I fail at updating. I'm sorry. :( However, I do appreciate all your reviews and your patience...well, what's left of it, anyway, lol.
Forget diamonds. This girl's best friend was her trusty pair of binoculars.
All day, Gloria's excitement had grown as she waited for the moment of truth. Once more, she lurked in her hiding space, her heart beating ever faster with each minute that ticked by. Any moment, Calleigh Duquesne would pull into the driveway.
She knew it would be Calleigh first, because that was how it always was. Calleigh always left work first, though Eric was never far behind.
Sure enough, Gloria was right. Only moments later, Calleigh was pulling into the driveway, unaware that her every move was being scrutinized. With a grin, she picked up her binoculars and gazed through them, just in time to watch Calleigh getting out of the car.
To Gloria, Calleigh was nothing more than a blonde bimbo who'd used her golden locks to bewitch Eric. It was the only way Eric would ever go for someone like her. There was nothing special about her; nothing that Gloria could see. She wasn't unfortunate-looking, no, but surely someone like Eric could find something, anything better.
Gloria gave a smug smile. She knew it wouldn't take long at all to show Eric how wrong Calleigh was for him. In time, Eric would know that Gloria was the only woman for him. After all, she was so much better than the blonde. She knew she dressed better than that blonde. She was taller, prettier, and Eric knew she liked to have fun.
And that handbag was just disastrous. Gloria winced, watching Calleigh sling that atrocity over her shoulder.
Although, there was something redeeming about Calleigh - her heels. Mentally she added to her goal: get the blonde out of the way, but keep the shoes.
Gloria forced herself to stop focusing on how completely unworthy that woman was for Eric and to focus on Calleigh's reaction. She watched as Calleigh moved toward the front door, keys already in hand.
And then it happened.
Subtly, Calleigh glanced to the right, her steps faltering immediately. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened, and Gloria smiled in victory, knowing Calleigh had found her present.
Confusion brewing within her, Calleigh made her way over to the garden, her steps noticeably slower, noticeably shakier. Her shoulders slumped, and Gloria waited with bated breath for everything to fully sink in.
She was not disappointed. Just as Eric drove into the driveway, Gloria gave a small squeal of victory, watching as Calleigh slowly dropped to her knees in front of the flowerbed.
Eric had seen it too, and worried, he was out of the car and by her side almost immediately. But his concern was for Calleigh; he'd yet to notice the tulips. "Calleigh?" he called softly, worried when she didn't answer. " Cal…"
And then he followed her eyesight, and his own heart lurched at the sight in front of them. Before their eyes were the remains of Calleigh's beautiful tulips. The green stems still stood, but at their peaks there was nothing. Their bright yellow blossoms were now scattered about the soil, already wilting in the heat of the day.
Gingerly Calleigh reached out, taking one of the blossoms in her hands. Their life-force gone, they had already begun to dry out and fade, leaving behind only dull, slightly crunchy petals.
"Somebody cut them…" she murmured, cradling the single blossom in her hands.
Eric was stunned. "Who would do that?" he asked, kneeling on the ground beside her. As he watched her green eyes, eerily empty of their usual sparkle, Eric felt his heart break. He knew just how much time, how much work Calleigh had put into her tulips. She spent night after night preening and weeding that garden.
And now, every bit of that hard work had been savagely destroyed.
A feeling of rage rose up within Eric as his mind frantically searched through everybody who might have something against Calleigh; against them. But he came up blank; there wasn't a single person he could think of that would do this. It seemed to him that it would make more sense to come after Calleigh herself, rather than her flowers.
But as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Eric realized that this was an attack on Calleigh. It was something that had come completely out of the blue. She was stunned and upset; two things that didn't often happen to Calleigh, at least not simultaneously.
Calleigh shook her head, almost brokenly. "I don't know. I just…they were fine when we left this morning." She let the blossom in her hand fall to the ground, closing her eyes as she tried to discern what could have happened.
If there was anything that Calleigh prided herself on, it was that she did not cry.
But even she couldn't deny how badly she wanted to. Her garden was her baby. She'd raised those tulips from when they were nothing more than bulbs; she'd taken amazing care of them during the hottest and driest parts of the summer.
She'd kept them alive and beautiful throughout all that. And now, in the span of one day, they were all gone.
"Who could do this?" she asked, echoing Eric's earlier question.
It was the million dollar question. In that moment, Eric would've given anything for the answer. He racked his brain, but still it came up empty. With his CSI eyes, he took a closer look at the tulips. If anything was certain, it was that this was not random. It was far too neat to be a random act of hostility. Everything reeked of premeditation - the soil was almost completely undisturbed, the blossoms were all neatly severed from their stems, every last one.
Nobody could run across to the flowerbed with a pair of scissors and claim this was an accident, nor could they claim that it had nothing to do with Eric and Calleigh. This was personal.
A familiar chill passed over Eric's body, spreading quickly through his veins. The hairs at the back of his neck prickled, and suddenly, he didn't feel comfortable being outside anymore.
He felt almost as though they were being watched. And it wasn't a passing feeling; the longer they stayed there, the more intense it became.
He didn't know why, but Eric knew they needed to get in the house. "Come on," he murmured, gently helping Calleigh to her feet. "Let's get inside, okay?"
At first, she protested. "But I need to clean this up," she said flatly.
"I'll help take care of it later," Eric insisted. He really didn't feel comfortable being outside right now; he'd feel even less comfortable about Calleigh being out there.
He didn't elaborate; he didn't want to shake Calleigh even more, especially when it might even be nothing at all. But he couldn't deny that strange feeling that had overtaken him. But to his relief, Calleigh agreed without any more protest. "Fine," she murmured, her eyes downcast, leaning her body into his. "I'm tired anyway."
Eric forced a smile, trying to keep that suspicious feeling at bay. "We'll clean it up tomorrow, together. And then we can buy more, and I'll help replant them, okay?"
For the first time, Calleigh smiled. His offer was genuine, even though the endeavor had been only hers in the beginning. She felt touched; she knew he understood how much those tulips meant to her. "Thanks, Eric."
"You're welcome, baby," he murmured, gently nuzzling in her hair. He let out a sigh of relief as Calleigh gave a soft half-giggle, letting him know that she'd be okay. "I love you. And I'm sorry."
Calleigh shook her head. "It's not your fault," she said, trying to forget about her beheaded tulips. And Eric was right; they could replant them. "And I love you too."
The binoculars gave Gloria a perfect view of the loving smile on Eric's lips. She was dying to throw something, but like always, she kept her cool. It was too early in the mission to lose it. Instead, she plotted. Her intelligence was much better suited for that anyway.
She watched as Eric tightened his arm around Calleigh, scowling as he kissed the top of her head again. "Enjoy it now, Blondie. Those stupid flowers aren't the only things you're gonna lose," she murmured, an evil smile at her lips. "You'd better watch your back, sweetheart."
As Eric led Calleigh inside, he hesitated just outside the door. To Gloria's brief dismay, his eyes flickered over toward her hiding place. But that was all it was, brief dismay. After all, Eric would find out soon enough what was going on.
"And then," Gloria muttered, carefully stowing away her binoculars, already plotting the next phase of her mission. "You'll thank me, Eric. You'll see."
tbc...