"Why can't she be happy for me?"

Jody hugged her close. "Honey, it's not you. She's scared I'm going to break your heart."

"It's not you who's breaking my heart."

Jody led her to the sofa and sat her down, then knelt down in front of her. "You need to remember that your mom has seen me walk in and out of a dozen relationships. I can't really blame her for not wanting you to get involved with me."

"But she's wrong. This time will be different."

"How can you be so sure?" Jody asked. "What makes you think this time I'll be different?"

Ellen leaned back and rested her head against the sofa. "I don't," she admitted.

Jody froze. She had hoped to hear Ellen announce some profound reason why this relationship would be special. Disappointed and somewhat angry at her gullibility in wanting a simple answer to explain away all her problems, Jody went to the recliner, sat down and dropped her head into her hands. She had to find some way to make things right with Denise.

You know what you have to do, she told herself as she raised her head and gazed at Ellen. Her heart clenched as she watched a tear slide down Ellen's face.

"Are you going to use this as an excuse to bolt?" Ellen asked.

Startled that Ellen seemed to know exactly what she had been thinking, Jody stuttered out a denial.

Ellen sat up and stared at her. "I apologize. I was out of line asking that. I'm angry with Mom and taking it out on you."

Jody shrugged, not trusting her voice to conceal her deceit.

Ellen glanced at her watch. "Mom should be home by now. I'm going to go over and talk to her."

"Do you think she'll talk to you?"

Ellen smiled slightly. "She'll talk to me, but you'll probably be subjected to a very long session of Mom's famous cold-shoulder treatment."

Jody cringed. "Yeah, I've experienced it a time or two in very mild doses."

"I suggest you wear a heavy parka tomorrow, because the shop is going to be frigid."

"Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll have a lot of deliveries."

Ellen came over and kissed Jody's forehead. "Call me if it gets too bad, and I'll call and request a delivery every hour."

"You're sweet," Jody said as she walked Ellen to the door. "Call me later and let me know how she's doing."

"I will."

Ellen kissed her softly. "Try to get some sleep."

Jody watched until Ellen, on foot, was out of sight. Back inside, she threw away the remnants of the disastrous dinner. To kill time, she washed the few dirty dishes and scrubbed the oven, all of the appliances and countertops. She had just finished cleaning out the refrigerator when Ellen called.

She glanced at the clock as she raced for the phone, and was shocked to see it was nearly midnight.

"Did I wake you?" Ellen asked.

"No. I was cleaning out the refrigerator."

"At midnight?"

Jody ignored the question. "How did it go?"

Ellen was silent for a long second. "Not good. Em moving out tomorrow."

"What!"

"She won't listen. When I told her I intended to keep seeing you, she told me she wouldn't allow me to live under her roof. My transfer from California provided me with housing reimburs.e.m.e.nt until I could locate a place. I'll get the paper tomorrow and start looking for an apartment. I should've started looking sooner, but I let Mom convince me to stay with her so I could save more money for a down payment."

"You could stay here," Jody said, praying she wouldn't accept the offer. If Ellen moved in with her, Denise would be twice as angry. Besides, the relationship was still too new. Jody needed time to adjust to this sudden change.

"No," Ellen said. "When or if I move in with you, it'll be because you want me to and not because I have to."

Jody breathed a silent breath of relief. She didn't want to rush things with Ellen. It was too soon for them to live together. "Let me know if you need any help moving."

"Thanks, but I don't have much. My furniture is still in storage. I don't want to take it out until I find a house. Now stop cleaning and go to bed. You have a long day ahead of you."

"I don't suppose you're talking about deliveries and all those orders coming in for Mother's Day, huh?"

Ellen chuckled. "Good night."

Chapter Twelve.

The next day proved harder than Jody could have ever imagined. She arrived a little before seven and already there were twenty-seven call-in orders waiting to be filled. Of the twenty-seven, eighteen had requested morning delivery. Jody filled out work tickets for each order and started a pot of coffee. She was gathering supplies for the first arrangement when Denise arrived a little after seven.

"Good morning," Jody called. She was determined to try to act as normal as possible.

Denise quickly squelched that thought with a curt nod. Denise picked up a handful of the order tickets and went straight to her worktable and began working.

Jody decided to try again. "I made coffee."

Denise continued to work.

"Fine. We're going to act like children today," Jody growled as she s.n.a.t.c.hed up a wedge of floral foam and smashed it into the bottom of the pot she was arranging.

Things didn't improve as the morning progressed. Denise refused to talk to her unless she absolutely had to for the sake of the shop. Several times Jody glanced up and caught Denise glaring at her. Whenever Jody tried initiating a conversation, Denise would simply walk away. Jody was relieved when the arrangements were finally completed and she could escape the shop to make the deliveries. She took her time with them, in no rush to return to the shop and Denise's hostility. After the last arrangement had been dropped off, she reluctantly returned to Petal Pushers but remained in the showroom, waiting on customers or taking phone orders.

She couldn't prevent the smile that burst forth when she answered the phone and heard Ellen's voice.

"I didn't have any luck apartment hunting. I'm going to be staying at the downtown Holiday Inn for a few days," Ellen said, then rushed on before Jody could speak. "I'm working late tonight, but I thought maybe we might be able to have lunch together tomorrow."

"It will depend on deliveries," Jody reminded her.

"I have an appointment at ten-thirty. Why don't I call you afterward and see how you're doing then?"

