Sedona's Heart

by Sasha Fino

  “It’s Blanche,” she replied as he turned around to look at her

  “I’m sorry, Blanche. I thought you were someone else. Please forgive me. I have been having a terrible day.”

  “It’s fine, Max. We all have our days, sometimes,” Blanche said sweetly to him

  “Yes, you are correct. How are you holding up?” Max said changing his one

  “I’m doing fine,” Blanche told him

  “It’s good to hear it. What can I do for you today?” Max asked walking up to her

  “I have come to repay the money that I owe you,” Blanche said handing him the envelope of money

  “I see,” Max said, opening it up and pulling out the money. “Blanche, it’s way too much,” he said glancing at the bills in his hand,

  “I know. I want to pay off my business opening costs, and the first month of rent is also in there.”

  “But how did you get this much?” Max asked her.

  “Dean had been hiding money from me for years,” Blanche said being honest with him, and angry that they had lived handto-mouth when Dean was making money and stashing it away

  Max smiled at her. “Are you sure you can afford this?”

  “Yes,” Blanche said smiling at him

  “All right. You got it! Your business opening costs are paid for, so is the rent.” Max said walking to his cash register and putting the money in it

  “Of course, and thank you, Max,” Blanche said, feeling independent financially and psychologically, making her incredibly happy with herself. For the first time in her life, she was a free woman! She looked at him for a moment.

  She could feel the mood change as Max walked closer to her. She could feel her heart starting to pound

  “I have a new painting upstairs; do you want to see it?” Max asked,

  “I’d love to see it.”

  “Alright,” he agreed happily, and they walked upstairs

  “What’s going with you and Renee? I need to know. I am losing sleep over this apparent love triangle,” she told him before she could change her mind about asking

  “I’ll tell you the truth… Renee and I had sex last Friday night before the party, and since then, we either had Lexy in the room or something to talk about.” “Oh, god, people were right about you two. You are back together.”

  Her heart was pounding He pulled her to him and kissed her very deeply

  “I don’t love Renee as much as I love you, Blanche. What did you mean the last time we were alone, you told me you thought I belonged with Renee and it over between us?”

  “Max, I am very confused right now. I have deep feelings for you, but everything is coming at me at once. Dean is gone, Kimberly and Lexy need attention, and I have my new shop to think about. Kimberly knows, and what happens if Lexy finds out? She has hated every woman that you have dated, except Renee, and it is obvious that she looks at Renee as a mother substitute. I won’t put Kimberly and Lexy’s friendship at stake for our sexual relationship. Now Dean is gone. I’m independent and available, but you have a past lover who is devoted to you and to Lexy and wants to make up for lost years. Renee is born to your lifestyle. I have overheard people saying that I would never fit in, ever. Maybe this was just meant to be a passionate affair we will cherish and never forget?”

  “Blanche, don’t talk like that!”

  “It’s true; I don’t belong in your world!”

  Max and Blanche stared at one another

  “You are a strong woman with a beautiful soul, Blanche, and I love that about you. I will tell you this. I have been sexually drawn to you like no other woman. I have kept this is check because I don’t want to destroy our friendship if it isn’t reciprocated. I understand your concerns. But, Blanche, you have established what I know will be a successful business, and you will have money of your own. You struggled financially, but so have many of the people sharing my ‘lifestyle.’ Not everyone is born rich. You are young. Many simply become wealthy and successful through their own efforts over the years. Like the forefathers, I mentioned at the garden party.”

  Blanche was speechless. Max had told her what she wanted to hear, and it touched her heart. Then she questioned how she could be angry with Max, who had made it possible for her to open the Café and to stand on her own two feet.

  “I’d better go back to work,” Blanche said, needing to be alone to think, and unsure if she could trust herself to be alone with Max. She couldn’t commit to Max while he had an explorer, who still lusted for him, under his roof.

