by Tonya Kappes
*
Sam couldn’t believe what he was watching on television. He wanted to reach out to Celia and tell her he was sorry. He wanted her to know he really does love her. He doesn’t want her to believe what his agent was telling everyone. He wasn’t researching a movie role, he wasn’t using her to get to know her because of a role.
“It’s about time you came to your senses even if you did give away a few thousand.” Bart was coy.
Sam looked away. Bart disgusted him.
“Don’t ever talk about Celia. I left because I am sick of this life. I needed to get away.” He took a drink of water. He looked outside over the hills into the haze over Los Angeles. “I didn’t miss this nasty weather either.”
Bart said a couple words, but Sam didn’t hear him. He was in Grandberry Falls where he could ride around in the old Chevy with the windows down and the fresh country air whipping his longer hair around.
Sam overheard his agent on the phone. “She’s what? Get her on the phone now.”
“Who are you talking to?” Sam questioned Bart. He knew it was Celia. Sam grabbed the phone. “Celia?”
The pause was deafening. “I have nothing to say to you.” Sam didn’t recognize her cold collective voice.
“Celia, I didn’t come there for a role. They are lying.” Sam wanted to beg for forgiveness.
“I hope you got what you needed.” Celia wasn’t listening to him and it was making him crazy.
“I swear I told you the truth about coming to town. I just ended up there.” Before he was done talking the phone line went dead. Sam threw the phone up against the wall, shattering to pieces. With his fists tight, he scurried over and got in Bart’s face. “What did you tell her?”
“I don’t want her to go on television or a tabloid and exploit you. We have to cover all basis for your stupid mistakes.”
Sam didn’t understand what the big deal was. He didn’t care if his image was getting tarnished because he went to a small town and fell in love. If the movie studios held that against him, he didn’t care. He still didn’t want to be here, but he gave his word and he has never gone back on his word.
“Get out,” Sam growled. “I don’t want to see you until this movie begins to shoot.”
Bart got in Sam face. “You haven’t gotten this far without my help. I told your mother I would take care of your career and I have put you on the map.” He shoved Sam’s shoulder. “I refuse to let some little hick town girl take that away from you.”
Sam was almost incoherent. He was so angry he couldn’t tell what was what anymore. There had to be more. He gazed up to the ceiling. Bianca, he channeled her, there is more, right? He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.
“Get some sleep.” Bart slammed the front door causing an echo.
*
“I can’t believe it. I told you he was hiding something.” Celia closed the blinds throughout the upstairs. She didn’t want to risk the pesky paparazzi from getting a shot. They had those fancy lenses. “I am so angry.” Celia cried harder. Marty put his arms around her, trying to comfort her. “Shocked. Sad.”
Celia broke free of his grasp and screamed at the top of her lungs, “I can’t believe this!” Charlie ran to her side. “I know buddy, you are the only man who has loved me unconditionally.”
“Cee, that’s not true.” Marty began to rub her back. “Eli and I love you immensely. This community adores you.”
“Don’t give me that crap. You love me if I don’t have a grandfather. You love me if I became a lawyer. You love me if I didn’t tip the scale with mom.” Celia walked into her bedroom.
She didn’t want to say much more because she wasn’t sure how she could be nice to her father right now. She was still angry with him for not telling her the truth about her grandfather.
The cameras clicked when Marty opened the door. They were like sharks trying to get a bit of anything. She wanted exposure for the shop, just not this kind.
She turned to the television to see Sam strolling down the street with a coffee in hand with that brilliant smile.
“How dare you walk like you have no care in the world.” Celia snarled at the television. She wanted to hate him. He had on glasses.
She couldn’t see his eyes. His eyes said it all. That is what threw her off.
“How did this happen?” She patted Charlie. “I have always been so good at reading people.” Celia laid her head down on her pillow. She didn’t care what orders she had to fill, the customers were going to have to wait. Life was going to have to wait.
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.”
Samuel Johnson
17
Celia made sure to keep herself busy over the next couple of weeks. She avoided anything dealing with movies or Sam Barber. Even the community respected her and didn’t ask any questions. Sam had even stopped calling after weeks of not taking his calls. Thanksgiving had come and gone. She really was starting to embrace the idea of her dad and Kerri Ann. Her grandfather was by their side as if he never left. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.
The paparazzi found a new, fresh story to follow. She and Sam had become old news, even though he was still occupying most of the space in her head. She completely threw herself into her work. She worked on her radio show which went to weekly Sunday broadcasts. In the beginning it was mostly callers asking questions about Sam and what he was like. Celia graciously declined to answer most of those questions.
She had landed a couple of spring weddings and a Christmas wedding a few weeks away, she had already planned the entire event. Now was just the wait.
“The Ladybug.” Celia answered the phone in her perky voice.
“Hi, yes. Is Celia Briggs there please?”
Great, another annoying reporter, Celia thought.
“This is her.” She knew she could be nice and hang up if they asked any questions other than flowers.
