FanningtheFlames (4 page)

"Ummm..." He searched for a way to end the call quickly.

Adam provided one. "I'm sorry, but there's a student waiting to see me. Can I call you back?"

Gusting a sigh of relief, Barry replied, "Yeah, sure.

Talk to you later." He barely bit off saying, "Love you!"

Too soon, too soon. You'll scare him off!

The moment he'd disconnected from Adam, Barry

punched in the number for the florist, snapping his phone closed and trying again when, in his agitation, he misdialed the first time. He tapped his fingers against his desk as the phone rang once, twice, three times, four times...
Answer the phone, damn it!

"All About the Flowers," a chipper voice answered.

"How may I brighten your world today?"

"Thank heavens! Look, this is Barry Richards, and you were supposed to make a delivery for me today."

"Calm down, Mr. Richards. It's early yet. Your arrangement is on the truck and I can promise you it'll be delivered by noon."

"No!" Barry barked. "It can't!"

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Silence, then, "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I just found out that the person I ordered those flowers for is allergic! You can't take them to him."

The clerk spoke slowly and clearly, probably

envisioning a psychopath. "Mr. Richards, you've already paid for the flowers. We can only offer a refund if they weren't delivered on time or if something were wrong with the arrangement."

Shit. What to do, what to do? Inspiration struck. "Can you call the driver?"

"Yes."

"Would it be possible to send those flowers somewhere else?"

The smile returned to the young man's voice. "Sure, I'd hate to waste one of my best creations."

Whew! "Can you deliver them to 416 Rivermont Place? Richards' General Contracting?"

"As a matter of fact, that's on the current delivery route. No problem at all. I suppose you'll want to change the card?"

Oh, right. The card. "Have it say, 'To Estelle, the best secre...' ah, I think the going term is administrative assistant," he mused out loud, correcting with, "'To Estelle, the best administrative assistant on the planet.'"

Now, instead of Adam's wide, wondering eyes, he

pictured Estelle's, moistened with tears from reliving pleasant memories.

"No problem. She's gonna love the arrangement. It turned out even better than the one you saw when you were in here. Delivery will still be before noon."

That settled, Barry headed to A Day by the Sea,

delivering the sheet rock subcontractor’s sad verdict that the beautiful mural couldn't be saved. He considered hiring the original artist to do another one. Simone put him at ease. "As much as I love that painting, my
Fanning the Flames - 28

husband doesn't care for the constant reminder of an ex-boyfriend staring him in the face every time he stops by.

Once the Valentine's specials are over, it's outta here."

Okay, scratch the mural. Barry stopped by the mall to retrieve the chocolates. He'd no sooner placed them on the passenger seat of his SUV when his phone rang, bringing a smile to his face. "Mr. Right" appeared on the phone's display.

"Hey, Adam. Feeling better?"

Pure misery drifted from the speaker.
Cough cough.

Sneeze.
"'Fraid not. In fact, it's worse. I did a bad, bad thing."

Adam, a shining example of near-perfection, in

Barry's book, didn't do bad things. Yeah, he snored, but Barry found it cute. And he left the top off the toothpaste. That kept Barry from having to remove it.

And he hogged the covers whenever he stayed over, giving Barry reason to snuggle close. Even Adam's

"bad" was good.

"I find that hard to believe. What did you do?"

"Just one little piece is all, I swear!"
Cough, cough.

"Huh! One little piece of what?" Images of a player named John, from Barry's laughable attempts at dating, flashed briefly in his mind.

"Chocolate! A colleague offered me a chocolate-dipped strawberry, and I thought that one little bite wouldn't hurt..."

Barry's heart slammed against his ribs. NO! NO! NO!

It couldn't be! He gulped around the uncertainly clogging his throat. "You're allergic to chocolate?"
Say it
ain't so!

"Strawberries, too, I'm afraid." Adam would have sounded utterly defeated even without the stuffy nose.

Cautiously venturing, "What do they do to you?"

Barry braced for the worst.

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"I broke out in a rash and I'm itching like crazy, I can't breathe from the flowers, and I'm coughing my head off." He sighed. "The rash is my own damned fault.

I knew better."
Sniff.

