“Now, about the flowers. Janelle is meeting us here in about a half an hour. I wanted to look around first.”
They stepped up to the New York City Flower Market, distinguishable by the five-foot sandwich board sign in front of a green wrought-iron archway that would usher city dwellers from a concrete jungle to a world of colorful flowers and vegetation. The sign boasted today’s special—two for one Lily of the Valley plants—in large, loopy green and pink chalk. The storefront took up half the city block, and the “roof” could not be called a roof at all, but more of a clean, glorified tarp, as it draped over the area like an elaborate party tent.
“Do you have an idea of what you want?” Sophie had pulled out her phone, ready to snap photos as they walked through the market.
“Janelle was so prepared, I remember being okay with what she had thought out.” Virginia pulled out her portfolio to take notes. “Remember? I said the flowers were something I was not worried about.”
“Oh, yes. Were the popular arrangements really that different in 1935 than they are today?”
“Not that I could find. There was more yellow than I thought there would be.”
“Yellow?” Sophie giggled. “Why does the yellow surprise you?”
“Oh, please don’t get going into one of your giggle fits,” Virginia said, playfully exasperated. “Yellow surprised me because I honestly expected mostly white and red with some natural green added in. It was the middle of the Depression. I didn’t expect much variety or the grandiose arrangements that I found in photos at the library back home.”
Upon walking through the open gate, every sense of the city changed. The smell went from fuel and food to fresh and sweet; the feel went from grit and grime to soft and delicate; the sounds went from whooshes and car horns to voices talking floral arrangements and a slight rustling as the wind made its way through the narrow aisles; the sights shifted from skyscrapers and monotonous tones to bursts of every color on the spectrum in every direction; and even the taste of the city changed—instead of tasting exhaust after walking down busy streets for a month, Virginia and Sophie were met with pleasant aromas that made everything else fade away.
For half an hour, Virginia and Sophie roamed the floral market. Aisle after aisle of color of after color. Clean and neat, Virginia and Sophie experienced magnificence, floral magnificence. Silky cream-colored magnolias, bright orange bird of paradise, rainbow roses, blush-pink carnations, indigo and plum-shaded baby’s breath, avocado-colored bamboo, daffodils the hue of lemons, deep pink ginger, peach and sapphire hydrangeas, lavender sprees, orange and yellow marigolds, and violets that stayed true to their name.
“I’m glad we came early,” Sophie breathed out. “This is overwhelming. Beautiful and overwhelming. Good to have a head start.”
The ladies ambled, looking at almost everything while still in motion. The aisle that stopped them was the narrowest and the furthest to the right. From beginning to end, distinctly colored gerbera daisies were symmetrically arranged from floor to ceiling.
“These colors,” Virginia said softly.
“Incredible, aren’t they?” Janelle said, showing up beside them and joining in their awe. “These are my favorite flower.”
Janelle’s kind and tranquil manner put Virginia and Sophie even more at ease over the next two hours as they discussed the flower menu for the Gala. Janelle’s passion for flowers radiated through her speech and her knowledge. She had done her research, and just as importantly she had ideas for how to put a modern twist on the arrangements. They walked through the entire market two more times, talking over various options for arrangements, combinations, and even the corsage Ms. Marie Rhodes would be given to wear for the Gala. Virginia and Sophie asked for a dozen arrangement samples to be seen in three weeks.
“That went well,” Sophie said as the friends waved goodbye to Janelle. She had walked downtown to catch a one-minute play show going on in a nearby park. Virginia and Sophie walked the opposite direction, heading toward their hotel for a meeting with Amber and Louis, which Sophie was most excited about, of course.
“It did go very well,” Virginia answered with a smile, just as her phone dinged, indicating a text message. She had been waiting for a photo of her mom in the new eyeglasses she was supposed to pick up that morning.
