June Flowers - Part 1

The doorbell rang twice just as Melanie swiped deep purple fingernail polish on her big toe. "Jenna, can you get that?" she yelled to the other side of the apartment.

"Can't. I'm in the bath."

"Fiddle sticks!" Melanie hobbled to the front door and almost screamed when she saw her reflection in the hallway mirror. She forgot she had applied a mint green mask to her face before sitting down to give herself a pedicure. If her face wasn't so tight from the mask she would have smiled at the thought of the beauty regimes she, Joy and Victoria put themselves through in Cleveland.

"Who is it?" She asked thru the closed door. No one appeared thru the peep-hole.

"Delivery."

"Can you leave it by the door, please?" Oh please don't make me open this door and scare this poor kid to death, she thought.

"Sorry, ma'am. It requires a signature."

Melanie took a deep breath as she opened the front door slowly. The delivery boy, probably not older than 19, flinched when he saw her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly as she tried to smile again.

She hurriedly scribbled her name on the kid's paper just as he shoved a large flower arrangement in her face.

"Uh, thanks." He was already around the corner.

The bright turquoise glass vase held the most beautiful delicate pink roses she'd ever seen. Just as Melanie was setting the arrangement on the kitchen table Jenna came out of the bathroom in a fluffy robe and her hair wrapped in a towel. Melanie plopped herself back down on the couch assuming the flowers were for Jenna.

"Mom, these are for you." Jenna said after reading the card attached. Melanie looked confused. Who would send her flowers? She'd only been back in L.A. a month and it wasn't her birthday. "They're from dad."

"Anders?" Melanie was more than confused now. Why would Anders, her ex-husband, be sending her flowers? A friendly gesture? Doubtful. A ploy? Most likely. Her nerves were standing on end. Shuffling back into the kitchen, she took the card from Jenna and read the card. Dearest Melanie, Dearest? Enjoyed our date last night. Can't wait til tonight. Love, Anders. Love? Oh crap. What did she do? How much wine did she drink?

"Mom?" The look on Melanie's face worried her daughter. "Mom!"

Melanie was having a hard time piecing together the events that lead to Anders new found affection towards her. She immediately picked up the phone to call Victoria but remembered she was filming some Lifetime movie in the swamps of Louisiana. Oh to be a fly on those walls. Joy. Joy would be able to talk her thru this. Joy always knew how to get out of a bad situation; although usually her first suggestion involved murder or bodily harm.

"Jenna, what time is it in London?"

"Well it's 5:30 now so I think 1:30am." Crap, that's too late to wake her up. She sighed and did the only other thing she knew to do.

After a few minutes a voice came on the line. "Yo?"

"Elka?" Melanie could barely hear thru the background noise.

"I was just not thinking about you."

"I can call back later if I'm disturbing you."

"Oh no. The frat boys and I are just playing Friday night strip bingo. They didn't believe me when I told them to never underestimate the power of a 90 year old with a bingo dauber. Did you need something, dear?" Elka yelled back at her guest to get ready – she was one away from a bingo.

And with that Melanie sighed and said, "no, I didn't need anything. Have fun." She hung up the phone. Any other time she would have been quite entertained with Elka's antics, but not this day.

"You're going to have to call him." Jenna was still standing in the kitchen.

Melanie gave her daughter one of those looks but knew she was right. Before she could decide what her next step would be, her cell phone rang. Please let this be Victoria, she thought before looking at the caller ID.

She looked at the phone and sighed. "Anders, have you completely lost your mind?" She listened to her ex-husband try to sweet talk her on the phone. "I'm not going out with you tonight or ever. Last night was a mistake." Pacing across the living room, she's getting more and more upset – at herself. "What?"