Free 2 Multiple Exposures by Audrey Claire Page A

about all she has to do to prepare for her wedding? And then she pats my hand and says ‘I’m sorry, Edna. I shouldn’t talk to you about it. I don’t want you to feel bad because you don’t have a husband.’ Oh, she makes me so mad!”
    “Well, that’s just mean.” Sometimes I thought Talia wasn’t so bad, that she just didn’t know how to speak to people. After all, whenever I complained about the music, she turned it down. She never played the DVDs late into the night. Maybe I made excuses for her, but still, I couldn’t believe she was all bad. Self-centered, probably. “Now you have a project to be proud of, Edna. Will you be able to keep up with the demand?”
    “Peony and I are working out the details, but I’m sure I’ll be fine, dear. I can’t wait to get started. I can even work out of my home if I want, and if it gets too busy, I might hire an assistant. Won’t that be fun?”
    “Sounds like it,” I agreed.
    “And you can take pictures of all of my creations, Makayla. Peony wants to do some advertising and build a website eventually. She wants to reach as far as the surrounding counties.”
    “Wow, that sounds like quite the undertaking.”
    From the sound of it, our Peony was going all out as if she had been set free from a cage. In a way, I suppose she had. At least one idea, the one for having outside tables, had been vetoed by her husband. Now that he was gone, Peony could do whatever she chose. Despite the circumstances that initiated her freedom, I was happy for her.
    Edna and I continued to discuss The Donut Hole and Peony’s plans for it as well as all of Edna’s ideas for sweet creations. While she outlined the plans, I savored every bite of her yummy cake, trying my darndest not to moan out loud each time a bite touched my tongue. When I was done, I set my fork down with reluctance but firmness and wiped my hands.
    “That was delicious, Edna. Thank you so much for an incredible treat.”
    She grinned and ducked her head graciously.
    “I’ve been avoiding talking about where I was today and why I was so late.”
    Her thin eyebrows rose. “What’s that?”
    “A death.”
    She gasped. “Who? I haven’t looked at my phone, expecting you would call if you had another delay. Maybe I’ve received some texts on it.”
    “You’re certainly up on the latest technology,” I said when she brought out an iPhone.
    “We all are.” She meant her group of friends no doubt. “One of the girls loves to keep us informed, and she wouldn’t hear of our fear of getting cell phones. I was the last to give in, as you can imagine, but when Ollie asked me to, I couldn’t say no.”
    My heart went out to her. Poor Edna had loved Ollie in school, but he had always had eyes for Talia, who had married another man. After Talia’s husband passed, Ollie moved in to claim the woman he had always cared for, even after half a century had passed. Maybe they were just meant to be, which left Edna alone. Yet, she apparently maintained a soft spot for the man.
    “Zachariah Bloomberg,” Edna exclaimed. “Oh, dear.”
    “Did you know him, Edna?”
    “Well yes, of course. He was in my same year at school, and when we were in our twenties, I think it was, I went out with him a few times.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, but it didn’t last.” Edna wrinkled her nose with an expression of distaste. “Zachariah liked…certain things.”
    I blinked, wondering what “things” referred to, but I could guess given Edna’s interesting color. “Things?” I encouraged her.
    “Funny stuff. I won’t repeat it.” She touched her throat. “In that day and age, the idea that he would think I would… Never mind. Just know it didn’t work out between us. And now, I mean, before he passed, he liked the younger women. I would be much too ancient for him. As if anybody would want that old fuddy duddy.”
    I smiled, and her eyes widened.
    “Oh, I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. What happened? Do you