The Eden project

Three

Long beams of light peeked through the blinds of the girl's apartment, it was 7:16am and Eden was already awake, regretting the consumption of alcohol the night before. The soft patter of her feet on the cold tiles of her kitchen floor echoed through the quiet apartment.
If she was going to get through today she needed painkillers and a ice cold glass of water to rid her of her dry mouth, she didn't know what she was going to do today all she could think was that Cole was bound to pop up somewhere and after the way last night ended she was dreading it.
Eden popped two pills out of their plastic covers and poured herself a tall glass of ice water, she tilted her head back and took the pills as quickly as she could almost choking on one in the process.
"Gross" she muttered, shaking her head violently. She picked up her glass before tiptoeing around the counter top to get to her calendar, the grand opening of Cole's new photography business was next week, and of course he insisted on having a big party with all of his high up friends in the business world.
She could already hear how people's conversations with her would go, "so what type of business do you run?" "I don't run a business" "Then why are you here?" and so on. It was exactly the same at The Glasshouse opening party.
She sighed heavily, gazing at the city that was just awakening outside her window. One of the things she loved about living in New York was that although it was a busy place, your life remained private. People were far too busy to gossip or care about what goes on in anyone elses lives, not to mention how many new tourists inhabitted the place every single day. In the winter when less tourists came to New York the whole city seems quieter to her, anyone else would say it was just as hectic as ever especially with everyone rushing to finish their last minute christmas shopping. But to her it seemed quiet, peaceful and less overwhelming.
Her parents were two people who definitely wouldn't agree with her, they lived in Virgina where they could enjoy the peace and quiet compared to New York. They visited fairly often but whenever they would all Eden and Lockie would get is "why is it so noisy?" "the air pollution levels here must be awful, you really must come and stay with us more often". She loved her parents but they were so different to her, she loved being a city girl and she wouldn't change it for the world whereas they much preffered to live in a quieter, smaller place with less noise or humans infact.
The sound of their house phone pierced through the silent apartment, stopping Eden's thoughts in their tracks as she fumbled clumsily to stop the ringing hoping not to wake Anna and Frankie.
She grabbed the phone and answered breathlessly, her sleepy brain couldn't comprehend why anyone would ring someone so early in the morning.
"Hello?"
"Is this Eden Luther?" A soft old mans voice, who she instantly recognised filled her ear.
"Yes, good morning Bill what can I do for you?" She asked politely, curious as to why her bosses husband would be ringing her when she wasn't even due into work today.
"I'm going to need you and the other girls to come and see me in the florist at nine when I get there" He sounded tired and worn out.
"Yes we can do that, is everything alright?" She inquired, hoping to get a clue of why he wanted to see them, he wasn't even involved in the business.
"Just be there on time please" He orded firmly before hanging up leaving Eden's thoughts all over the place. Was she going to lose her job? Maybe they were relocating? Maybe it was something good? She didn't know and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.
She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall which read 7:56am, she had one hour to make sure Frankie and Anna were up and ready to go. She got to her feet rushing into Anna's room first, pulling back the curtains allowing the light to flood the room. A loud, irritated groan came from the pile of duvet on the bed.
"Anna you have an half an hour to get ready to go to the florists, can't explain just be ready!" Anna's confused face popped up out of the bed.
"What are you talking about? What time is it?" She groaned, flopping back down onto the bed.
"It's eight, Come on we have to be there at nine!" She repeated, ushering Anna out of her bed "I need to go wake Frankie up, do not go back to sleep Ann" She warned before jogging into the room she shared with Frankie.
"Morning Frankie! We need to be at work in an hour, you have half an hour to get ready!" She chirped, letting out a laugh as her friend sits up, her hair defying gravity sticking up in different directions.
"But... We don't have work today?" She phrased her sentence as a question, her head tilted to one side like a confused puppy.
"Bill rang me and said he needs to see us so please be ready in time!" She explained, pulling Frankie's duvet away from her cosy body.
"Bill? Why Bill? It's too early to understand anything" She whined, rubbing her eyes which she was struggling to keep open. "Why are you even up this early? You're never up early" She muttered to herself rather than to Eden.