Torn between horror at the inappropriate gift

currently residing next to him (looking as forlorn as Adam sounded), and wanting to comfort Adam, the

choice was once again wrested from his grasp by the call of duty. "Sorry to whine on you. I still plan to take you to Sebastian's tonight. Look, I gotta run. I've got class in ten minutes."

Barry slunk in to work, dejected and carrying the box of chocolates he no longer knew what to do with. Eating them himself was always an option, Lord knew he could use the mood boost, but he'd gone through a lot of effort for those treats. They were made to impress and be enjoyed by some unsuspecting recipient.

"Oh, Barry! They're beautiful!" Estelle screeched, pulling him into an iron grasp the moment he opened the door. For such a petite-looking woman, she tackled like a Raider. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," mantra'd from her mouth.

He grasped Estelle's shoulder, holding her wriggling form at arm's length. "What's beautiful?"

"Like you don't know." She stepped aside, allowing him to properly enter the office. A vision of lilies and baby's breath hid half her desk. Oh, my. The florist hadn't lied. Beautiful didn't begin to describe the arrangement. Seeing Estelle's happy tears, Barry came to realize that it shouldn't have taken an accident for him to present her with a gift. She more than deserved it.

The phone rang and Estelle turned misty eyes to

Barry. "Thank you," she said again, rushing to answer the call.

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His misery at the gift gone wrong lifted in the face of Estelle's happiness. Now, to find a home for the chocolates. Estelle was diabetic, so no help there.

His answer arrived at the office at three o'clock, lugging boxes filled with computer components. "The cavalry has arrived," Otis announced, shaking snow from his hoodie. "Man, it's really coming down out there!"

"Hey, Otis. Glad you made it. Not that I'm

complaining, but why the personal touch? You usually send one of your techs."

Otis jerked at thumb at the glass-paneled front door.

Huge, white flakes fell, mounding up on the other side.

"School got canceled for the day; Griffin stayed home with his kids. Steve took a few days to go skiing.

Thankfully, Garret cashed in some vacation time to come over and help answer the phones this week."

For the next hour, Barry stared over his friend's shoulder, watching boxes being emptied and the new brains of his outfit taking shape on Estelle's desk. Nearly finished, Otis finally noticed the flowers he'd been working next to. "Hey, those are nice." He peered up from under the desk at Estelle, who stood observing from a safe distance on the other side. "Is it your birthday?"

"No." The grandmotherly matron positively glowed.

"Barry sent them to me for Valentine's Day, after I told him how much I missed the arrangements my late

husband used to send."

Otis' bushy uni-brow sought oneness with his

hairline. "Valentine's Day!" he gasped, eyes wide. He shot a look of horror at Barry. "It's Valentine's Day? Oh, shit!" He turned a contrite face to Estelle. "Sorry, ma'am, but I forgot all about Valentine's Day! I didn't get Garret anything!"

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"Well... technically, it's not until Sunday," Barry tried to interject, but Otis, on a roll, didn't notice.

"How did I forget? It's our very first Valentine's Day.

Oh, he'll be so disappointed. He loves chocolates from that place at the mall." Otis glanced at the door again and at the snow gathering in drifts against it. "Oh, darn!

The mall's on the other side of town. I'll never make it in time in this. He's coming over at six! What'll I do?"

Barry left Otis raving and packing up empty boxes, calmly entering his office and returning with the gift from Candy Kingdom.

Otis, still gesturing wildly and ranting on and on about how he didn't deserve a wonderful man like Garret, held the box Barry slipped into his hand for a good two minutes before he quieted and looked down.

"Candy Kingdom? That's Garret's favorite place on earth. I'll never understand how he can eat so many chocolates and never gain an ounce." Otis patted his rounded stomach. "Unlike some people I could name."

"All I ask is that you don't tell Garret or Adam where they came from."

"You're giving this to me?" One side of Otis' brow quirked up. "I take it there's a story?"

Barry nodded. "I just found out that Adam is allergic."

The recipient of the "up for grabs" gift appeared genuinely saddened. "I'm so sorry. Here, let me pay you for these." Otis dug into his pants' pocket, pulling out a wallet.