  “Yes, I see you are right, Yet, I’m going to fight for you, Blanche, and I won’t loss our love… just like that.” Max said as he lost himself, gazing into the depths of her eyes and her in his. It was a sweet moment. She tore herself away.

  “So why do I feel like the top contender in a dating game?!” Blanche asked and left him standing there speechless while she walked right out of the gallery.

  Chapter 30

  Max paced back and forth, making a trail in the den carpet and trying to figure out who held his heart, Renee or Blanche. He thought very carefully about his relationships with both of them. Max found that each woman had something different and special that he loved. After an hour of contemplating the problem, alone, Max felt he needed to find Renee and talk it over with her. He ran out of his den, down the stairway, through the ground floor of the house. Going out the door toward the guest house.

  He pounded on the door in his impatience, and after a minute, Renee opened it. She was a bit shocked, but happy to see him

  “Max, what are you doing here…” Renee started to say ask, but Max interrupted her

  “Is Lexy here with you?”

  “No, she’s in bed by now.”

  “Can we talk?”

  “Of course, come in.” Renee offered, opening the door wide for him,

  “Thanks, Renee. I’m frustrated and upset, and I don’t understand how women think! I’m deeply in love with both you and Blanche and don’t want to have any secrets from either of you, so I told Blanche about our night together. You are both too important to me to lie to.”

  “Max, I understand, really I do. “How did she take it?”

  “I truly don’t know,” he said, looking around the room at bags being packed.

  “Are you leaving?”

  “Yes, I have a Fashion 911 in Paris. I am leaving the day after tomorrow.”

  “Truly, Renee?” They were still drawn to each other, their eyes betrayed the fact, but they dared not move any closer to each other.

  “I don’t want to stop you from being with Blanche. I have the answer I came for. Now I must leave before my heart breaks into a million pieces.”

  “I think Blanche sees things more clearly than I do. We love each other dearly, but maybe that isn’t enough. Maybe it is the way you walk into a room and take command of it. Kimberly pushed Blanche to follow her dream. You created your own and left everything you knew and loved to make it happen. I think besides our love for each other, Blanche has been trying to tell me this, and I think she made it clear today when we met in my art gallery. She told me before that you were the one who was right for me, and deep down inside, I knew it. I don’t want to lose you, again, Renee. I couldn’t bear it!”

  “Oh, Max! I will always love you. We have something that is so very rare— a long, shared history steeped in love.”

  “Stay with me; let’s make it work. I built that room in the mansion so you could run your fashion line right here,” Max told her.

  Max took her hand and pulled her to him. Renee wrapped her arms around him, and they stood there for a few moments. Their kiss, when it followed, was long and passionate

  “Max, I need to go, my love,” she said through her tears as she pulled away. “I love you too much to share you with another woman, and if I stay, I will always worry and wonder if you will return to Blanche.”

  “What if…she and I part amicably with the understanding that our worlds are far apart? She is already convi
nced they are, and she doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the friendship between Kimberly and Lexy. She has asked me only to be a friend in her inner circle. I have been the one chasing her. Will you stay with me and try to make it work?”

  Renee looked at Max, speechless, not knowing what to say.

  The day of Dean’s funeral was gloomy and rainy. The weather held for the length of the memorial service by the graveside and the burial. There was a small attendance of Dean’s family and closest friends. Kimberly stood by her aunt during the entire ceremony, while Lexy stood amid a little crowd of people.

  After the clergyman concluded the service, there was time set aside to share remembrances. A few people stood up to speak. Then Dean was placed next to his beloved Bethany for eternity. The rain began and mixed with Blanche’s tears. Kimberly touched her own face and was surprised to find that tears, not rain, streaked it.

  The mourners moved from the cold and wet graveyard to the warm and dry ballroom at Heller Plaza. More people showed up at the Plaza to honor Dean and celebrate his life being very load.

  “This is quite a celebration!” Kimberly said as she watched the people dancing to a live DJ. She shared a table with Lexy, Sara, and Jordan.

