Page 84 of Cookbooks and Demons

Automatically, Helena obeyed that command, having been trained to all her life by parents, therapists, and friends. As she took another one, Yosef helped her take off her coatand bag.

“You’re here. You made it. Now center yourself,” he continued to say in a soothing, practical tone.

After three more breaths, he let her go throughthe door.

Scarlet sat at her desk, reading something and making notes. The diorama of the Wrightwood Ballroom where the Winter Rose Ball was held sat next to her with its mini paper tables and chairs, showing the layout of the space. As Helena approached, her boss didn’t look up but continued writing, leaving Helena to stand there. After a few more moments, Helena went to sit on one of the chairs in front ofthe desk.

“Don’t sit down,” Scarlet ordered, still not looking up. “Depending on how this goes, you may not be staying long.”

The heart that Helena had calmed sped up again as she straightened and continued to wait until Scarletwas ready.

At last, Scarlet slid off her reading glasses and looked up at her. “First off, how is your friend?”

It was the last thing Helena thought she would say, and it took Helena too long to answer. “She’s… she’s not okay… but sheis okay.”

Scarlet nodded, indicating she understood that answer. “I am sorry that that happened. I am not going to pretend that this isn’t a hard thing. And yet, it does not change the situation we now find ourselves in.”

“But Scarlet—” Helena unwisely tried to say.

“No!” she barked. “You will not speak until I say you can, do you understand me? Another word and this conversationis over.”

Helena shut her mouth and nodded, clasping her hands to keep them fromshaking.

“Now I have been debating on how tohavethis conversation. I have never been terribly good at these things. I could cite my history, the amount of work I put into building this place to nurture creative talent as my legacy. I could talk about the history of the Winter Rose Ball and what it means to not just me but this city. But honestly, I don’t matter in this equation. This city and its unreasonable expectations don’t matter. The children we’re trying to help, they do matter, but this is not about that, is it?”

She waited and Helena realized it wasn’t just rhetorical. “No, ma’am,”she said.

“This is not even about the trust I put in you. Or about your frie—” Scarlet checked herself, clearing her throat.

“It’s not that I do not have sympathy for the things that are happening in your life right now that you can’t control. I have tried to give you some leeway up to this point, to let you find your own way through it.”

The city matriarch set a hand on her desk, letting it hover a second before pressing it, pinning the thought down.

“I do understand,” she insisted, “but that is also the thing. There are always going to be issues in this life we cannot control. Even if things at the Winter Rose Ball went entirely wrong, and it wasn’t our fault, it would still be one very essential thing.”

Scarlet held still, holding Helena’s gaze. Helena didn’t dare breathe.

“Responsibility. It would be our responsibility. Yoursand mine.”

Now Scarlet sat back, more confident in what she was saying.

“Despite everything that is going on in your or my life, it is our responsibility to bring this event together. And if you wish to claim that I am not as entirely dedicated to that vision as I am asking you to be, I will point out to you that I am likely to be dead within the next year.”

Now Scarlet looked away as she fiddled with straightening things on her desk. “My doctors tell me I should be lying in a bed somewhere and doing everything I can to focus on myself and try to extend my life a little bit longer, but instead I am here, fighting through my pain and my exhaustion for an annual ball.”

She lifted up a paper miniature of the ballroom’s chandelier and hung it from the middle of thediorama.

“I wish it were as simple as it’s just a party and who cares if the flowers are wrong or there aren’t enough settings for those who were invited, but it isn’t just that, is it? Any little thing that goes wrong could destroy the reputation of a business like ours. And without that reputation, we, Scarlet Promotions, arenothing.”

Scarlet nailed Helena with her gaze, sharp and powerful regardless of her age or state of health.

“This isn’t just about you and me. This isn’t just about my legacy,” Scarlet gestured toward the main room. “If the Winter Rose Ball fails, this is the end of this company. I don’t have what it takes any more to build it back from a disaster like that. And everyone out there will lose their projects, their jobs, their commissions. Our clients will pull their business because the only reason we have their business is because of the Scarlet name. This place is already going to take a hit when I pass on, but if I can do anything to mitigate that from happening I will, but anything going terribly wrong at the Winter Rose Ball, and anything I could do to stop such a disaster would be inadequate.”

“I care for all of you, but this is what it means to take on the crown, Helena. The people who rely on me? Who will one day rely on you and Yosef? Their lives will be irrevocably altered. If this company loses its reputation in such a public way, their ability to find other jobs in this or any adjacent industries is destroyed. They will be tainted by association.”

Scarlet’s eyes were haunted as if she could see it all happening before her, like an oracle confronting a terrible vision. Then she closed those eyes.

“I chose you to help me in my last year because I thought you could handle it. You seemed to me to be a person who not only cares aboutwhatshe does butwhoshe does it for. Your talent and creativity, your way with people, is a true skill that cannot be denied. I thought I could entrust you to be the guardian of this place when I’m gone.” Her voice rose now with emotion, her own desperation bleeding through her collected exterior. “These people.Mypeople. Myflowers. WasI wrong?”

---