Barry stilled him with a hand on his arm. "Put that away. They'd only go to waste if you didn't take them."

"Are you sure?" The disbelief on Otis' face reminded

Barry of the time GetaDate.com fixed him up with Otis
'

cyber alter-ego, "Vincent." They'd never actually dated, but a true friendship began the night they'd tried.

Fanning the Flames - 32

"I'm sure."

Otis flashed inch-deep dimples. "In that case, installation is free and let's call it even."

They shook hands, and Barry helped Otis pack up his tools. He carried the chocolates outside, strapping them into the Geeks 'R Us van. "Thanks again, man," Otis said, pulling Barry into a hug. Barry knew Garret would enjoy the gift, and Otis would reap the benefits. There'd be no need for "strip video games" tonight.

Next, he helped Estelle to her car, securing the flowers in the seat beside her. "Now, you be careful driving home. Sure you don't want me to drive you?"

"I'm sure. I only live two blocks away, after all.

Thank you again, Barry. You'll never know how much this means to me." One wrinkled, age-spotted hand gently caressed the lily bud. "It reminds me of my good times with James."

Barry watched her drive away and then started the Tahoe to warm up. He headed back inside to call and check on Adam. The snow fell fast and furious.

"Lo?" Adam's voice sounded even hoarser and scratchier than before, unlike his normal smooth southern drawl.

"Are you okay?"

Adam coughed, violently. That sounded painful! He rasped, "Today's been a comedy of errors."

Oh, no. What now? "Did something else happen?"

"The thirteenth came early," Adam said, "for it's surely been Friday the thirteenth for me."

"What else went wrong?" As if allergies to flowers, chocolates, and strawberries weren't enough.

"Remember the itching I told about?" Man, it must be a real effort for Adam to force those low, screeching words out. Was he losing his voice?

"Yeah, I remember."

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"Hives! I have hives! Great big ugly welts!" The conversation dissolved into a series of wracking coughs.

The poor man sounded terrible.

"Look, why don't you come over and rest? We don't have to go out tonight."

"No, that's all right. We're still going to Sebastian's.

That is, if you don't mind being seen with me."

"Seen with you? I don't care if you're striped purple!

I'd still be honored to go out with you."

"Good to know, 'cause I'm striped purple." Adam attempted a laugh that dissolved into more coughing.

"I'm finishing up and should be at your house before six."

Your house. Barry longed to hear him say "our house." Maybe one day.

Barry locked up and crunched through the snow to slide into his SUV, pushing a receipt for A Day by the Sea out of his seat. He stared at it, horrified. "Errr...

Adam? How long do you suppose those hives will last?"

"The nurse here gave me some meds. With any luck, they'll be gone in a few days."

A few days. Not tomorrow. Shit. "Drive careful, okay? It's really snowing hard." He wanted to say,

"Ditch your Hyundai and let me come get you," but didn't want to imply that Adam couldn't take care of himself. Instead, he offered, "If you need to, don't hesitate to call. I have four-wheel drive and grew up driving in this stuff. I don't imagine it snowed much in Macon."

"No, it didn't. Don't worry, I'll be all right. If I can drive in Georgia clay, I can drive in anything." Adam coughed again as he hung up the phone. Barry

immediately called Simone, visions of Adam's world of stuffy noses and rashes, and Simone's incense-scented empire, colliding.

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"A Day by the Sea, how may I help you?"

"Simone, it's Barry.

"Oh, hi, Barry, what's up?

"That appointment I made for Saturday. Can I cancel that?"

Simone hesitated before answering. "Sure, but if it's inconvenient, you can always reschedule. Due to the construction coming up, late March is the earliest available, though. I only had the Saturday appointment open because of a customer's scheduling conflict. Is something wrong? Did you change your mind?" Was that hurt hiding in her voice?

Damn, damn, damn. Barry only scheduled the

appointment as Adam's Valentine's gift. March would be too late for that. Still, Simone wasn't only a customer, but also a good friend, and he didn't want to offend her.

If not himself and Adam, who could go? His sister's lament came to mind. "Never mind, Simone. Is it all right if I send my sister and Mom? Adam and I can't make it."