  “Good God, how can we tell if they are celebrating his life or the fact, he’s dead?” Lexy asked,

  “It’s Uncle Dean’s family who is partying hard,” Kimberly said,

  “I thought he only had a dad growing up,” Sara stated.

  “He did. Uncle Dean’s mother ran off with the man who became his stepdad, leaving Uncle Dean with his biological father. But she kept in touch with Dean over the years,” Kimberly told them,

  “Oh, I see,” Sara said

  “Yes, our house is filled to the brim with Uncle Dean’s halfsister and her five very young kids. Thank god Uncle Dean’s mother and stepfather are staying at a hotel with Uncle Dean’s other half-sister and her family.”

  “That’s why you begged me to let you sleep over last night!” Lexy exclaimed

  “Yes, yes, I plead guilty! I just had to get out of there! I need some air,” Kimberly said looking at her new group of friends

  “Let’s go!” Lexy commanded as she jumped up from her chair. Kimberly just looked at Sara and Jordan as they got up.

  “Shall we get some real food?” Sara asked

  “Amen to that!” Jordan said

  They followed Lexy out of the ballroom. On the way out, Kimberly saw Gabby chatting away with one of Uncle Dean’s sisters, and Annette was talking to a dashing man at her table. Kimberly noticed that her aunt was nowhere to be found. They walked out into the beautiful hotel lobby, packed full of people waiting to be checked in. Lexy marched up to the big the hotel front door and held it open as they went out into the pouring rain. When Kimberly turned the corner, she was shocked to see Kasey standing there in the rain, alone. In her hands was a large manila envelope.

  “What are you doing here? Lexy asked

  “I was told that you were here,” Kasey said, looking sad and miserable.

  “So, what do you want?” Lexy demanded

  “Why did you show up at my Uncle’s memorial reception?” Kimberly said, angry that she had come

  “How about we just forget the whole thing, Lexy? I’m sure you know what happened to my father.”

  “Of course, and I know he’s not your real father. Your uncle broke the attorney/client lid on it when he let it slip at the jail, and Sara’s father was then able to tell her all about it. I suppose you don’t want anyone else to know, especially at school,” Lexy told her

  “Who else knows, Sara?” Kasey asked eyeing her

  “Just us and my father. If he’d told my mother, it would have been front-page news, already.”

  “I’m adopted! Okay, so what?” Kasey said, coming right out with it, “Wow! I’m shocked!” Lexy said

  “Don’t mock me. I’m sure that you also know that my Uncle Gordon is moving in to care for me,” Kasey told them

  “I know!” Lexy said

  “This is the story. My Uncle Gordon is taking over the winery for my father because he is moving to be with Miss Patella somewhere in New York. As for my mother, she is living fulltime in Phoenix with her boyfriend, and my parents didn’t want to uproot me to a new town and school. My uncle told them that I can stay with him. Got that, Lexy, Kimberly, Sara, and whoever you are?”

  “It’s Jordan!”

  “Whatever, if one of you tells anyone that I’m adopted, I will make sure that your life will be a living hell,” Kasey told them

  Kimberly, Sara, and Jordan each nodded their heads and agreed to it, but Lexy didn’t

  “What’s the dirt that you have on my Dad?” Lexy asked

  “I said, forget that! You won’t tell the truth about me, and I won’t blackmail you by the dirt I have on your dear father. Deal?”

  Lexy looked at her. Kimberly wished that Lexy would say “yes” to the deal so they could get out of the rain

  “What’s the loophole in this so-called deal of yours?” “Just say ‘yes!’” Sara called out to her, “Yes!” Kimberly prodded Lexy

  “There is no loophole, I will go back to being the queen of the school, and you can be whatever you are, ruining my day,” Kasey said

  “I like that!” Lexy replied

  “Good, I will see you at school. Goodbye,” Kasey said throwing the large mantilla envelope on the wet ground and walking away without another word to them

  “Damn,” Lexy said picking up the wet envelope from the ground “That went well,” Jordan said

  “You can say that, again. Too well for my liking,” Lexy said looking at the closed envelope

  “What’s in there?” Kimberly asked her

  “Don’t know and don’t care! Let’s go,” Lexy said

  “Sure, why not!” Jordan said

  “That’s fine with me,” Kimberly told her. “Let’s celebrate that Kasey made an easy deal with us.”

