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“What was that for?”
“The flowers. Thank you. I was stunned. Your little poem was quite inspired.”
He laughed. “Did you like that? I put a lot of thought into it. I really wanted to convey the right message, you know?”
“You’re unreal.”
“So, um…did Bill see them?”
“How could henotsee them?Everyonesaw them. I had people stopping by my office all afternoon.” Her mouth suddenly dropped open. “Wait a minute. Those flowers weren't a grand romantic gesture meant to impress me, they were meant to one-up Bill!”
He grinned smugly and started the car. “Those flowers were meant to brighten your day. If they managed to send a little message to Bill…well, that's just a bonus.”
He turned to see a look of disbelief on her face and laughed again, glad to see she was amused by the whole thing.
“Do you have to go to Jane's right away, or can I keep you to myself for a little while?” he asked.
“Oh, um… I didn't know you were coming to get me, so…” She glanced down at her clothing. “I didn't really dress to go out.”
“You look fantastic.” He reached for her hand and pulled it to his lips for a kiss. “It was just a thought. I can take you to Jane's.”
“You don't mind?”
“Not at all. I'm just happy I got to see you. You’ve already made my day.” He squeezed her hand. “Anything else is just icing on the cake.”
* * *
Charles had already madehis way over to Jane's by the time Elizabeth and Will arrived, and Jane immediately extended an invitation for Will to stay.
“It's still pretty early, and we were about to crack open a bottle of wine. Why don’t you join us?”
“We don't want to interrupt—” Elizabeth began.
“Yes, we do. We're interrupting. Sorry,” Will said.
Jane turned on some soft music, and the four of them sat in the living room, enjoying easy conversation. Elizabeth knew that Will and Charles had been friends since they were kids, but didn’t know they’d grown up only a few doors away from each other and had been inseparable since Will, at the age of five, told Charles that he talked too much, to which Charles had replied, “I always have something to say.”
Elizabeth and Jane, who’d indulged in a bit more wine then the men, sat next to each other on the floor, laughing at the memories Charles and Will were happily reliving, until Will convinced them to share some stories of Madness.
“Oh, Lizzy, remember when we celebrated your twenty-first birthday there?”
Elizabeth groaned and rubbed her forehead. “I get a hangover just thinking about it.”
“What did you do?” Will asked.
“My memory is a little vague. Put it this way—it was the last time I drank tequila.” Elizabeth hid behind her hands. “Please don't make me relive it.”
“Oh, there's no going back now. I want the whole story.” Will sat forward on the couch, pulled Elizabeth over to sit between his legs, and lightly massaged her shoulders. “And you have to move your hands so I can see you blush.”
Charles and Jane laughed, and Elizabeth leveled a comical look of displeasure at her sister.
“Fine,” Elizabeth grumbled. “I got a little carried away dancing. Butyoupulled the table onto the dance floor and encouraged me to climb on top of it. You were a bad influence! The owner threatened to call the police if I didn't get down.”
“And your response was to place your foot on his chest,” Jane reminded her gleefully.
“You were egging me on!”
Will's jaw dropped. “You didwhatnow?”