“One sec,” Virginia said. She pulled her phone out of her purse and paused on the inside of the sidewalk so she would be out of others’ way. Virginia did not want to be a ped-textrian.
We have two new menus drafted for you. Want to meet later today?
Levi.
Every other vendor had texted her and her heart had stayed beating at a normal rate. Her executive chef sends her a work-related message and it goes all haywire.
You’re early. Can’t meet today. Tomorrow morning? That’s normal enough. Right? Business, just like she said.
Sounds good. Time and place?
9 a.m. your office? I like the view.
Of me or the city? ;) *Kidding!* Sounds good. See you then. He added a string of food emojis.
Oh, Virginia.
“Earth to Virginia,” Sophie said, waving her hand in front of her friend’s face. “What’s happening there?” she asked, pointing to Virginia’s phone.
Virginia cleared her throat. “Nothing.”
Sophie gave her a yeah-right with her doubting eyes and her shot-up eyebrows and her crinkled forehead.
“Just Levi. I guess they’re ready with two new menu drafts. We’re going to see them tomorrow morning.”
Sophie remained quiet for a moment. “Okay,” she said suddenly. She kicked off from the building she had been leaning against and started their walk uptown. After a few paces, she turned quickly to Virginia, who had yet to catch up. “I know you’re all business with Levi and everything, but just as a courtesy I’m going to tell you: for those thirty-seconds when you were exchanging messages with him your face was brighter than the Vegas strip.”
“Soph. Give me a break,” Virginia said, tossing her phone in her big purple bag and lowering her sunglasses.
Sophie lowered her pair over her eyes, too, and gave a mischievous smile. And that was that.
So went Virginia’s time in New York for the remainder of the summer. She and Sophie met with vendors, Levi and his group included, and the meetings continued to go well. Sometimes, even as event planners, Virginia and Sophie wondered how planning a party could take so many months. Once they met intermittently with vendors, they always remembered why: first drafts and second, fitting in meetings with companies that were busy, and getting everything to specification. All of that took time. Lots of time.
Flirting-not-flirting texts were exchanged with Levi from time to time, which Sophie never explicitly knew about but could always guess based on Virginia’s facial expressions when she did so. Virginia worked hard to curb those expressions, tuck those feelings in her back pocket in the hopes they’d slip out somewhere on the streets of New York. So far that hadn’t been the case, but Virginia was no quitter.
Now it was the very end of August and Virginia couldn’t wait to get home the following weekend for the Labor Day bash. At this point, she was just buying her time until she could get on the train with Sophie and could spend another weekend cozied up in her mom’s sunroom. The anticipation had been creating such nervous energy within her that Virginia had been jogging every morning for two weeks. She changed up her route each day—so many Blue Bloods episodes with Sophie’s grandmother had taught her that keeping one’s jogging route the same makes it easy on a predator—but the six-mile distance remained the same.
This morning, three days before her long weekend in Rochester, Virginia was enjoying a rainy run through Battery Park at the southern-most tip of Manhattan. Geared up in a pink visor, black running capris, and a gray active shirt, all made of wicking fabric, the warm rain clung to her bare arms and the lower half of her shins, making her feel every inch of the six-mile run.
Gray had blanketed the city fo
r two days now. It was dark enough that the streetlamps lining the walkways through the park remained lit in the daytime. No matter for Virginia. She would be ridding herself of that energy if it was the last thing she did each day, though most days it had been the first. Sophie had joined her on the sunny days, but rainy runs were not Sophie’s style. Too much for her curls, she always said.
With the Dimond Reef lapping quietly nearby, Virginia could hear her own breathing. She had settled for no music in her ears today so she could keep her electronics dry. One stride at a time brought Virginia closer to the sunroom, closer to the Gala, closer to not having Levi in her face anymore, something that was getting harder and harder.
He was just so charming, and genuinely so. She watched him closely, and she saw that he was charming with everyone but that the way he looked at her was just for her. His care and concern for others was evident through his words and actions, like the way he looked right at people when they were talking to him, no matter who they were—fan or friend.