“Ok, great.” The lady sounded a little put off. “I’m Mims from Designer Boutique in Los Angeles and we provide the floral arrangements for most of the movie wrap parties.” The lady cleared her throat. “We had a request to use your florist for the next wrap party. Is that something you would be interested in?”
Celia asked her to repeat herself because she didn’t understand what she was saying.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to talking to southern slow speaking people.” Her words made Celia giggle inside. Do all California people think the country only breads idiots?
After listening to her for the second time Celia blurted, “Why not?”
She had an urgent sense of regret. Where did that come from? She questioned her words.
“Great. I have your address and fax number. I will send over the numbers and schedule with an electronic plane ticket and your hotel information.” The lady was talking so fast; Celia had a hard time scribbling it all down. “We have a florist here you can use that will be stocked with flowers and the theme of the party. I am sure you will have more than you will need.”
Celia hugged the phone to her chest. Somehow Sam was involved, she didn’t know how yet. Even though she pretended not to care about Sam, daily she looked at all the tabloid websites to see if he was photographed with anyone—another woman.
She braced herself as she clicked down the screen.
“Nothing,” she said.
Relief took over. A half smile was all she could muster up as she looked at the picture of him walking down the street or the stroll along the Pacific.
Her new delivery boy, a local high schooler, was starting this afternoon. Her father agreed to the morning delivery, she would make the afternoon deliveries on her lunch and the new boy would make the last run of the day.
“Cee?” Eli tapped lightly on the shop door.
“Grandfather.” Celia was still in her pajamas.
“Look at you.” Eli pointed out lett
ing her know it was time for work.
“I know.” She wryly looked at him. “Want some coffee?”
It felt good for Eli to be in her life. He had such a forgiving heart and she had forgiven her mother.
Marty had given her a letter her mother had written before she died. She knew Eli would try to locate Celia and Celia was an adult. Her mother apologized for her decision and once she tried to go back out of it, it was too late to repair.
Her mother was right, Celia was capable of making her own decisions.
“I had an article to write for the paper. Plus a few arrangements to finish.” Celia made every excuse for her appearance.
The fact of the matter, she didn’t find joy in arranging flowers anymore. At least not the kind of joy she had when Sam stood over her shoulder helping her place the flowers perfectly.
“It’s Sam isn’t it?” Eli didn’t like seeing her this way.
“Yes.” Celia’s one word was enough for the tears to wail up in her eyes. “I swear I knew him.”
The more she thought about him, the quicker her fingers manipulated the chippers causing loose stems to fly around her.
“Cee, you did.” Eli really liked Sam. He made sure to praise him around her, but she just couldn’t get over the fact Sam couldn’t tell her the truth. “He had to get away from Los Angeles. The grief he was living in and you helped him in more ways than one. His agent didn’t even know where he was.”
Celia shook her head in denial. “No! He would’ve stayed if he wanted to.”
The least he could’ve done was told her who he really was and let her make the decision of whether he stayed or left.
“Do you enjoy the shop?”
Celia stopped and slammed down the clippers. What kind of question was that?
“Of course I do. It’s all I ever wanted in my entire life.” She hunched over the table, with all her weight bear on her hands.
“You can thank him for it.” Eli looked her square in the face.
Really? Thank him for what? Granted she did get a lot more customers due to the radio spots, but the rest was a heartache she definitely could’ve done without.
“Grandfather, the radio ads have helped, but it was me who got the weekly show.” She wasn’t going to let Sam Barber take responsibility for her years of hard work learning about flowers.
Eli picked up the stems on the floor and put them in the trash.
“I gave him my word, but I can’t stand seeing you unhappy. And I know he’s unhappy. He has called me and told me so.” He walked over and took her hands. “Even when you were a lawyer, you were never this unhappy.”
Celia still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact her grandfather had been her real life guardian angel.
“Sam’s agent sent you the anonymous donation to the shop. The money was from Sam on one contingency.”
Celia’s eyes popped out of her head. “What?” She thought for sure it was from a happy customer or even her grandfather. “What was it based on?”
“His agent told him he would send the money only if he would come back and finish his commitment to the movie.”
Celia didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t believe it. “I thought it was you who sent the money.” Celia figured her grandfather knew all her dealings like he had followed her through the other parts of her life.
“How did he know I was in trouble? I didn’t tell him.” Celia pulled away and got some daisies out of the refrigerator. Her heart was starting to tear even more and keeping her hands busy took her mind off the pain.
“He said he came over late one night and was watching you arrange flowers.” His voice was soft.
Celia enjoyed when Sam watched her. His eyes were so loving and made her happy. She could tell he enjoyed her creative process. If he didn’t like the placement of a flower, he would give her examples.
“You answered a phone call, your window was slightly open and you asked the person on the other end of the phone to give you more time and not put a foreclosure on the shop.”
How could she be so stupid when she went to great lengths to hide the defaulted loan? Celia racked her brain. She remembered the exact night her grandfather was talking about.
She had stayed up extra late in case Sam came back over. She opened the window to let the cool crisp air in to keep her awake. She went to bed after realizing he wasn’t coming. Celia knew she would see him bright and early the next morning for their morning coffee date.
