Heart of Stone

A Warning

As Eloise watched his black BMW exit the lot, she wondered how he'd even managed to catch her. He had left after he'd come up to their table. Had he really waited for her to come out just to tell her to stay away from Julian Styles? Perhaps he'd had other business to attend to and just happened to catch her at the right time.

As she drove back to the shop, she found her excitement dimmed slightly by Alexander's warning. What did he know about Julian that she didn't? Why did they dislike each other so? She found herself feeling wary of him now, but he was her client. She couldn't back out of the job now; it would look bad on her part. What could honestly go wrong? She would make the display piece for him by time the party rolled around, and they would part ways. It was as simple as that.

Thinking about the design put a small smile on her face. She knew exactly what she was going to come up with. She thought she'd add some yellow forsythias in addition to the white magnolia. There was to be a wooden chair his daughter would sit on, and she planned to make the floral arrangement a part of that. 

As her excitement returned, she realized it didn't much matter what kind of man Julian Styles was in this situation. He was simply her client, and he was going to pay her well. The influx of money this last week took a huge weight off her shoulders she didn't realize she was carrying. It wasn't that she was struggling in any way, but she always had anxiety about her shop failing. The slow days during the week didn't help it much, but even with those, she still made well past ends meet.

Thinking back to Alexander, she realized she'd still hadn't called his mother back yet, or even sent her a text. The more she ran into him, the further away she came from making that decision. What did she mean when she had said she wanted to discuss what to do going forward? Eloise had never honestly thought about it. She figured Alexander would just stay away, and if he did return to the states at some point, they would just continue the way they'd been.

An unpleasant hand gripped her chest as she realized he may be the one who wanted to discuss things going forward. Perhaps he wanted a divorce. After all, there was no real reason for them to stay married. They'd never met, never talked as husband and wife, never consummated their marriage, as far as he knew. What had happened between them was a chance encounter that would never happen again. Perhaps she'd feel relief if they divorced. He could serve her with divorce papers, and she could sign them without incident, and they'd never have to meet. Then their instances of running into one another wouldn't come with such false pretense. Her conscience could then be clear. 

'But would it really? I'd have to tell him the truth for that.' She thought to herself.

The idea still gave her massive anxiety and she took a deep breath to swallow it down. She had to just be okay with however this unfolded at this point. She'd had too many opportunities to tell him and every time she had found herself unable to do it. She was afraid of being hated by him. But why? Maybe there was a part of her that wanted his acceptance. A part of her that felt that even though they'd never agreed to be together, that he could accept she had been good at playing her part. She wasn't like all the other women. They'd have pined after him and chased him and tried to take his money. 

Eloise was never interested in his money, and once he left, she'd never expected a dime. She had been pleasantly surprised when she was contacted by his lawyer and given access to a bank account just for her. When she logged on to find the substantial amount he'd given her, she had been left speechless. With her protests, the lawyer had assured her Alexander had been adamant about it and she was to do whatever she wished with it. She'd nearly cried.

He'd granted her the freedom she'd wanted for so long, the only thing she could feel towards him as his wife was grateful. She understood that neither of them had necessarily wanted this marriage. They'd only agreed to it because of their grandfathers. Eloise had even had a whole speech prepared for him for after their wedding. She had wanted to tell him all of these things. She had wanted to tell him that if he simply wanted to live together and be married, but their real relationship was only friends, she'd have been fine with that as well. But they'd never had a wedding, so she never got a chance to say any of it to him. Perhaps if they did have that meeting, she would say it all to him then. Whatever came of this, it would be okay.

She pushed Caroline and Alexander Pearson from her mind as she pulled back into the parking lot of the shop. She wanted to fill in the girls on what just happened, and she had a floral arrangement to design. She parked her car in the back and smiled to herself as she exited the vehicle. She finally felt a bit at peace in the situation she found herself in.

As Alexander Pearson drove away from the villa, he caught sight of LouLou's suburban in his rearview mirror. Seeing her there had been quite unexpected and even more surprising still to see her there with Julian Styles, of all people. At first glance, it had seemed like they were perhaps on a date. He knew Julian was married and had a daughter, but that had never stopped him before. He liked to prey on younger women.

LouLou was just his type. Fair skinned and innocent looking, her wavy golden-brown hair cascaded down her back, framing her heart-shaped face. When he thought about her, the image of that face pinned beneath him flashed through his mind. That night her brown eyes had sparkled with desire and warmth, something he was sorely lacking in his life. Her gaze had been direct, as if she was looking right through to the soul inside him.

He shook his head in an effort to shake the thoughts away. Seeing her with Julian had immediately ignited something inside him, and it hadn't been pleasant like that night. Julian would use her and discard her like trash when he was done. Or worse. That's what he did to the other women in his life.

He had been relieved to find the floral sketch when he'd bent down to help her gather her things, but he wasn't sure why that was. She wasn't his girlfriend. He didn't have any claim over her at all. Why did it matter what she did or who she saw in her spare time? Still, the relief had washed over him like a salve, but it almost made him angrier. Perhaps it was just common concern for someone he knew. He didn't think any woman who stepped into Julian's path was very fortunate. He hoped all he wanted from her was truly only business related. But she was beautiful, and Julian didn't let a beautiful woman slip past him without trying to get his hooks into her.

Why did they keep running into each other like this? Ever since he returned to the states, it seemed like she always showed up in the most unexpected places, and under completely unrelated circumstances. The universe was either playing a cruel joke on him, or someone had something up their sleeve. It irritated him constantly that he couldn't stop thinking of her.

He could only hope she heeded his words. Perhaps he would show up at this birthday party, despite not having been invited. A piece of him wanted to make sure LouLou wasn't there, or if she was, that she left without incident.

'What is wrong with me?' He asked himself, realizing how that line of thought sounded.

He shouldn't care for this woman at all. He didn't actually know anything about her. The only thing he knew was that her name was LouLou and she owned a shop where she sold fresh groceries, floral arrangements, and baked goods. That was it. Yet here he was worrying about her safety with Julian Styles. But he knew Julian was a snake and he couldn't ignore the alarm bells going off in his head. 

A thought occurred to him, and he pressed a couple buttons on his touch screen display. The line began ringing and he waited in silence. 

"Hello?" A man's voice answered.

"Hey, do you think you could look into someone for me?" Alexander asked.

After a pause of silence, "Who?"

"A shop owner named LouLou."