Kevin

I woke up to my phone ringing and plucked it from my nightstand. Spencer hadn’t called yet to let me know when they were on their way, so I opened the phone expecting it to be him.

My body shot right up from the bed when I realized it was Maddie.

“Kevin? You’re in town, right?” she asked.

“I am. I’m at The Baccarat. Maddie, what’s wrong?”

“A lot. Tina isn’t doing well at all. She can’t get through more than couple of hours without crying, and her mother’s just piled things on her to do,” she said.

“Sounds a lot like her mother. What do you guys have to do today? I can come pick you both up,” I said.

“We have to be at the florists by noon and the caterer by three. But, that’s not even the worst part,” she said.

“Spit it out, Maddie,” I said as I began hopping myself into a pair of jeans.

“Her father left her his business.”

I stopped dead in my tracks as the words she just uttered mulled over in my head. Her father had left her his business? His entire business?

“Are you sure that’s in his will and testament? Or is that just something her mother told her?” I asked.

“I’m looking at his will and testament right now,” she said. “The butler, Bernie, has the estate; her mother has his offshore bank accounts that apparently she didn’t know about, and it says right here that she’s the sole controller of his business.”

If that was the case, then Tina was already trying to figure out how to close down her business. Her father had been her role model-- her life support when she was growing up underneath the strict rules of her mother. He was the buffer between her warmth and her mother’s ice cold standards, and he was also the one that encouraged her to go for her dreams. If he really was leaving her this business-- a business she knew nothing about-- then she was already trying to figure out how to uproot her life and move back home.

Even if that meant liquidating everything she had worked for.

“Maddie. What’s Tina doing right now?” I asked.

“I got her in the shower. What’s up?” she asked.

“I need you to do something for me while I get to you guys,” I said. “I need you call up her father’s business and get a running list of names of the lawyer’s that rent out the levels of his business.”

“Wait, the lawyers that do what?” she asked.

“Just-... can you do that for me? Please? I’ll explain later, I swear,” I said.

“Sure, sure. I can do that. How long do you think you’ll be?”

“I’m pulling a shirt over my head now and then I’m out the door,” I said as I pulled a shirt from the closet.

“Alright, but hurry. I don’t think she’s gonna be well today,” she said.

I hung up the phone and raced down to my car. I had to get to Tina before she allowed too many thoughts to sink into her mind at once. If she convinced herself this was something she needed to do, there was no stopping her. She felt truly and utterly indebted to her father, and because of how grief-stricken she was I could see her going back to school and starting from scratch just so she could run the damn thing.

I had to try and get her stabilized on her own two feet before I did research on the lawyers that resided in her father’s business complex.

I raced across town and ran through red lights. I was shocked no one pulled me over, but if they had tried I would’ve honestly attempted to outrun them. Tina was in a place she had no business being during a time where it needed to be about her, and she was floundering just like I knew she would.

And I needed her to understand that she wasn’t going to do this alone.

By the time I pulled up into the driveway, Maddie and Tina were coming outside. The bags underneath Tina’s eyes took me by surprise. The way her shoulders slumped forward told me she wasn’t getting anywhere near the type of sleep she needed, and I hopped out of the car and raced towards her. I pulled her deep into my body, feeling her tremble as she pressed into me, and the tears started up again as she drenched the chest of my shirt.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Please, don’t be. I’ll take you two around town. You supposed to be going to florist your mother orders your dinner bouquets from?” I asked.

I felt her nod into me just as Maddie stuck a folded up piece of paper in my pocket. I nodded a thanks in her general direction before she reached for the door behind me, and I eased Tina into the seat. She was in no position to run any of these errands, so I looked back at Maddie who started giving me the rundown of things.

“According to his funeral requests, we need two dozen yellow roses and two dozen white roses,” Maddie said.

“Any particular arrangement? Or just single roses?” I asked.

“No one specified arrangements, so I’m going with single flowers.”

“I’m sure she’ll change her mind before the funeral,” Tina said.

“You’re probably right, but until then, that’s what we’ll do,” I said.

I reached over and took her hand and it killed me to feel how cold it was. It was as if the very life force that powered her was draining from her body, and I cursed myself for allowing Maddie to be the one in the house. Tina would’ve fought me and she would’ve been mad as piss, but I could’ve been the buffer between her and her mother she now didn’t have.

We pulled up to the florist and the three of us got out, wandering into the storefront as I walked up to the desk. I talked with the man behind the counter about why we were there and what we needed, and I saw him take a peak and Tina before taking down our order. I specified to him that we wanted long-stem roses in case her mother wanted to trim them down, and he billed her account for them before I thanked him and turned around.

I saw Tina staring lifelessly at an orchid in the window, her head cocked off to the side as Maddie stood back and watched.

