“My office voicemail.”
“You doing all right?”
“Hopefully after this errand is completed…” He flashed the envelope at her.Jennifer smiled at him, knowing what he was going to do after she saw who it was addressed to. “See you in a bit, then.” He nodded and walked out.
Henry hopped into his truck and drove to the best florist in town. He only knew that was the case because Elaina pointed it out one day when they went to her cousin’s wedding at the church across the street. He walked into the store and immediately looked lost.
Everything was overwhelming him: the colors, the scent of the flowers, his nervousness. He walked past the coolers a few times, chewing at the scar on his bottom lip, clutching the note he wrote. He ran his hand through his hair several times.
“Can I help you?” An older woman came around the counter. She had a soft smile and a comforting feel about her.
“Uh, yeah. I need help…a lot of help.” Wasn’t that the truth? He knew he looked sad and pathetic while he scanned all the flowers and arrangements.
“Well, what are you looking for?”
“Flowers.” The woman chuckled. He turned and looked at her, trying to plaster on a fake smile.
“Well, I do believe that you’ve come to the right place.”
“Looks that way.” His nerves were still out of control, and he continued to push his hand through his hair. The woman knew the frustrated look right away.
“Did you have a fight with your wife or girlfriend?”
“Uh, yeah. Girlfriend.” He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. His fears were coming to the surface again.
“Roses are always good.” Henry opened his eyes. He felt a little panicked. He had no idea what kind of flowers Elaina liked, and worried that he was going to buy the wrong ones. “Does she like roses?”
“You know…I haven’t a clue. I’ve never given her flowers before.”
She looked at him like he had two heads. Then she rubbed his arm. “Don’t worry. I will make you something beautiful and she will love it. Hmmm.” She tapped her forefinger on her lips while scanning the coolers. Then she looked back at him. “What are you looking to spend?”
“The cost doesn’t matter. Unlimited. I want something big that makes a statement, though.” She turned back to the coolers and scanned them once more.
She started pulling bunches of red roses and pink lilies out. She walked over to the counter and began to show him all the vases she could use. He picked out a tall, wide cylinder-shaped vase. He hoped Elaina would like it, and that it would work.
“I will make it up, and set it in the cooler until morning. With delivery, it comes to two seventy-five.” Henry pulled out the pretty black ‘invite-only’ credit card from his black leather billfold. She looked at it for a moment. She didn’t see those too often.
“Oh, can you put this with it?” With shaky hands, Henry handed her the envelope with his letter in it that he had been clutching the entire time.
“Certainly, Mr. Daniels.” She smiled at him, and he nodded. “They will be delivered first thing in the morning. My driver is booked all day today. I will make sure yours goes out first since it’s urgent.” She smiled at him again.
“Thank you so much.”
“Have a nice day. And I hope they work.”
“Me, too.” He knocked on the wood countertop.
Henry left the florist and headed back to work, only to spend the day in agony, worrying that he had lost Elaina forever.
After the long day at work, he went home and ran to the fridge to make sure the injection was still there. He breathed a sigh of relief and decided to take a quick shower. After standing in the closet doorway for what seemed like an eternity, he put on his dark gray Armani suit pants, then pulled out one of his many white dress shirts. He threw that on, grabbed the matching jacket, checked his mug and hair in the mirror, and left the apartment.
Henry pulled up to Cam’s, the swanky bar that he frequented. The very same bar he had brought Elaina to on their first real date.
He decided he was going to get wrecked. Shitfaced. Completely fucked up. F.U.B.A.R’ed. They were going to have to carry him out of there because he wasn’t going to be walking on his own. He walked in and noticed that Philip was working, as usual.
“Mr. Daniels, pleasure to see you again. Are you alone tonight, sir?”
“Ah, yeah.” The word alone made him want to put his fist through the wall.
“Your usual table, then?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Henry grumbled. He walked in behind Philip, and he noticed that a couch full of women was staring at him like he was a piece of meat. “Fuck me,” he mumbled to himself. He knew at least one of them would be coming over to him at some point. That was one reason why he loved the small table in the back, near the dark back corner. He felt he could hide himself there.