I was out of the car and jogging over before I’d had time to think about what I was doing. A weathered face peered up at me from a hunched figure on the pavement beside the flowers. So craggy and seasoned that it was difficult to determine gender.
“Ma’am?” I hazarded a guess and was rewarded with a toothless grin. “What are those?” I pointed at a bank of brilliant yellow.
“Them’s toolipz,” she mumbled back. “Most beautiful in town. The world even.”
“I’ll take them,” I replied, reaching into my top pocket. She reached for a bunch, and I waved a hand. “All of them. The whole lot.” Her eyes glittered as I peeled off notes and she tried to get her bony arms around as many bunches as she could. I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine, Ma’am, I’ll do it.” I bent and scooped up masses of the blooms.
Horatio was eyeing me curiously as I crammed the back seat full of flowers and squeezed in beside them.
“I coulda organized a delivery from the florist, boss,” he said as we pulled off again. I looked down to the petals at my side and shook my head.
“No. I think she’ll like these better.”
He was silent a moment, then slowly grinned and gave a nod. “You know what…I think you’re right.”
I sat in silence, lost in my own thoughts as we made the trip back, then slowly felt something in me surge as we finally pulled up outside my apartment block. “You need some help there, boss?” Horatio asked as I gathered the flowers.
“Nope,” I said. “I got it.” More than that, I wanted to be alone with her when I arrived. The demands of the day hadn’t given me a moment to reach out to her, and the memories of our night together were bringing with them a heat that was beginning to glow.
I opened the door to the apartment and looked around.
“Hey, Sweetness, I’m home…and you’d better be naked!” I called out, wondering why she hadn’t been waiting to greet me. It had become a regular routine in our few days together, and I was beginning to look forward to the little ritual. And what came after it. Of course, this time, I’d come bearing gifts, and I’d be expecting due compensation. I glanced at the blooms and imagined their golden color against her creamy skin. She’d be magnificent. It occurred to me that I might spread out the petals and fuck her among the flowers. Cream and gold and radiant red…it would be a picture alright.
But the silence was disconcerting, and I frowned. “Sasha?” I said into the emptiness.
And then I heard it. A little whimper. I knew that sound. I’d drawn it out of her myself a thousand times. But this…this was different.
I turned to the source and felt my frown darken as I spotted her. Curled up in a sheet on a chair overlooking the view out across the city. She was hunched over, her knees drawn to her chest, her face turned away as I walked up to her.
“Sasha?” I said softly, dropping the flowers to the floor. Her shoulders shook, and I lowered myself to my knees beside the chair. “Sasha, what’s wrong? Speak to me…”
I cupped a hand to her cheek and guided her face around to look at me. Huge hazel eyes gazed up, ravaged by tears, her lids puffy, lashes spiked. She held herself rigidly for a second, then licked her lips and whispered,
“Angelique…”