"Sounds good."

"I'll call you later tonight," Ellen said. "I've got to go. The boss is bellowing."

Jody hung up the phone. It rang immediately. She grabbed it, hoping it was Ellen calling back. Jody wanted to talk to her. She didn't want to wait until tomorrow night.

The woman on the phone had the soft, slow-spoken drawl of West Texas. "Yes, my name is Patsy Caldwell. I'm on the board that's hosting the American Physical Fitness banquet that's being held at the St. Anthony Hotel tomorrow. We need sixty table arrangements by no later than six tomorrow night. We told the hotel we'd get the flowers ourselves, and now I'm sorry we did. The florist we contracted with caught his boyfriend ..." She paused. "Well, suffice it to say he's no longer worrying about filling our order." She took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm sorry, but it's been a horrendous day. A friend of mine, Sharon Larson, suggested I contact your shop. I understand this is a hectic time for you, with Mother's Day coming up, but I'm desperate. Do you think you can possibly help?"

Jody was trying to process the idea that Sharon had made the referral. Was this a sick attempt to get even with her for breaking off the relationship? Jody shrugged off the thought. Sharon would never do anything that underhanded. Maybe there was hope they could become friends after all? She realized the woman was waiting for her to answer.

They were so busy, Jody considered turning the order down outright, but she could almost feel the woman's desperation through the phone.

"What kind of arrangements are you looking for?" she asked.

"At this point, we aren't going to be too demanding. If possible, I would like for them to all be about the same size and have some color coordination. The room is burgundy and beige."

"Can you hang on a minute? I need to speak with my business partner." Jody went to the worktable where Denise was putting a bow onto an arrangement. "I have to talk to you." Before Denise could say no, Jody rushed on to explain the situation. "Can we help her?"

Denise frowned. "We don't have enough flowers for that many arrangements."

"I'll tell her no." Jody tried to hide her disappointment. She gave one last try. "Such a large order could give the shop a lot of publicity. If we save their b.u.t.ts, the committee will certainly remember us the next time they need flowers."

"Wait a minute," Denise said.

Jody could almost see the number-crunching going on in Denise's head.

In the excitement of the challenge, Denise had temporarily forgotten about her anger. "If I can get the flowers, would you be able to stay late tonight? I'll call Eric and see if he can come in to help us. His cla.s.ses ended yesterday."

"Sure, I don't have any plans tonight."

Jody saw the look in Denise's eyes the minute Denise remembered who Jody should be having plans with.

"Denise, we can't let our personal differences get in the way of the shop. If you want to be angry with me, fine, but do it after hours." Jody's anger surprised them both.

Denise nodded. "Tell her you'll call her back in a few minutes. I need to call Manny and see if he can get me the flowers."

Jody nodded. Manny was their main distributor, and knowing him, she was certain he could get them what they needed. "I'll get prepayment on a credit card," she said, "and double-check the hotel delivery hours."

Three hours later, a large delivery truck pulled up to the back door with the flowers just as Eric came in through the front.

Jody walked into the showroom to greet Eric as Denise left to deal with the delivery man.

"Hi ho," Eric called as he strolled in. "School is out, and I'm officially yours for the summer." He held out his arms and said, "So where do I begin?"

"We'll start with the sixty arrangements as soon as Denise finishes with the delivery."

Eric stepped closer and gazed at her. "Are you sick?"

"No."

"What's with the racc.o.o.n eyes?" he asked, pointing to the black circles under Jody's eyes.

Jody tried to shrug off his curiosity. "I've been having trouble sleeping."

"Oh, I see. Miss Sharon still keeping you up all night?"

"Sharon is old news. Jody has moved on to a much younger prospect," Denise snapped from behind them.

Jody groaned. She hadn't heard Denise come back into the room. She had hoped she would be able to explain the situation to Eric before something like this happened.

Eric quickly held up his hands. "Ladies, I don't know what's going on here, and quite honestly I don't want to. We have a lot of flowers to arrange. I think we should probably get started." Without waiting for either of them to respond, he scurried back to the workroom.

Jody turned to Denise, but she was already following Eric to the back. Jody glanced at the clock. It was a quarter after six. "It's going to be a long night," she muttered as she locked the front door.

The trio worked together in near silence until after one Friday morning, when Jody realized that at least one of them would have to get some sleep if deliveries were to be made the following day.

"Eric, you go and get some sleep. You can make deliveries tomorrow, and Denise and I will finish up here."

"Are you sure?" He looked at the mess around them. "I can miss a few hours of sleep and still function."

"I don't want you to be up all night and drive tomorrow. Or today, rather," Jody said with a wave of her hands.

"Good point," he agreed. "I'll be back by seven with bells on."

"Forget the bells and bring food," Denise called without looking up from her work.

Eric issued a sharp salute. "Until we meet again, fair ladies."

Jody walked him to the door.

"What's going on?" he asked when they were out of earshot.

"I'm dating Ellen."

"Denise's daughter?"

"Yes, and keep your voice down."

"Are you crazy? Surely there was at least one more lesbian in town you haven't dated. Why Ellen?"

Jody stopped and took a deep breath. "I think I'm falling in love with her."

"Christ in a handbasket." Eric rubbed his knuckles over his short, bristly hair. He noticed Jody's distress and shook his head. "Oh, Ms. Thing, you do know how to complicate your life."