Elly in Love (The Elly Series) by Colleen Oakes

She reminded Elly of a prize-winning horse. Gemma harshly reprimanded her photographer, “You can’t talk to her. Just take the pictures.” She forced a smile onto her frozen lips. “Hello, Elly, I’m Gemma Reynolds. We spoke on the phone, remember?”
    Elly cringed. “Yes, yes, I remember. I always check my phone now to make sure it’s hung up. Ha, ha.” Oh my gosh, what was she talking about?
    “I’m glad. That was certainly unfortunate.” Gemma spoke every word with short, clipped pronunciation. Un-for-tu- nate . Her British accent made everything sound a little bit sharp. Elly wanted to be her. “Well, I have to say that these rose petals certainly make an, er, overwhelming visual.” She turned her nose in the air. “And overwhelming smell.”
    The photographer looked around the store again. “Gemma, this is incredible! I mean, we’ve seen some amazing things in the two years we’ve been doing BlissBride , but….”
    Gemma held up a hand and the man fell silent . Silence, minion. “Yes, yes, it’s very impressive. We should begin the interview. Our next one begins in forty minutes across town.”
    Elly gestured to the table. “Please, sit.”
    Wading awkwardly through the petals, Gemma sat staunchly, her posture rigid. She pulled a clipboard out of her suitcase and loudly clicked the pen. “So, Elly, we’ll start with some basic questions. First, why do you want to be on BlissBride ?”
    Elly took a deep breath and gave her rehearsed answer. “Well, I believe that our little store, one that offers brides the utmost in personalized and intricate design, would be best suited for BlissBride . Our service is based on custom design, and we have over three hundred happy brides who would testify to the fact that our bouquets are not only exactly what they asked for, but they’re absolutely breathtaking. Also, because we are such a custom florist, we will have the liberty to put our entire focus on this wedding and nothing else.”
    Gemma nodded and jotted down a few notes. “Very good, although I must say it seems a bit rehearsed.”
    Elly bit her lip.
    “What kind of flowers do you specialize in?”
    Elly paused. “I would say that we are able to morph our style to that of the bride’s, but we are mostly known for our romantic, bohemian, and garden flowers. We are big on texture and things that make women swoon, like a fully blown peony or the tips of a Queen Anne’s lace.”
    Gemma wrote more notes. “Good answer.” This was going well , Elly thought, finally. “Tell me about your biggest wedding disaster.”
    What? A wedding disaster? Her mind raced. Wait, what was she asking? Did she know? There had only been one. One big one. Elly stumbled over her words, letting out a gush of nervous word vomit. “Um, er … well, it’s a bit complicated. See, this last year I was hired to design my ex-husband’s mistress’s wedding. Crazy, right? So, I had this complete nervous breakdown right before, and I was dating this amazing musician, but he wrote these songs that were about my chest, which as you can see is pretty substantial … anyway, I mean, I almost went crazy before it. I threw my consultation table over and trashed my store, and drank too much wine, and broke the head off the cake topper…. I mean, I’m not sure what you are really asking…. I can totally handle high pressure. Unless I have another ex out there, or I mean, I don’t….” She gave a high-pitched giggle, like a hyena in heat. Disaster. There was no way she was going to get this. She was a kamikaze pilot, going down in flames of her own nervous making. Gemma was looking at her like she was some sort of unhinged wild animal.
    “ Elly! ” Snarky Teenager sashayed out of the back room, looking amazing in her bright-red sundress and jeweled sandals. Gemma and both of the men sat straighter as she approached. “Sorry I’m late. I really apologize. I’m Elly’s assistant manager.” She sat next to Elly and put a hand on