Yet, his feelings for her were written all over his face every time he glanced in her direction. His face went soft, a glowing peace even—which is exactly why Sophie had given her the courtesy of telling her that she lit up, too, whenever she and Levi interacted.
It wasn’t what Virginia wanted to hear, of course. What Virginia wanted to hear was how well the Gala was coming along, and how Marie Rhodes had put her in charge for a reason, and maybe even Hey, that cute guy that nobody knows about—yeah, him with the latte—I think he likes you and you two would get along great. It didn’t matter which cute guy with the latte; this was New York, you could throw a rock and hit one. Just one that wasn’t Levi, wasn’t a celebrity, and could keep others off her back about her lack of romantic life.
Instead, she was subjected to daily reminders of her increasing feelings for Levi. No way could they lessen when he said things like, I looked at your testimonies page—your clients seem to really love New Horizons, or I liked your idea about the chocolate mousse so I added it to the menu. Or even, thank your mom for the lemonade; it was incredible, which he texted her after she dropped off some homemade lemonade her mom had sent back with her. She had shared it with Sophie, of course, and had felt compelled to share it also with Levi. With his kind, genuine words, he might as well have built her her own cloud to lie on because that’s how he was making her feel.
All this trailed through her mind as she ran, and ran and ran and ran. At the end of the waterfront at Battery Park Virginia turned her head to the side to get one last glimpse at the water before heading north back to the hotel. She was just about to turn around when a large, hard object collided with her body and she went tumbling to the ground. She heard a loud grunt coupled with a scream, she wasn’t sure if one or both were hers. Her body hit the ground with a strong thud echoed by a splash, since a puddle had happened to form in the exact spot where she fell.
With no clue as to what or who hit her, Virginia quickly weighed her options. Get up and run so fast that an assailant—if it was one—would have little to no chance of catching her. Or, take the hand that was being offered her. Upon first glance, it looked familiar, kind, and steady.
“Are you okay? Take my hand, let me help you up,” he said urgently.
Even through the rain and with the immediacy to his voice, she knew it was him. She took his hand, taking extreme care in not enjoying it.
“I’m okay. You should see the other guy,” she said, a light smirk forming on her face.
Recognition rolled over him. “Virginia. Another meet cute?”
“More like you need to watch where you’re running. We could’ve gotten really hurt. It’s so slippery out here.”
“Me? Your head was turned,” he playfully teased. Her heart was no match for the smile on his baby face. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you to watch where you’re going?”
“All right, all right. This could go on for a while,” she said, chuckling. “How much longer do you have on your run?”
“Would ‘as long as you have on your run’ be an acceptable answer to you?” Water was dripping from his eyebrows, but he was unflinching in his question.
“I have four miles back to the hotel,” she said, a challenge as much as it was an answer.
Levi rubbed hard the water out of his eyes and nodded sharply. “Then I have four-and-a-half miles. Your hotel then to my apartment. Up Broadway, then?”
She nodded.
“After you,” he said, panning his hand out for her to begin.
Virginia shook her head quickly. “Together. On three,” she said.
She saw the approval in his eyes as she slowly counted.
“One. Two. Three.” In step and side by side, Virginia and Levi began out of Battery Park and up the center of lower Manhattan.
Maybe it was the jogging, which she could see as an equalizer.
Maybe it was the rain, coating everything—including Levi—in gray.
Maybe it was the way he stayed quiet for almost every step of their run.
She wasn’t sure what it was.
Yet, she was sure of one thing: running with Levi was more fun than the most fun date she had been on in the last ten years.
His celebrity didn’t show but twice, when fans shouted as he ran past them. He raised his hand in a quick wave, but said nothing and lost no focus. What she thought would be a hindrance to their run—recognition and harassing fans—didn’t even register on the radar.