“I don’t know what to do, Kevin,” she said.

“It’s alright. I’ve got it,” I said.

I walked up to her and pressed my chest to her back and she instinctively leaned into me. For many, they wouldn’t think much of the gesture. But for someone like Tina who never opened up to anyone-- especially during these times-- it screamed everything I needed to know.

She was willingly accepting the help I was giving, and it wasn’t a move I expected her to make.

“My father used to fill the house with orchids,” she said.

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“Yeah. He loved the pink ones, but every once in awhile white ones made it into the house,” she said.

“Were they his favorite flower?” I asked.

“No. He enjoyed them because my mother did. When they were first dating, he would bring her an orchid for her to plant every time they got together. She was a massive gardener back when they first met, and she planted every single one he gave her.”

“That sounds incredibly beautiful,” I said.

“Yeah. By the time he proposed to her, the little backyard terrace she had at her apartment was covered in full-grown orchids. It was their own little slice of paradise that was only big enough to fit two little rocking chairs. It’s my favorite story of them,” she said.

I slid my arms around her and pulled her even closer as a tear ricocheted down her cheek. I settled my chin on top of her head while she continued to stare at the flower, and then I felt her stomach growl underneath my palms.

“Why don’t we go get a little snack before the caterer’s?” I asked.

“I’m not hungry,” she said.

Then, her stomach growled again. But this time, it was loud enough for even Maddie to hear.

“Just a little something to give you some energy,” Maddie said.

“Could I get a fruit tea?” Tina asked.

“You can get anything you want. We can go to that little place with the outside terrace you love going to.”

“My father always took me to that,” Tina said.

“I figured you could keep telling us stories of him while we ate a little something,” I said.

I felt her nod against me, so I big the florist farewell before we got back into the car. We honestly could’ve walked to the place-- it was only three blocks down the road. But, if we sat there long enough for her to process things a bit more, we would probably sit there and listen to her stories well into the three o’clock hour.

By the time we pulled up it was almost one o’clock, and the terrace was in the shade of the day.

The hostess escorted us out to this beautiful table in the corner that overlooked the bustling of the city, and we ordered our drinks before we settled into our chairs. Tina’s eyes kept lazily darting around the people walking the sidewalk, and I could tell she was in her own head. Maddie kept glancing over at me, trying to figure out what to do next, so I pulled out my phone and shot her a text message to try and ease her mind.

Tina’s processing. Just sit here and let her do that.

Maddie seemed to relax a bit more when she read my message. I knew she had been thrown into territory that had been uncomfortable for her, especially since she had only known Tina for a few short months. She was trying her hardest, I knew she was, but you could only do so much for someone who was technically considered your boss.

I slid my foot towards Tina underneath the table and rested it by hers, ripping her from her trance. She slowly panned her reddened gaze over to mine as our drinks were sat down in front of us, and I watched as she grabbed it and brought the lip of the glass to her mouth. She began with a few small sips that turned into a few big gulps, and before the three of us knew it half her glass was gone and she was panting for air.

“Taste good?” I asked.

“Very,” she said, swallowing.

The waitress took our orders, promising to come back with a refill for her, and I slowly started to see a bit of life permeate Tina’s eyes. I didn’t expect the tea to make her better. I didn’t expect it to take away her sorrows or cause her to be happy again, but I could tell her energy stores were depleted.

“Did you eat breakfast this morning?” I asked.

“Wasn’t hungry,” she said.

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way, but we’re sitting here until you eat your lunch. If we miss the catering appointment, then so be it,” I said. “I’m not gonna let you waste away.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, and I could’ve sworn I saw a shadow of a smirk play upon her cheeks.

I warmed my heart so greatly that I could feel tears begin to burn the backs of my eyes.

But, the moment was ruined when I heard a familiar giggle rise up from another corner of the terrace.

At first, I thought I’d misheard it. I thought maybe I was just misinterpreting how the giggle ricocheted off the wood of the restaurant, but when it happened again I saw Tina’s eyes quickly scan the balcony. Maddie’s eyes grew wide in realization as her head darted around, and just as the giggle happened again I saw Tina’s eyes stop on a table.

And when I turned around, I witnessed her mother laughing at a table with three other women.

“Tina, take a deep breath,” I said.

I knew exactly what was going through her head. She was wondering how her mother could be out giggling with her friends while she saddled her daughter with the funeral arrangements. Hell, she was now probably wondering how the fuck her mother could be giggling with friends at this point in her life, period.

The scraping of a chair’s legs across the wooden floor ripped me from my trance, and the only thing I saw was Tina’s hair wafting in the corner of my eye as her body started for her mother’s table.

And I knew by the way she was clenching her fists at her sides that it wasn’t going to be pretty.