Left at the Alter

Michelle wasn’t gone an hour before I got an email and a phone call confirming everything that I requested. This changed the workload and now I had to establish a team. Part of this would have to be my own dollar because for this sculpture to be as big as I need her to be, I needed a longer space with a bigger door.  We opted to do a building on the property that would be directly behind the driveway and include a garage door wide enough to allow four cars to enter side by side 

Eli didn’t know that we had run into a problem, but he knew I had been working hard at the office with minimal interaction with him. When I told him, his fix it nature went into full affect as he set up a meeting between his sister and I. She has worked on a few projects for the city and was already on their approved list of people that I could use. When I met her, I could not believe that I had gone so long being in Eli’s life without knowing her. Instantly she was like an old friend. 

“I am actually finishing up a major project now, so I am not available, but I could come through and assist with the plan – I am familiar with a lot of people on the approved list. I can make it smaller by telling you who you should contact and who would be a waste of time. I’m all about giving exposure to the people who need it but not on my dime or with something so time sensitive.”

I got off of the phone with her feeling like I accomplished something. The next day she came over to the studio with a large bag and a bottle of wine. If Eli had been a girl, and a little slimmer, I am sure that this is what he would look like. 

“Please tell me you have wine glasses” she came in like she had to use the restroom.

“Uh I …”

This was the first in person interaction I had ever had with her. 

“I’ll shoot to the dollar tree and drop them off on my way back home.” Eli grabbed his keys off of the table and moved to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. The two siblings smiled at each other; her smile was gorgeous, infectious. She had the type of smile that could be mistaken for a yes but the type of attitude that would follow up with a solid non-negotiable ‘no’ in a heartbeat. 

“Thank You, and if you see Jeremy out there, make sure he didn’t get lost. Chile, I thought he would beat me here.” She took off her jacket and asked to be pointed in the direction of the restroom. 

Marla and I looked at each other amused. 

When she walked back in, she smiled as she passed me and sat her items on my desk. She pulled out her laptop, plugged it in and then began to work on the cork in the wine bottle using a corkscrew from her purse. 

“I actually have a call I need to be on, do you have a room I can use and a,” she glanced at the bottle of wine sitting opened on the table, “paper cup or anything so I can get a sip of this wine. Hell, I would settle for a straw.”

I smiled at her and told her she could use this office as I was going to head out for the wine glasses and let Eli get home to finish some things up. I dropped her off a coffee mug which is the closest I had to a cup and began my route to the dollar tree. They have the strongest wine glasses and they often have some cute ones around the holidays. 

It took me a second to find the aisle with the wine glasses. This was my first time at this particular dollar tree but with them sprouting up everywhere, every five seconds, I knew the basic overview of the store. Today they had some with four leaf clovers, and other stickers to celebrate St. Patty’s day. They were kind of cute, I decided to buy two cases, we could hand them out to the mentees as gifts. I walked back to get a cart. When I got to the front of the store I reached out for a cart and a rude ass man grabbed it and pushed right past me. 

“Excuse you.” I mumbled under my breath, reaching for the next cart. I wasn’t looking and ran right into the guy who stole my cart. 

“Shit, sorry. I guess it’s me who needs to be excused this time.” I looked up and into the face of a man who was looking at me like he had seen me naked. He possessed a face that made me wonder if he should. He had the type of smile that gives you short term amnesia, I forgot there was an Eli in my life for 3.5 seconds. 

“I was just messing with you.” He smiled bigger, his thick lips giving way to perfect white teeth. “You were so deep in your phone… here take this cart, I sanitized it.”