Lance had been running around all day getting ready for the girls arrival. He was so glad that he had thought about the arrangements for the girls. Gwen's apartment was small and there was no way she could put all three of them up with her. After he had spoken with Elaine on the phone, he had called the florist and ordered flowers for the bedrooms upstairs that the girls would be staying in. He ordered spring and summer flowers for Lynne and Rickii's rooms, but, for Elaine, he had ordered lavender roses, her favorite, with lots of baby's breath.
As he looked over the arrangements that had arrived, he could understand why she loved lavender roses. They had a fragrance that was overwhelming, but not overpowering. It was almost a heady feeling you got from their scent.
Why was he going to all this trouble? He had never been moved to do something special for her before, out of the ordinary, that is. "Love has no boundaries with age or anything else" had been what JC said. Could he be falling in love with Elaine? That's ridiculous! She couldn't possibly love me. Like me, yeah, but LOVE! What was he thinking, what was he doing? He found himself looking at the clock and wondering when they would get there. Maybe he should call Dave and find out when they would be getting into Orlando. He went to find the number and when he had found it, he thought, "What am I doing? I'm acting like some giddy teenager."
Instead, he took the flowers upstairs to the bedrooms and put them where they would be enjoyed by his guests. He was letting Elaine stay in the room his parents usually stayed in across the hall from his room. She would be just across the hall, just a few feet away from him. There were so many emotions running through his mind and body right now he could not concentrate. He almost put the roses into his room on his way back from fixing Lynne and Rickii's room. He walked into the room she would be using and tried to find the right place to put the flowers. He wanted them to be where she could see them as she went to bed and then see them first thing in the morning. Finally, he placed them on the dresser by the bed.
The fragrance of the roses was filling the room already. Lance walked over to the double doors that went out onto a small balcony. He had set up his telescope out there because there was supposed to be a meteor shower that night. His home was far enough out of Orlando that they should show up nicely in the dark sky.
As he looked out over his property, he thought back to when he had first seen it and mentioned buying it. He had emailed pictures to Elaine so that she could see the beautiful landscaping with the trees and the lake and the house was brand new with a screened in pool area. He had all intentions of spending the rest of his life there with Vivica. But, she never really liked it. Now that he really thought about it, she just kind of went along with things. She was never really sincere.
Elaine had loved the place just from seeing the pictures. Wait a minute. He had sent the pictures to Elaine before showing Vivica. Why had he done that? He always valued Elaine's opinion, even back then. Lance looked up to the heavens and offered up a small prayer. "Oh Lord, help me to sort out these crazy feelings that are going through my head and my heart. Help me to determine Your will for my life. I am so tired of being alone. You have blessed me, all of us, with so much, but it is not the same without someone to share it with."
Just then he heard the limo horn blow coming up the driveway. He felt his heart quicken at the thought of seeing Elaine. Again, he looked heavenward, "Show me Lord." He closed the doors and ran downstairs to the front entrance and opened the door wide to greet his guests. Rickii and Lynne were gathering their luggage together and looking at the yard and flowers along the house. Elaine came from behind the limo with bags in her hands and put them on the porch.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Lance said as he stretched out his arms to the surroundings.
"This place will never be humble," Elaine came back as she ran to him and gave him a big hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thank you so much for letting us stay here."
"Me casa, you casa. After all, you helped me to decide on this place."
"Lance, you are most kind to allow us to stay here," said Lynne with a grin on her face, "Where is Justin?"
"Yeah and where is JC?" chimed in Rickii.
Everyone laughed. "They will be here in a while for dinner. I thought we could eat here out on the patio and give you girls a chance to rest from your trip and then, if you feel like it, we could either rent some movies or go to a dance club or something."
"As long as the movies aren't blood and guts, I'd really like to chill out here at the house, myself," offered Elaine.
"We want to go dancing," Lynne and Rickii said together.
"Well, you girls can go and I'll stay here and chill. I just want to walk around the grounds and just enjoy nature, okay?"
"Party pooper," Rickii and Lynne said in unison.
"Okay, girls, I'm sure Justin and JC will be glad to take you out, and I'll pick up some movies for Elaine and me. In fact, I'm going to call Justin and ask him to pick up the movies on his way over," Lance said as he left to make his call.
