THIRTEEN
After fixing a very late lunch and spending some overdue quality time with Princess, Ella plopped herself in front of her computer and began checking her emails. She saw several from the vendors she had lined up for the football player’s wedding and a few from stores she had contacted about Hannah’s shower.
After dealing with her emails she glanced at the planner on her desk to double check if she had any other urgent tasks to deal with that day. She suddenly noticed that she had promised the florist that she would get confirmation on the table arrangements for Karim and Nadia’s wedding.
“Shoot,” Ella said, cursing herself for forgetting. With the photo shoot and then the Plaza appointment, she felt like she had already had a full day. She let her head fall back against her chair and closed her eyes as Princess jumped up on her lap.
“Oh Princess, I don’t want to do this. The last thing I want to do is see Karim again.”
“Well,” she said, opening her eyes and looking at the cat. “That’s not exactly true. I do want to see him again; I just don’t know that I can handle that right now.”
Ella’s emotions had been on a roller coaster for the past few days. She had talked things through with Hannah and even mentioned it to her mother and both of them had said that perhaps she needed to step back and take a break for a while; that she needed to be careful.
Ella looked back down at the appointment and made up her mind. She put Princess on the floor and went to her bedroom to quickly freshen up. Twenty minutes later, she was at the florist with the sample arrangement in hand. She texted Karim from the store and he told her to come straight to his apartment and sent her the address.
The rain had given way to a beautiful blue spring sky. Ella hopped into a cab and arrived at Karim’s high-rise a few minutes later. She stepped out into the cool air and the doorman smiled and tipped his hat to her.
“Madam,” he said. “Are you here to see His Highness?”
Ella nodded, surprised at the greeting. She hadn’t been to Karim’s apartment building before and she didn’t know what to expect. She laughed, thinking she probably should have expected the royal treatment.
The doorman escorted her inside the lavish building and put her on the elevator to the top floor, the penthouse suite. Ella checked her reflection in the mirrored doors as the elevator made its way up. When it stopped, the doors opened and Ella stepped out into a narrow hall. There was one set of double doors on the right and a single door on the left. She looked at the single door and saw it was actually an entrance to the staff quarters.
“Of course,” Ella said quietly as she made her way over to the double doors to the left.
As she approached the doors, she heard raised voices, one of them shrill, female and spite-filled; Nadia. The sound was all too familiar. It was a repeat from the week before. Ella remembered how it ended last time, with Karim being cold and distant. After everything that had happened between them that day, she didn’t want them to grow even further apart.
Ella walked straight back to the elevator and punched the button. The doors opened and she stepped inside, taking the car right back down to the lobby. She walked out the doors and hurried past the doorman.
“Ma’am? Is everything alright?” the doorman asked, surprised to see her return so quickly.
“Um, yes, fine,” Ella said as she stood on the sidewalk, looking around. “I just forgot something,” she lied.
She spotted a little tavern across the street and ran across the road. She slipped into the bar and found a seat in the corner by the window. She ordered a drink and sat with her flower arrangement, quietly watching the building over the road.
Several minutes later, she saw Nadia emerge with a look of pure rage on her face. Her long, black hair flowed out behind her as she stood impatiently, her large dark glasses covering her eyes. A second later, a sleek limousine pulled up and the driver whisked the heiress inside before the car took off.
Ella watched the building to see if Karim would follow. Seconds turned into minutes and when Ella’s drink was gone, she was satisfied that Karim was not coming out. She looked at the flower arrangement. Lilies. That’s what she had chosen for the centerpieces. It was a classic choice, and like the architecture at the Plaza, Ella loved classic.
The bartender came over to refill her drink and Ella refused politely. She paid her tab and gathered up the flower arrangement. Moments later, she was back in the elevator, heading to the penthouse suite.
“Just go in, deliver the arrangement, and leave,” she said to herself as the elevator climbed the floors. “No getting close, no touching, and for goodness' sake, no hugging!”
She inhaled and exhaled deeply, readying herself. “Just drop the flowers off. That’s all you have to do. You don’t even have to go to the door. When the elevator opens, just put them on the floor and someone will find them. You never even have to get out of the elevator!”
Ella had just about convinced herself that she could do it when the doors opened and Karim appeared in front of her, and all of her resolve immediately vanished.
She stepped out of the elevator and stood in front of him, smelling the distinctive aroma of whisky over the scent of the lilies. His eyes were rimmed with red and his features looked worn.
“Karim,” she said, taken aback at his appearance. “Are you alright?”
Karim shook his head and gently took the flowers from her. “Not really,” he said, and began to head back to his open door.
Ella stood still, unsure if she should follow. Karim looked deeply unhappy, but she didn’t want to give Nadia any more ammunition by trying to comfort him. Ella cared about Karim, more than she wanted to admit. And she thought he cared about her, too. But he was a client. A client with an amazing body, incredible eyes and a thoughtful, kind personality; a client who was getting married to someone he didn’t love; a client who was standing in front of her, upset and apparently slightly drunk.
She reasoned that she shouldn’t leave him alone in his condition. “I'll just stay for a minute,” she murmured to herself as she walked down the hall toward the doors. “I’ll just make sure he’s okay, and I'll be on my way.”
The doors opened up to a wide living room overlooking the East River. Ella walked straight over to the windows, unable to take her eyes from the breathtaking view. The sun was dipping low behind the buildings, casting long shadows across the river.
“Wow,” Ella said, mesmerized.
“Yeah,” Karim’s deep voice came up behind her.
Ella felt his breath on her neck and quickly moved away. “Um, I’m just here to deliver the flowers.”