"Oh bummer," her friend's mouth slid down into a frown and she closed her laptop. "Think he lied?"
"Mmm maybe. I don't know. But I do know that Ididn'tknow that he had a family emergency and he left a red flower on a table where a different man was sitting and I sat down and was...well, me," she said gesturing to herself.
"Strangely beautiful and wickedly funny, go on," Ursula said.
"Exactly," Eloise pointed to Ursula. She took out the bow from her hair and then the elastic as she shook out the thick, wavy strands that took on a reddish hue in the late afternoon sun coming in from the large kitchen windows. "And so I'm thinking this guy is my date. Because he has a flower and doesn't identify himself as not Graham Bledsoe."
"Well, sure. When anyone I don't know approaches me I immediately tell them who I am not."
Eloise speared her with a look and Ursula laughed then apologized as she gestured for her to continue.
"And somewhere about a half an hour into this date with an imposter, we finally realize that he's not Graham,"
"He probably already knew he's not Graham."
"And I'm mortified," she said ignoring her.
"Have you ever been mortified? I would bet all of the apricot parrot tulips in the front yard you were shocked and maybe slightly embarrassed but mostly miffed."
Eloise's eyebrows pinched in thought as she chewed on her lip. "Well, anyway, first try at dating after a while and this is my luck."
"Why haven't you dated in a while, again?"
Eloise turned away, reaching up to get a glass and fill it with water, taking the time to gather her thoughts before she turned back toward Ursula and shrugged easily. "New life, new business, keeping a business running. Running away from my emotions," she said airily. "It was all kind of consuming. I just wasn't interested."
"Yeah, I get that," Ursula said gently. "Your peach tree has a few ready. I had this odd hankering for bourbon brown butter peaches-"
"And creme fraiche?"
"Yes! With tea in bone china and southern vanilla bean biscuits?"
Their phones both lit up with their text group and they quickly invited the women over.
"Hey, I'm going to invite Bess. The owner of The Black Cat is unexpectedly out of town for some family thing and the poor girl served radioactive coffee."
"Yikes. Hey, you should help her out."
She nodded. "Yeah, I offered. We'll see if the persnickety teen takes it."
Hours later as the sun was blazing by, dipping low and leaving behind bright golden spring light, the women were gathered on the back patio with bowls of peaches swimming in browned butter and a hint of bourbon, freshly made creme fraiche andsmall butter drop biscuits made with scraped out vanilla beans. Tilly had turned on the bobbing string lights above them, and they had their enchanting bubble of warmth that was exactly fourteen degrees above the cool spring evening air outside of The Lost Souls House.
One of the greenhouses, the one with the large panes of stained glass with a depiction of Ursula and Casper, was glowing from the touch of the sun as it dropped. That was where Ursula and Eloise often found a lost soul or two, hanging in the glass-paneled structure with the smell of soil and life. Eloise had been slowly getting to know each of the ten women who were no longer anonymous, hanging around the property and leaving behind pieces of themselves. A young girl named Violet, nine years old and one of the unfortunate casualties of that time long ago, liked to leave behind smiley faces in the spilled dirt on the potting table.
The sound of chickadees chirping and the soft meows of the grey catbird home for the warming spring mixed with the crackling bonfire as the women ate and talked.
"That girl called me," Jen said. "The one-night stand? She's in town for something and thought she'd reach out."
"Ohhh spill," Tilly urged.
And she did. The women listened and responded exactly how Jen needed them to. They made jokes and gave advice. Then moved on to Tilly's tense visit with her family; parents with strict expectations she could never quite meet, an older sister who exceeded them all.
Bess helped Eloise make rose and peppermint tea for everyone and soon enough time had passed that the sun was quite done as that soft spring darkness took over.
"Okay, so who was the actual guy you were not on a blind date with?"
"Uh, a detective Taylor White? Very handsome," Eloise said.
"He is handsome! He has one of those dimples." Tilly pressed her finger to her cheek.
