Blossoming Fates

I walked into my work place and saw it wasn’t a hectic day and was grateful for that much. My headache had subsided hardly and had today been crazy I would’ve wanted death to find me. The art work that was held in the museum was fairly local and not very inspirational. That’s only my personal opinion though and according to my mother it doesn’t matter at all. To be honest I had hated the art here since the day I started working here. I had always wanted to own my bakery and make it a family business, but my family on the other hand had other ideas of what my future would be like. My mother owned this museum and crammed the art down our throats since I could remember. I took art classes in school because my mom loved art. I had hoped it would connect us in some way, but it hadn’t. I learned that the second semester of my sophomore year in college. She was always very busy and caught up in her work.

“Emilee, I’m glad you were scheduled today, Honey.” My mom said before turning back to her cell phone.

“Not fucking me.” I mumbled gently under my breath as I set my bag down on my chair.

The air felt damp inside the building always. It reminded me of a snow globe case, as if we were trapped in cold wintery air. I disliked it when I was younger as well. My mother said I would screech and sob when my father brought me in here to see one of my mother’s showings. They were cool as I got older and I defiantly met some different kinds of kids from Huntington Beach high school when I had attended. She was good at placing art work and having ‘artsy’ food there too. She once show cased for some various schools. I had helped with that and when my mom thought I could keep her business running I had no choice.

“Lee!” I heard my sister call out to me pulling me out of my thoughts

“Can I help you, Rachel?” I asked without even facing her as I scrambled looking for my blue ink pen

“Need help placing the art work.” She stated in a duh toned voice

I rolled my eyes before claiming I’d be there in a few moments. I knew my sister was really into art and my mother had loved that, but honestly this wasn’t art at all. These were hobos that thought they could draw and when it came out awfully terribly they called it art and sold it to my work obsessed mother. I believe she was the reason why I didn’t want to have kids. They just were never my thing. They cried and got hurt and kind of ruined a person’s life. My sister who was hardly twenty-three wanted tons of kids. She could do it too. She had been dating the same guy since her senior year in high school and they were getting engaged soon.

I turned around to watch my sister frantically shifting framed drawing and paintings around while she tapped her cheek before making another move. She wore a white summer dress with a simple grey cardigan over it and a strand of pearls dangled from around her thin neck. She worked in high heels that clinked against the shiny waxed wood floors. I smiled as she hurried around. She, like the rest of us kids, wanted to make mom proud. I was proud of my sister. I wish I could still say the same thing about Elizabeth.

I sighed before letting my dirtied shoes peak through the bottom of my jeans. I brushed my bangs back from my face and adjusted my shirt as I walked over to Rachel. She turned to me and smiled quickly before facing back to the white frame covered wall.

“Rach, breathe and it will work for you. You’re doing a good job already.” I commented hoping she wouldn’t stress out to having a panic attack here in the museum.

“You really think so? I mean I’ve hardly worked here longer than a few months.” She said humbly and looked at me with concern.

I laughed before nodding my head. I open my mouth to comment on the placement before I hear the phones ring loudly at the desk. I was the only employee not busy and headed to the phones. My mother’s cherry colored lips moved too fast to even comprehend her saying that it was probably people about the renovations. My mom said we had needed an update, but with the hospital and therapy bills racking up those had been looking farther and farther into the future. My mother had been right on the money and it had been in fact the people. They would need the place cleared in a couple weeks so they could work on it. I told my mom and she only nods her head not even making eye contact with me.

I head back towards Rachel and I see her smiling widely as her boyfriend Ian walks through with a single daisy. It was Rachel’s favorite flower. I cooed quietly as I allowed them to have their moment that any couple would want to have. Ian was away at college to major in business. My sister went to a small school here and mainly worked with art. She was well trained and knew what she needed to know on the art work there was to show. I had to say I was proud of her. She pulled through a lot of disasters in our family. I smiled politely watching Rachel wrap her arms around Ian’s neck allowing him to kiss her cheek wrapping his arms around her waist.

I turned away needing to do computer work for the museum. My mother finally came over as I sat down and asked if I’d start to wear something a bit more boho look to fit in with the aura she was trying to throw in to the compound of the next showing. She claimed we would need all the energy we needed to complete the look. I could only nod my head and clamped down on my free spirited tongue that so desperately wanted to tear my mother to shreds. I needed to get the fuck out of here as soon as I could. My break needed to come fast otherwise the Museum of pointless work will explode. She strutted away to talk to Rachel and Ian probably hoping to get Ian to do some free labor. He’d most likely say yes to the offer just to stay around Rachel. I couldn’t wait until the family dinner in the next few weeks where Ian is going to propose to my sister. She was going to be thrilled.

I had to answer the phones and sip cautiously on my water and nibble on crackers to keep my starvation and headache to a minimum. My mother wasn’t an easy woman to work with. When she liked an idea or something in general and you did it wrong or differently, oh boy, you better watch out. She was strong though after what she had to go through.

My break finally came and I had invited Rachel out to Starbucks that was located right down the road with me. She seemed a bit torn between going with Ian and going with me. I rolled my eyes playfully and told her to go with him. She’d been my sister my whole life and had eaten with me numerous times. Ian deserved her attention for a little bit. I simply grabbed my belongings before heading to the delicious coffee place. I’d invite someone else to go with me, but after giving it some thought I was sure I’d appreciate some alone time.