The Art of Arranging Flowers by Lynne Branard Page B

supposed to like dogs.” I turn to glance down at Clementine. She looks up and winks.
    â€œAnyway, I need to borrow four or five,” Kathy says.
    I have a deal with the real estate agents. They can rent my plants for ten dollars a day. I know all the agents in the county and I’ve never had a problem with this business arrangement. It’s a good use of my plants and they usually buy one of the spathiphyllum or schefflera arboricolas when they make a sale. For the most part, they’re all good customers, although Kathy isn’t one of my best. She rents a lot of my plants, never damages any of them, but she prefers to give baked goods to her clients. I suppose she has some kind of arrangement with the Mennonite baker up the street. Kathy is real skinny; she does a lot of yoga, but Kathy also likes pie.
    â€œYou want me to give them to you now or deliver them later?”
    â€œDo you mind taking them out there around lunchtime?” She turns to look out the window and I see she’s driving her Cadillac and not the SUV. It’s parked right in front of the shop. “I hate to ruin my seats.”
    â€œSure, I can do that,” I answer. I don’t recall having any deliveries for today. I was mostly going to make the arrangements that go out later in the week. “You want to pick out the ones you want?” I ask.
    She shakes her head. “Just get me four and put two on stands by the front door, one on the dining room table, and one upstairs in the master bedroom. Wade left a lot of his good stuff in the house since that lake cabin doesn’t have as much room. He wanted to sell everything before he moved, but I told him it shows better to have a little furniture in the rooms, gives it more of a homey feeling, and that house needs all the homey feelings it can get. It’s very spacious.”
    I think about the Buckley house. It is very spacious. Wade’s wife liked to entertain. She died last summer and I suspect that’s why he’s made such a huge life change.
    Kathy reaches into her purse and pulls out a couple of twenty-dollar bills. “Can you leave them for tomorrow too?” she asks. “I want to take a few pictures and I don’t have time today.”
    I think about the request. I know there are a few deliveries scheduled for tomorrow. It’s Jane Clinton’s birthday and I need to get arrangements to the community center for a luncheon. I’ve got a lot to do today, but I shrug off those thoughts for now. I can pick the plants up after I make the deliveries. “Sure,” I answer. “How do I get in?”
    She rifles through her purse and pulls out a small plastic bag. There are four keys inside it and she takes one out. “It opens all the doors,” she explains, handing it over. “I’ll come by and pick it up later in the week. I also need to buy some flowers for my parents’ anniversary party this weekend. I need a big centerpiece and a couple of small arrangements to place around the room. It’s their fiftieth. That’s gold, right?”
    I nod.
    â€œWhat kind of flowers go with gold?” she asks, and then waves her hand in front of her face before I can answer. “Just make them look like that arrangement you did for Cora and Ralph’s fiftieth anniversary party.”
    I recall the event she means. It was in November, held in the fellowship hall at the Baptist church. I called the arrangement A Bit of Gold and it had white roses, white spray roses, white alstroemeria, and white lilies, accented with greenery in a golden ribbed Jardinière vase. Kathy attended the party because she sold Cora and Ralph’s house when they moved into a condo on the golf course, and she had mentioned then how much she liked the flowers.
    â€œI think that was perfect with the gold decorations.” She pauses to consider what she wants. “Let’s see. I’ll need a little one for the table when