LOVE ONLINE

Chapter 1

"Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”                                   Joan Crawford

 July 1

"I blame the last shot of Tequila for this massive migraine." Lily Blackwell muttered under her breath as she stepped inside her flower shop.

"Good morning, Aunt Lily!" Jamie who was working busily behind the counter, cheerfully greeted her aunt. 

Lily Blackwell, in return, waved excitedly at her niece, despite looking exhausted behind her shades. She glanced around the shop. Taking off her glasses, she took inventory of the green store. She noticed that the daisies weren't out, and so she headed to the back where some of the flowers were kept overnight.

Confused, Jamie left the counter unattended to follow her aunt to the back room, where she began slipping her apron over her head.

"Why aren't you wearing your workout clothes today?" Jamie asked as Lily turned around so she could tie her apron.

Lily would always go to the gym almost everyday before coming to the shop. It was her only health regimen for keeping the extra fat off her beautiful curvy body, a habit that she had kept for over a decade.

"Well," Lily started, "My girlfriends and I went to a bar last night and I stayed kind of late. I met this incredible looking guy that I hooked-” She stopped herself. “Uh, hooked on a football game o-on the television and we didn't realize it was already late." She nodded, thinking it was a convincing cover. A small part of her mind, however, said otherwise, and they both knew it.

Lily always had trouble being discreet about certain parts of her life.  Jamie's father Dan, had already warned her several times to be careful, especially in front Jamie.  Lily had trouble holding her own thoughts whenever she met a new guy. And at thirty-four, she met a lot of new guys. She could still attract guys from across the room just as any woman half her age could. 

She twirled her beautiful sandy blonde hair around her index finger thoughtfully.

Jamie smiled knowingly, "So, do you think he's gonna call?"

"Of course he will, silly," Lily said confidently, a smug smile forming on her face. She lifted her icy blue eyes to look at her niece's face.

"Are you sure? You said the same thing three weeks ago about… what was his name again?" Jamie asked referring to someone her aunt had met at the gym. Her eyebrows furrowed together in thought.

"Oh, you mean Gregg," Lily said dreamily. She could still remember his alluring blue eyes, full, kissable lips, and his perfectly chiseled body, which made him look so sexy. She bit her lip, thinking of his lips against hers. His hands sliding from her shoulders, down to her small back, and grabbing her-

Jamie snapped her fingers in front of Lily's eyes. "Yeah, him," she chuckled, catching the lustful gaze in her aunt’s eyes.

"Well, he must be busy. Or he might have moved or something. I don't know. I don't see him working out at the gym anymore." Lily skirted around Jamie to grab two pots of daisies to be placed in the front.

"And what about the other one before him?" Jamie turned to face her aunt, her arms crossed over her chest. It seemed ironic; it was as if the roles of authority had switched suddenly.

"Which one? If you're referring to Kevin, I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation as to why he hasn't called yet. I mean, he's a surgeon. He's busy with...work." Lily set the flowers on the table and stuck the sign of the name of the flowers and faced her niece. She wouldn't dare tell her niece that the only way she went through with the dates was after having a couple of strong drinks. Kevin was like a scientist who worked alone in his lab all day, and being with him was just as dull and drab as being a stripper in a very conservative church. But he was hot, giving Lily just the right “momentum” to down her Scotch and nod with a smile.

"No, Aunt Lily, stop. Why are you even defending these guys?” Jaime threw her hands in the air, “They're just jerks. You're wasting your precious time with them." She just couldn't understand why her aunt kept protecting the guys who left her with a broken heart. And worse, hoping they would be back. Seriously, was she really that naïve?

"Come on, Jamie. Be reasonable. You cannot deny the fact that I've had a few successful relationships."

"And how long was the longest successful relationship you're talking about?"

"About two beers—years," Lily quickly corrected herself. "Damn!" She muttered under her breath.

Jamie rolled her blue eyes and shook her head. She gave up. There was no point in talking to her aunt about dating. It went through one ear and out of the other. She walked back to the counter and pulled out some order slips that needed to be delivered, keeping herself busy from the useless things her aunt talked about sometimes.

"Jamie, are you mad at me?" Lily asked with a small voice, coming up from behind.

"No. Should I be?" Jamie replied in a softer tone.  Turning around, gazing at her aunt's beautiful, flawless face, she sighed. She couldn't stay mad at her aunt for too long. She loved her mother's only sister to death, even though she infuriated her sometimes.

"You know how much I envied your mom when she was still alive. She and your dad were able to establish and maintain a beautiful relationship when everyone thought otherwise because they got married too young,” Lily sadly and tearfully admitted, “I guess I'm not as lucky as they were.”

Jamie embraced her aunt while she rested her head on Jamie's right shoulder. Jamie closed her eyes thinking about her parents. Lily was alone. Anyone who had seen her parents together envied their relationship. They were so perfectly matched. And by bringing Jamie into the world, it only further completed their happy, pretty much picture perfect family.

"I know, just hang in there. I'm sure you'll find someone who truly loves you," Jamie said, trying to reassure her aunt. Lily's shoulders began to shake and Jaime started to rub her back, trying to calm her down.

"You th-think so? I've been t-telling myself that for many years but... he never came," Lily was bawling uncontrollably at this point. "I wasted two years of my life in speed dating, and even went out of my way to register onto online dating sites. Just last year, I dated my ex on several occasions, hoping he would change but he didn't. I thought that I could change him… Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry you have to see me like this but... it just gets so hard. I don't even know what I'm doing wrong," her words were rushed and she spoke in a higher pitch.

"Maybe you've been looking in the wrong places," Jamie muttered to herself. Her aunt's dating situation frustrated her to no end. Aunt Lily deserved to be happy with a man that loved her to pieces.

"Wha-at?" she sobered up, her wails lessening to hiccups.

"Nothing," Jamie sighed, knowing that one day her aunt would find someone and maybe, just maybe to find that someone, all she had to do was stop looking.

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