He ran ahead once so he could move cones that were blocking a walkway they wanted to cross, then he hung behind so he could put them back. His kindness went beyond good manners and seemed part of his fabric.
He laughed with her when they witnessed an older man throw his full coffee cup at a cab that had turned too quickly. He didn’t take things too seriously and seemed to appreciate the city’s quirks as she did.
And he kept pace with her, not once indicating that he would like to go faster, which he probably could judging by his fit-ness. Again with the manners.
In all, Levi was everything Virginia enjoyed in a running partner. Sophie usually filled the role quite nicely, though she chatted more than Virginia preferred. That was always given grace, though, because best friends are best friends and that’s that.
At the last quarter of a mile, Virginia looked to her right and asked if he was ready to sprint when she said go. “It’s how I end every run,” she said.
“Well then I guess I have no choice,” he said, panting through his words.
Wind rushed through her ears. She paid no mind to whether or not Levi was with her. Virginia’s only focus was sprinting past the hotel door at the end of the block. She could see the orange do not cross sign was lit for pedestrians, so she would round the corner, fast and strong.
When it was over, Virginia doubled over, catching her breath and wiping off her very-wet face with the one dry spot on her shirt.
“Not too bad, Miss Virginia May,” Levi said, working to catch his breath. He reached the bottom of his shirt and brought it to his face to wipe his hair line.
“Same to you, Mr. Adams,” she said, winded but smiling.
Virginia put her hand on her heart, a habit of hers after every run. She loved feeling her heart beat so fast, a sign of life and strength.
Levi was circling the sidewalk, hands on his hips and chest heaving less and less. After half a dozen spins, he slowed and looked at Virginia, suddenly serious. His eyes stilled as he seemed to be thinking about what to say. Once his breathing was back to a regular pace, he spoke, not once taking his shining blue eyes away from Virginia.
“We make a good team, you and me.”
Virginia had gotten her heart calmed down from the run, but it had no problem ramping right back up. She wasn’t sure if she looked it from the outside, but her insides were turning to goo.
“It was just a run, Levi.”
He smiled in his exhale, possibly—momentarily—defeated, but no less discouraged. Or so it seemed.
<
br /> “See you later, Virginia. Have a great weekend in Rochester. And enjoy that train ride,” he said, throwing her a wink before he headed west to his apartment.
Ay.
Chapter 15
“Why in the world would he take an eleven-hour train ride when he has the means to fly? To include chartering his own plane?”
Virginia’s words came out faster and higher pitched than she had intended, but she meant them with her whole heart.
Why in the world would Levi take an eleven-hour train ride when he could easily charter his own aircraft and be home in a fraction of the time? And why couldn’t she stay as calm as she had stayed during their airplane meeting and initial team meeting?
All she had done was see him down the train platform. She wasn’t even sure that he had seen her, but she had sure seen him. That sandy-brown hair tucked into his favorite ballcap, the shirt-and-tie get-up that he had donned at all but one of their meetings—their run through central Manhattan being the only exception—and the unmistakable tall and unassuming stride that carried him everywhere he went.
Sophie was not so panicked. She was focused on getting to their seats, of which she was incredibly particular.
This weekend was Virginia’s weekend off. From New York, from Gala planning, from Levi, from everything. She had her coffee, her earbuds, her phone, and her e-reader. She was all set and was counting on the kind of respite she had experienced early in the summer. Yet, so close to her was the one thing she most wanted both to keep and to lose. And no matter where he sat on the train, knowledge that he was within a couple hundred yards of her was enough to rattle her defenses.
“Gin!”
Sophie probably said Virginia’s in a very normal tone. Since it jolted Virginia out of her trance, however, it seemed like a scream to Virginia. She jumped, almost spilling her coffee.
“Was that necessary?” Virginia asked her best friend.
“It was necessary. You were not listening to me.” Slightly annoyed, a rarity for the fun-loving Sophie.
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