Louis Hates Valentine's Day by Sue Brown

Author:Sue Brown [Brown, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sue Brown
Published: 2014-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Louis knew where Arnie lived, of course. With a name like Lastmeyer he didn’t have to worry about there being hundreds of them in the phone book. God, he was nervous. Louis tried on half his wardrobe in preparation for this visit, and Louis had a lot of clothes. Eventually he decided on a maroon shirt and black jeans, artfully ripped but not enough to make him look obscene.

He also took a flower. Just one. He didn’t take the bouquet that Arnie had left behind. That was still sitting in the shop. It was wilting now, a week after February 14th. Louis had spent an entire week thinking about Arnie. Louis was attracted to the man, there was no doubt about that. But acknowledging its presence and acting on an attraction were two different things.

The deciding factor was the death of Colleen Sinclair. The woman who had been sending flowers to herself for five years died of cancer two days after Valentine’s Day. An elderly couple, their eyes red-rimmed and puffy came into the shop to organise flowers for the funeral. At first, Louis thought it was some sort of elaborate hoax, and that Colleen was trying to get sympathy. Then the woman explained she was Colleen’s mother, and thanked Louis for brightening Colleen’s life for the last few years. Louis was eaten up with guilt for all the horrible things he and Julia had said about the poor woman on Valentine’s Day when in reality all she had been doing was cheering herself up. He wondered if there had been anyone in Colleen’s life, a loved one that brightened her day. He guessed not, as she sent flowers to herself.

Is that what he’d end up as? The sad old queer in the florists shop who talked about the language of flowers to the few customers that indulged him. Up to Valentine’s Day he’d been sure he couldn’t be arsed to share his life with anyone else, but Arnie had made a real effort, taken time to woo him, and Louis had been blind to his efforts. Maybe it was time Louis actually listened to what the man was trying to tell him.

Arnie lived in a terraced house with neat hedges and a window box that probably had bulbs just waiting for the warmer weather. In the darkness, Louis tripped over the step as he approached. He swore as he stumbled and almost landed on his knees. That would be just what he needed. Arnie finding him on the ground with the flower under his arse and scraped and bleeding knees. Fortunately Louis had excellent reflexes and he arrived at the front door poised, shaken but flower and body intact.

Arnie opened the door after a wait that seemed like an eternity to Louis. His shocked face when he saw the florist on his doorstep was mildly gratifying to Louis whose nerves were getting the better of him.

"Louis? Is everything all right?" Arnie asked, holding onto the door as if it was protection.

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