Page 35 of Elijah

“Yeah, he was, but I thought it was a good chance for us to clear the air. I don’t want to be twisted up with anger over this any longer, Amy.”

“You don’t?” I asked, hating that I felt a little skip of hope.

“Nope. We should at least be able to be civil with each other. We’ve both moved on.”

The hope fizzled away and I was left with the feeling of despondency as Elijah hung the towel on the door handle and walked toward me.

“Okay,” he said, giving me a smile. “Is that it?”

He nodded at the stunning abstract in copper, bronze, and orange tones.

“I want it over the fireplace, please.”

Elijah looked at it carefully and then up at the wall where I’d planned for the painting to go.

“You’ve measured and level checked the fixings?” he asked.

I was about to swear at him for doubting my ability, but saw the smirk on his lips. He knew how fixated I was on that sort of thing, how I measured and level checked at least three times before hanging anything. Even our calendar at home had always had to be hung just right.

“Yes I have,” I replied, giving him wide eyes. “Unless you want to double check.”

“Nope, I think you’ve probably already triple checked it, so we’re good to go.” He padded over to the painting and bent to lift one end. “Come on then, I can’t do it all on my own.” Elijah nodded at the other end which he wanted me to lift.

“On three.”

I nodded and waited for his command.

“One, two, and lift. Fuck that’s heavy,” he groaned as we moved it against the wall, hooking the wire over the fixings.

“I know, that’s why I needed help. It’s actually got pieces of bronze in it.”

“Yeah?” Elijah stood back and studied the painting. “I like it. You choose it or Tino and Sophie.”

I felt my face heat a little as I replied. “I did.”

“You always did have good taste,” he replied, still looking at the picture. “Yeah, I really do like it. And it’s straight.”

He turned to me and grinned.

“Of course it is, I triple checked it remember.”

“Oh yeah.”

Elijah’s deep laugh reverberated through the room and I felt sure I could feel my heart vibrate from the sound. I’d always loved his real laugh. Not the polite one he often gave to customers or people he didn’t really know, but the deep belly laugh that boomed and filled everyone with joy at the sound of it. He was giving that laugh to me now, and it was making my heart rate speed up.

“Got to say, Amy, it’s all looking amazing. This room especially, I love the bronze theme.”

I looked at the huge, glossy, chocolate coloured table with its brushed bronze finish and the quilted, bronze leather effect legs and matching chairs, the gorgeous bronze sideboard and the crackle bronze and blue wallpaper that covered the wall opposite the arched windows, and I had to agree, it looked spectacular.

“I just hope Tino and Sophie like it,” I said, readjusting a blue vase that sat next to the fireplace.

“Did they not agree to the design already? Is this not the original designer’s?”

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t leave them with any pictures or mood boards, nothing except a few swatches of fabric they’d decided on. Plus, I told them I’d rather work with my own ideas.”

“You didn’t have much time though, surely it’d have been easier,” Elijah said, peering at one of the framed photographs.”

“I’d have been working from what they could remember, so I think doing it myself was a better option.”