"Bad nights sleep now please get out of bed!"
"Okay, okay I'm getting out!"
"Thank you! I need to change" Eden announced, rushing to her chest of drawers picking out a peach coloured top, a pair of shorts and a grey cardigan.
"Good choice!" Frankie complimented as her body slowly sunk back down into her bed.
"Frankie get up!!" Paige laughed grabbing her friends arm and dragging her to her feet "there we go it wasn't that hard was it, now get changed and all that jazz I need to make sure Ann is up and running."
Frankie made her bed and went into the kitchen to make herself a quick breakfast to go meal, Eden took the opportunity to get changed before heading back to Anna's room, knocking three times before entering.
"Anna if you're not up when I walk into this room I'm going to throw a bucket of water on you." She warned sternly, opening the door to a guilty looking Anna sat up smiling sleepily.
"Look I'm getting up," She rushes to her feet "see."
"Okay just make sure you're ready to leave in approximately fifteen minutes, I'll drive so we're not late"
"Yes ma'am" Anna jokes, giving Eden a poor salute.
"My friends are losers" Eden yells, laughing as Frankie nods in agreement.
She glances at her watch, 8:30am...
"Guys we have to go now!"
"Unless you want me to go pantless you have to give me two more minutes" Anna shouts back from her room.
"Two minutes! I'm timing you Ann"
Surely enough Anna is ready to go after two minutes are up and the girls head down to Eden's car.
"Did you not ask Bill why he wanted us to go in?" Anna asked as she climbed into the front passenger seat, pulling the seat belt over her body.
"No it never crossed my mind. Of course I asked, but he just told me to be there on time and then hung up" She replied, pulling away from the curb.
"Well did he sound cheerful or miserable?" Frankie asked from the back seat.
"He sounded pretty grouchy" She admitted, taking a right turn.
"Shit we're going to be fired" Anna exclaimed, slouching in her seat.
"Stop fretting I'm sure it's nothing" Eden continued to reassure her friends for the rest of the fifteen minute car journey before they arrived at work.
Her stomach was churning up a storm but she'd never admit that, she was the one who protected her friends and even though she didn't feel good about what was about to happen, she'd remain positive until the end.
"Let's do this." Eden encouraged, all three of them getting out of the car and heading into the building.
Eden's eyes scanned the shop, it had been untouched since they had been there the previous day which was odd because June, their boss would always fiddle around with things that weren't quite the way she wanted them.
"Bill? We're here!" Eden called out into the shop, sure enough a small, frail old man waddled around the corner. He looked terrible, he had dark bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept for days, Eden wondered if maybe he'd fallen out with his wife as she hadn't heard from her for days either.
"Hi girls, thank you for coming, come and sit down" He waved his hand to follow him, all three girls looked at eachother and Eden could tell they were all thinking the same thing.
Bill took a seat behind the desk which had three other seats opposite which the girl's sat in.
Eden laced her fingers together, twiddling her thumbs trying to keep upbeat and positive, she loved this job with all her heart. She didn't know what she'd do if she had to find another, she wouldn't be working with her best friends for a start.
"Okay girls, I don't know how to start this," He breathed, the sadness in his voice caused Eden's stomach to drop. She was going to lose her job. "I just want to start by saying you know that June absolutely adored you girls, you were like the three daughters she never had, you all brought so much light into her life and for that I will be eternally grateful. But only last year she...She got diagnosed with cancer..."
Eden couldn't believe what she was hearing, she'd been going through this for a whole year and never even once mentioned it?
"She's okay now though, right?" Eden laughed, remaining positive.
Bill's tired, pained eyes met Eden's and suddenly everything made sense.
"She's gone?" Eden whispered, the other girls silent. Bill looked back down to the floor and nodded slowly, her chest ached with pain not only for herself but for Bill. He loved June so much it broke her heart to ever think of them apart, and this was the cruelest parting of all.
"I know it's a lot to take in but... I can't keep this place open, not without my June." He stuttered, Eden nodded in understanding although inside she was screaming.
