The Accidental Florist

'I told her that if she tried to get away with it, I'd take her to court for fraud and forgery. She'd become so much more bitter and combative over the last few years.'

'I'm glad I wasn't around to have to endure her. She's always been nasty to me.'

'You, too?'

'Because I once told her I wanted to be a plant patent attorney. She only heard the `plant' word and jumped all over me about having nothing but a gardening job.'

'Why didn't you tell me this before?'

'Because I knew you'd go ballistic.'

Jane grinned. 'I guess I would have. Let's don't even talk about her anymore. It's too upsetting. You and Todd decide where you want to go for dinner. I don't want to labor over a hot stove in this heat.'

After Mike came home with a tux that fit perfectly without any changes, Todd and Mike decided dinner should be at an Italian restaurant. Later, when the three of them got out of the car, Jane realized that the building was huge. 'Have you made reservations?'

'Oh, Mom. We're not stupid. It's a huge buffet and you can choose from about fifty different things, and even go back for seconds.'

'How did you know about this, Todd?'

'Elliot invited me along with his family two or three weeks ago. Don't you remember that?'

'Sure. But you never said where you'd gone. Let's go in. I'm starving.'

By the time they'd eaten, Jane was stuffed to the gills. She'd started with bruschetta and a big salad with grilled chicken. Then she went back for spaghetti and meatballs, and finished with tiramisu.

'Do they have gurney service to the curb?' she asked her boys.

'Probably not,' Mike said, 'but if you want we could roll you to the car.'

When they returned home, Jane was feeling the results of eating so much. She decided to go to bed early. Tomorrow would probably be a long day.

Unfortunately, she couldn't get to sleep. Her stomach was hurting. So she got back up and took a few Tums. That seemed to help. And by eleven she was sound asleep. But her last thought before sleeping was that she had to be up early to go to the airport with Mike to pick up her parents. She set her alarm for seven in the morning.

She woke moments before the alarm went off, feeling better, but not quite up to normal. She took a quick shower and dressed, then went downstairs to make a very bland, unbuttered piece of toast, and another two Turns. Soon she felt like her usual self. Perky and feeling good about what a nice day it would be, seeing her parents after a long time. Almost two years since they'd been to Chicago.

Mike drove his mother's Jeep, since he knew his mother hated parking at the airport. He'd just drop her off. 'You have your cell phone, right?'

'I do.''And is it charged?'

Jane gave him a slitty-eyed sideways glance. 'It is.' 'Call me when you have their luggage out the door, and I'll cruise around until I find you.'

Jane opened the passenger door in a distinctly huffy manner and was muttering as she walked into the airport. 'Is your cell phone charged?' Had Mike, a full-fledged adult in law school, decided that his mother was becoming a bit dotty?

She had no ticket and wasn't allowed to meet her parents at the plane. So she went down to the baggage area and took a paperback mystery novel out of her purse. Luckily, the plane was on time, and she kept looking up at intervals watching people coming down the escalators. Soon she spotted them and raced to the right baggage carousel. Stuff was already coming off as she hugged and kissed her mother.

She's gone gray, Jane thought, and it suits her with that short curly hair. Her dad waited until his wife and daughter finished hugging and gave Jane a big bear hug. 'You're looking good,' he said. 'Are you a nervous bride?'

'Not nervous, but a bit harassed. You got my e-mails about Thelma trying to trick me and then going to a nursing home and dying?'

'That must be a huge relief to you,' her mother said.

'It was. But I had to go to the funeral with Ted. Dixie wouldn't go and I thought he needed a woman along to defend him from the church ladies.'

'Oh, here comes our luggage, Michael. Can you find a trolley to get it outside?'

In a minute or two, Jane's dad was back. And Jane realized that they'd brought an enormous number of bags stuffed to brimming and even two medium-size trunks.

She didn't dare ask until they were in the car. She called Mike and said, 'We're taking the luggage outside right now,' and in a whisper, added, 'There's a whole lot of it.'

Mike pulled up, opening the back door of the Jeep, and hugged each grandparent. Then he started loading up the back section of the Jeep. He was half afraid it wouldn't all go in but managed to wrestle it in after moving a few things around twice to make them fit.

'Michael, you ride in front with Mike, and I'll ride back here with Jane,' Cecily said.

As they pulled out onto the highway, Mike asked, 'Why are you guys so loaded down with luggage and trunks?' Michael turned his head and winked at Cecily.

'Should we tell them now?'

'Why not?' Jane's mother said. 'It wasn't meant to be a secret. Michael and I are officially retired. Now we can finally settle down somewhere, and we thought Chicago would be perfect.'

'I'm thrilled to hear this,'Jane said. 'House or condo?' 'Condo,' Cecily said. 'Neither of us has ever mowed grass and we don't want to learn how to.'

Michael said, 'We're starved. All we ate today was a bag of potato chips on the plane from New York.''Let's stop off on the way home,' his grandson said.

'A good Mexican restaurant, please,' Cecily said. 'The Danes aren't hot on Mexican food and I'm longing for some.'

Jane was sorry she hadn't brought her bottle of Turns along. And felt a tad gaggy at the thought of Mexican food after all she'd eaten the night before. Maybe she could make do with chips and a mild queso.

Chapter

TWENTY-THREE

J

ane, Mike, Cecily, and Michael were waiting in the lobby of the hotel for Katie to arrive. Jane had explained to her parents that she'd booked them into a two-bedroom suite because Katie wanted to stay with them.

When Katie arrived with a rather large suitcase, she set it down and rushed across the lobby. 'Mom, they picked me up in a white stretch limo as if I were a celebrity.'

She set down the suitcase with a thud and embraced her grandparents and then her mother. Mike edged away from a hug.

Jane said, 'Someday you will be a celebrity chef.' 'Right now I'm starving,' Katie said.

Jane had a bellhop take Katie's monster suitcase up to the suite and they all went into the deli restaurant in the hotel.