Or, with the paparazzi lurking around lately, was it someone else entirely? Someone trying to sabotage the wedding, to stir up drama for a headline? The possibilities swirled in her mind, each one more unsettling than the last. This was insane. This was movie shit; this was not real life.
“Jeannie, please believe me, I’m not sure who made that call, but it wasn’t me. The wedding is on and your flowers are going to be the crown jewel of the whole affair. It’s going to be nothing without you.”
“Absolutely right about that.” Jeannie let out some kind of huff, but she sounded less angry.
“I know it, believe me. I’m going to talk to my, uh, associates, and see what happened here. For now, will you accept my deepest apologies to you and to Madison, and can we please ensure that everything is back on, exactly as planned?”
There was a brief silence on the other line. Ani held her breath.
“I’d like to, but I’m just not sure anymore. Something feels fishy.”
You could sure as hell say that again, Ani thought. But this was not okay. Not in the least.
“Listen, Jeannie, I’m in the Peninsula, but I can be at your shop in about two hours. I’ll come by and I’ll have answers by then and we can figure this out.”
Silence again. “I’ll be here,” Jeannie said, then promptly hung up.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Ani wasn’t exaggerating or puffing up Jeannie when she said the flowers were going to be the wedding’s showpiece. Flowers wereessential, and there was no possible way to book a reputable florist for a weddinghappening in two weeks. She quickly texted Sanan, sure that this had nothing to do with her but hoping her assistant might have some info.
Ani turned and was met with Talar, leaning against the wall under a photo of their parents kissing at their tenth anniversary party. Ani had apparently been born nine months later. A fact she didnotneed to know.
“Trouble in wedding-land?” Talar asked.
There was no point in denying it; Talar seemed to have heard enough. “Uh, you could say that. Sorry I have to take off so soon.”
Ani’s phone buzzed. Sanan had no idea what was up and seemed very concerned. Ani would give her a call soon, hopefully once everything was smoothed over, if she managed it.
“Well, don’t be sorry, ’cause I’m coming with you.”
Ani wrinkled her nose. “No you’re not. You’ve always got stuff to do. This one trip is going to take the rest of the day.”
“Oh, yes I am. I never see you anymore. I’m busy every second of the weekday, and you’re always busy on weekends. This is a rare Saturday when you don’t have a wedding and I don’t have a crushing caseload. I need sister time.”
Ani sighed. She wanted sister time, too. But she had been hoping, because she had to head to Napa anyway, that she could see Raffi. Now that wasn’t going to happen. She and Raffi had never stipulated that they keep their relationship a secret from their own families, but considering Talar’s views of good-for-nothing Raffi Garabedian, Ani wasn’t exactly eager to introduce them.
Ani had seen Raffi once last week, luckily. He’d come to San Francisco, taken her out to a ridiculously nice restaurantwhere the staff came out with dishes in a way that felt perfectly choreographed, and she was surprised to find she enjoyed their take on haggis. They’d had a romp in bed that evening that still consisted of Raffi keeping his pants on. And Ani had grown impatient. She wanted to show him she trusted him. Tonight in Napa could have been an impromptu sex night, but now it seemed she’d be missing him entirely.
Because Ani couldn’t deny that she’d been deprived of sister time for far too long.
“You’re right. Now we have to break it to Mom and Bab.”
About two hourslater, as Ani had promised Jeannie, the two sisters walked into Tilde. Talar had assured Ani that she could back her up as her lawyer, and even though Ani said that was not necessary for this diplomatic mission, Talar still put on her meanest litigator mug.
Jeannie appeared, short, thin, and fashionable, with her arms crossed and her brows knitted.
“Jeannie,” Ani said, and extended her arm. “Ani Avakian, here as promised. Let’s clear this up.”
Talar stayed behind, suddenly entranced by the floral artwork surrounding her and forgetting the whole deal about being Ani’s legal representative.
Alone with Jeannie, Ani apologized profusely and said, truthfully, that she was still looking into the incident. She gushed over Jeannie’s floral artistry like she was getting paid by the compliment, then silently prayed while the older woman weighed her words.
“I can see you’ve got conviction,” Jeannie said. “Still, in my thirty years in the business, this has never happened to me.”
Ani’s heart seemed to stop. No flowers. Maybeshe’dhave to do the flowers. By hand? Oh God, that would take all night, if not longer. She could make a decent arrangement, but they wouldn’t be nearly as good. Then, an idea sprouted.
Ani pulled out her phone, tapped around, and pulled up a page.
“Jeannie, here’sEntertainment Tonight. Front page is Grace Zhang, who is my client, who would love foryourflowers to be atherwedding. There are literal paparazzi stalking the winery venue weeks before the actual wedding date. This wedding is going to be all over the news, and we might even get a feature inVogue.”