"So we no longer have jobs?" Anna finally speaks up.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered, Eden shook her head reaching out to place her hand over his in support.
"Don't be, we're sorry for your loss, June was an incredible woman and if you ever want some company you just give one of us a call and we will go out for a meal, all of us just like June would've wanted. If you need support of any kind we will be more than happy to help Bill, you just need to ask okay?" Eden reassured him, squeezing his hand earning a small smile.
"You're too kind, I can see why she loved you," He looked at his watch before getting to his feet. "I'm sorry but I have to be somewhere" He said, guilt flooding his voice.
"It's alright do whatever you need to,  we can lock up" Eden assured him, leading him out of the shop. He turned around one last time, giving Eden an unexpected but welcome hug.
"Thank you for being so understanding."
"Thank you for being honest" She answered, watching as he got into his car and drove away.
She let out a deep breath that she'd been holding since she answered the phone this morning, heading back into the room where Anna was sat with Frankie sobbing into her chest.
"She was always so happy but she was in pain." Frankie sniffed, her voice muffled by her hand wiping her face.
"She's in a better place now Frank," Eden reassured her "She wouldn't want us to be sad."
"We don't have jobs anymore..." Frankie whispered, looking at her friends.
"Come on guys let's go home, staying will only make it harder."  Anna finally spoke, her voice hoarse.
The three girls got up and walked into the front of the shop, taking in every tiny detail as if they'd never seen it before.
"We've had some good times here, haven't we?" Anna smiled, laughing gently as happy memories filled her head.
"Great times," Eden agreed nodding gently "come on guys let's go home." She mumbled, putting her arms around her friends as they headed for the car.
"Who's going to tell Lockie and Cole?" Frankie asked as she got into the back seat.
"I'll tell Lockie but Cole will just rub salt in the wound." Eden warned.
"Why would he?" Anna and Frankie asked simultaneously .
"Have you two fallen out?" Frankie asked clearly worried.
"No, what are you talking about? Don't be stupid, we're fine." She lied.
"Are you sure? It did seem pretty tense last night now that I think about it" Anna persisted.
"Yes it was tense because we were watching a horror film that's all! Can we just drop it?" Eden asked desperate for the conversation to change subject, her grip tightening on the wheel of her car. Today had been bad enough already, the last thing she needed was Cole playing on her mind.
"Okay, okay." Anna sighed, giving up.
"It's only quarter to ten and it's already the worst day ever." Frankie mumbled, taking her belt off as Eden parked the car.
The girls got out of the car and headed up to their apartment.
"Only one person died but I feel like I'm mourning for my job too" Eden admitted, getting out her key.
"I know what you mean." Anna agreed, forcing a smile as she walked into the living room, slumping down onto the couch.
"I can't believe we won't be able to work together anymore, we're a great team!" Frankie exclamied.
The prospect of finding another job made Eden's stomach drop, she thought she had her future mapped out and then life hits you right where it hurts.
She nodded in agreement with Frankie, taking a seat next to Anna.
"Right now I just want to eat loads and feel sorry for myself." Anna announced.
"Me too, maybe we should go to The Glasshouse now to see Lockie and Cole?" Frankie asked, Anna nodded eagerly but Eden wasn't feeling it.
"You guys go, I think I'm just going to  have a shower and a glass of wine."
"We can't leave you on your own." Frankie fretted.
"Really I'll be fine, I'd prefer to be on my own right now anyway, you go and have a good time without me I promise I'll be okay." She insisted, Frankie gave Anna a pleading look but she just smiled.
"Come on Frank, she's a big girl she can look after herself." Anna assured her, grabbing a hair tie off of the coffee table in front of her and tying her hair up.
"Okay, we won't be long!" Frankie gave in, wrapping Eden in a long hug.
"Enjoy yourselves." She said as she walked them out, waving them down the corridor.
She let out a deep sigh, turning around to face her empty apartment. Her vision became blurred as hot tears filled her eyes and rolled down her flushed cheeks wondering how on earth she was going to get out of this mess.