turn out to be her client.

"According to Marie, Mr. Trapnell wants to be involved in every aspect of his daughter's wedding."

"Oh, puh-leez," Vicki drawled. "Gordon doesn't care a thing in the world about this wedding. He just wants to make a big show of being the adoring daddy to his darling Brookie, because he's eaten up with guilt over his shabby treatment of poor Marie. Which he should be. But Brooke's a smart girl. She has no illusions about Daddy Rat."

"This doesn't sound like something I need to get in the middle of," Cara demurred.

"What exactly did Marie tell you-about the circ.u.mstances of her divorce?" Vicki asked, leaning forward. "Come on, you can tell me. It's not like it's a secret."

Cara shrugged. "She didn't get into the details. She just said she thinks Brooke feels torn-between loyalty to her mother, and anger at her father. Something about the second wife?"

"Patricia," Vicki said. "Or Patti, as she used to be called before she decided to reinvent herself. Patricia Showalter Linencamp Trapnell. Do you know her?"

"No."

"You haven't missed much," Vicki said. "What a remorseless little tramp she is. And when I think about how she had all of us fooled..."

Cara twisted around in her chair. She really needed to get back to the shop. And she didn't want to be seen slinging mud with Vicki Cooper right in the middle of the golf-club lobby. It just didn't look right.

"I know, I know, you think this is all just petty gossip," Vicki said. "But you know me, Cara. I never gossip."

Cara struggled to keep a straight face.

"How did you leave it with Marie?" Vicki asked.

"I just asked if she could let me know by Friday whether or not her ex had decided to hire this other florist his new wife, Patricia, knows."

"Oh yes, Cullen Kane, boy wonder. Patricia's new best friend. I hear they're practically joined at the hip these days. And that's who Gordon wants to hire to do the flowers for Brooke's wedding?"

"I think so," Cara said. "Although Marie did say her ex might want to interview me."

"Absurd!" Vicki said. "Gordon doesn't know the first thing about flowers. This is all Patricia's doing."

"I might just go ahead and bow out," Cara said. "After all, if they really want Cullen Kane..."

"Don't you dare!" Vicki said sharply. "This is all just a control issue. Gordon wants to prove that he still has Marie under his big fat thumb, that's all."

"Still, if he's paying for his daughter's wedding, you can't blame him for wanting to be consulted."

"Marie doesn't need Gordon's money to pay for Brooke's wedding. She inherited more money than he'll ever think about having, from her grandfather when he pa.s.sed away last year," Vicki confided.

"I've known Gordon for years and years," Vicki said now. "Patricia too, for that matter. And I hate what the two of them have done to Marie. She's a sh.e.l.l of her former self, Cara. Would you believe, she used to be a senior vice president at one of the biggest ad agencies in New York? She's twice as smart as Gordon ever hoped to be, but gave up her career after she married that goober. Even after she had Brooke, Marie was a powerhouse. Headed up the development committee for Brooke's school that raised a five-million-dollar endowment fund, was on the board of the library, she helped get the book festival started here, chaired the United Way campaign..."

"Really?" It was hard for Cara to reconcile the image of a powerful business executive with the nervous, uncertain woman she'd met the previous day.

"The divorce shook her to the core," Vicki confided. She made a face. "When I think of that weasel Patricia, pretending to be Marie's dear friend all those years-it literally makes me sick. You think you know somebody, right? And then they turn out to be a devious, backstabbing b.i.t.c.h."

"You were friends with this Patricia?"

"Honey, we all ran around in the same crowd. Brooke and my Cason started preschool together. Patricia's twins from her first marriage were a year older, and anyway, after Patricia split with Billy, her second husband, she s.h.i.+pped the boys off to military school and that was the last we saw of them. I never liked Patricia, her pretensions were always a little much as far as I was concerned-but our husbands were business a.s.sociates and golf buddies. You know how that works in this town."

Cara did know.

"When Patricia snaked Gordon away from Marie, she did more than just wreck a marriage. She broke up our supper club-couples were taking sides, of course, and it wasn't fun anymore. Our book club dissolved-Marie was the glue, and after she quit coming, because of Patricia, we never got back on track. I know it's selfish of me, considering what Marie has been through, but really, even though it's been four or five years, I'm still so mad about book club I could spit!"