She tried to recall how he acted the next day and nothing was out of the ordinary. She wondered if he had put the plan in motion by the time he came over.
“It happened so fast, Cee.” Eli leaned across the old farm table and helped her clip the stem. After all, he did know how to cut them perfectly and at the correct angle. “His agent made the deal because he needed Sam to fulfill his commitment. Using you was a way to get to Sam because Sam would do anything for you and his agent knew it.”
“No, he could’ve said no if he cared for me.” Celia wasn’t going to listen to any excuses.
He had all the money in the world without doing another film. She heard his agent on the television, he was researching a role and that’s all he cared about.
*
Sam continued to try and go about his daily life. There were less questions about Celia and his double life in Grandberry Falls from the paparazzi and the people close to him didn’t even question him. His agent didn’t care when or why, he was glad Sam was back to him old self.
It was back to life as usual for Sam. He went to his movie trailer every morning, did a couple takes, went back to the trailer for the rest and finished the scenes before he called it a night. Some nights, they filmed into the wee hours of the morning. A much welcome plan for Sam, because it meant less time at home where he not only had memories of Bianca, who he knew he’d never have again, but Celia. His time in Grandberry Falls played in his mind like a great movie worthy of an Oscar.
Today he stopped by the farmer’s market before he went home. The flowers called him and one-by-one he touched them. He picked up the entire bucket of white tulips.
“Ah, tulips. Beautiful aren’t they?” The gentleman took the flowers out and wrapped them in brown paper bags.
Sam wasn’t in the mood for chitchat or seeing his conversation with this man on the Huffington Post in the morning. Sometimes it’s best not to say anything, but nod.
“Forgiveness,” he said. He caught Sam off guard.
Sam didn’t budge. He could never trust anyone in this town and with the slew of paparazzi outside, Sam certainly wasn’t going to comment.
Carefully the tulips lay in his passenger seat of his Benz. Bart had long gotten rid of the Chevy and replaced it with the new Mercedes that Celia would scoff at. The paparazzi was so thick at his gate, it took him ten minutes to get them to clear. Once inside, he carefully arranged the tulips in Bianca’s favorite glass vase with Celia in mind. If he closed his eyes, The Ladybug became real. The smell of flowers, the refrigerator seal breaking, Charlie brushing up against his legs, Celia’s long auburn curly hair with the loose stems sticking out of it. And her smile. It made Sam’s heart melt every time.
He took his Blackberry out of his pocket. He had to know if Celia accepted the wrap party job he hired his publicist to set up.
“Eli, it’s Sam.” He felt close to Celia when he talked with Eli. Eli had Celia best interest at heart which made Sam comfortable.
“Hi, Sam. How’s the movie business?” Sam could tell Eli was trying to avoid the unavoidable.
“It’s the same as it always has been.” Sam wasn’t going to play around. He wanted to cut to the chase. “How’s Celia?”
“Sam, please don’t do this to yourself.” Eli’s voice trembled. “You know the answer to your question.”
Sam was responsible for her heartache. It was an unbearable weight on his shoulders.
“I could come and talk to her. I could fly in for the day.”
Eli sighed loud
ly. “It’s better to leave it well enough alone.”
“I could…” Sam was desperate. He paced back and forth looking for another answer to his problem.
“Sam, stop. She is trying to get over you. It’s going to take a while, but getting her to Los Angeles probably isn’t the healthiest thing for Cee.” That was Eli’s way of letting Sam know he didn’t approve of the wrap party idea.
“I think if she saw how crazy my world was, I would be able to talk to her. She won’t return any of my phone calls.”
“She hasn’t mentioned you and the wrap party together in a sentence. If she knows it’s you, she’s keeping quiet about it.”
“So she is coming?” Sam anticipated his answer. He stared out the fifteen-foot windows watching the grounds keeper clean the pool.
“She is.” Those were the sweetest words to Sam’s ears. He had to put his plan in motion before she got there. “I don’t know what you have up your sleeve, but you better be careful. I like you Sam. I love my granddaughter.”
Sam took Eli’s idle threat as that. He wasn’t worried about anyone other than Celia. He needed her to understand why he did what he did no matter the outcome.
“It is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity.”
Frederick Phillips
18
Celia had spent all week on the phone with the florist in Los Angeles She wanted to make sure she had everything she needed. They have assured her all she needs to bring is herself and clothes.
Clothes were another issue. Celia had gone to the malls in Lexington to find the right outfits for Los Angeles. Unfortunately, she didn’t see anything she liked.
She pulled into The Figure 8, hoping Beth Harrison would have something unique.
“Hey, Celia.” Beth Harrison was hunkered under the beginning of a shelving unit. “These things are so darn tricky when you first put them together.”
Beth’s five-foot, eight inch frame stood tall in her cork-wedged espadrilles. The body hugging grey strapless dress, belted at the waist was exactly what Celia was looking for. Only Beth’s crimson hair was straight, hanging down her back, and the blunt bangs made the perfect frame for her slender face.