  “You can say that again!”

  Max was too overloaded with work to go to Dean’s funeral or the party. After he had had enough of the pile of paperwork that was on his desk, Max locked up his art gallery for the night. Turning, he noticed a light was on at The Sedona’s Heart Café. He made his way over in the rain and saw Blanche sitting all alone at a table. He walked over to the door and knocked on it. Blanche looked up at Max and then went over to open the door to let him in

  “Max, what a surprise to see you! Come in out of the rain.” “I should say the same to you,” Max replied as she closed the door behind him. He had seen that her eye makeup was running

  “The party and the people there got to me. Everyone kept asking me if I was going to be okay, and I just needed to get out, so I came over to my shop.” Blanche said as they walked over to sit on the couch.

  “I know what you mean. People did that to me when my wife passed on,” Max replied, looking at Blanche and wanting once more to take her in his arms and hug her.

  “They keep forgetting I lost my only daughter, and I know how to deal with losing a loved one.”

  “Maybe your friends don’t want to see you so depressed again. I don’t want to see that happen, either,” Max told her

  “How do you know that?”

  “Lexy, who else?” Max said as he sat down on the couch

  “Would you like some champagne? I took a bottle from the party.” “Sure, I would love a glass,” he replied, “Then I will be right back.”

  Blanche walked toward the kitchen, leaving Max for a minute. She came back with two coffee cups and a bottle of champagne

  “Let me open the bottle,” he said standing up

  “Okay, here you go,” she replied, handing Max the champagne. He took a knife out of his pocket and opened it

  “Coffee cups for champagne?” Max asked as he poured it into the cups “It’s all we have or the cups that we use for the soda,” Blanche told him sitting down on the couch

  “Here you go,” he said, handing h
er a cup while he sat back down “Thank you.”

  “Cheers to…” Max began to say but stopped to look at Blanche

  “To every day that we are blessed with,” Blanche said holding her cup to Max’s as they clinked and drank

  “Well said, Blanche,” Max told her

  “Thanks, Max!” Blanche said taking another drink

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Blanche, Renee is leaving for Paris tomorrow.”

  “Why? When will she be back?”

  “She’s not coming back. She knows she doesn’t have my full heart; she needs it to feel secure. I been thing,”

  “Blanche, do you see that wildflower growing in the courtyard out there?” He pointed to a beautiful wildflower lifting its head to drink and glisten in the rain

  “Yes?” she said looking at the wildflowers

  “You’re a wildflower who needs to be free after 25 years of marriage. I want you to be wild and free to create a new life for yourself without Dean and without me. In my world, people will judge and type you. One wrong step, and you will be on the cover of every news and gossip tabloid. They will expect you to play a fictional part. Good for a party, shopping with friends, or staying home all day. You wouldn’t be able to run your quaint epicurean shop. Your friends would be considered to be beneath my friends. Then we have Lexy and Kimberly to think about. I won’t hurt you, Blanche, my wildflower.”

  “Thank you, Max, you do understand! And there will always be a special place in my heart for you.”

  “In mine, too, my Wildflower.” Blanche leaned over and gave Max one last kiss, and he reciprocated. The moment was bittersweet. One last time, Max cupped her face, and she felt his warm hand on her cool skin as they share a kiss.

  “Take care, my wildflower,” Max said, letting go of Blanche. Then he left her, both knowing that their grand love affair was over between them.

  Chapter 31

  The next day, the sun was out, making the rain-washed Red Rock look beautiful and clean. Max waited alongside Renee’s jet on the airport tarmac, holding a dozen red roses. He saw her limo pull up and she got out and saw Max