Teaberry for Two

by R A Wallace

  Megan thanked her and approached the table. After introducing herself and mentioning Phil, she learned that their names were Jack, Dave, and George. “I understand that the four of you played golf together often?” Megan asked, hoping to prompt them. She’d taken the fourth seat at the table. The table had been cleared of plates. The men were now drinking coffee.

  “Oh my, yes,” George said. He was a tall man but his shoulders now stooped with age, giving the impression that he leaned forward. “When we got around to it. Some days it was too hot, you know.”

  “And other times it was too cold. We don’t get around like we used to,” Jack said. He appeared diminutive next to George. His bald head was spotted from the sun and he wore a sweater to ward off the cool air conditioning.

  “What makes you ask?” Dave said shrewdly, his pale blue eyes narrowing at Megan. He was also wearing a sweater and had a cane hooked on his seat.

  Megan thought about giving the same story about writing an obituary but didn’t think it would help her to get the answers she needed. She opted for the truth and explained that she was trying to discover who may have killed Phil.

  “We were just talking about the same thing, actually,” George said.

  “What were your thoughts?” Megan asked.

  George shrugged. “That’s just it. We can’t think of any reason.”

  “We don’t even know when he would have had time to get on anyone’s bad side,” Dave said.

  “He was here with us most days,” Jack said, nodding in agreement with Dave.

  “We’re basically here whenever the place is open,” George confided. “Our wives all passed. We keep each other company.”

  “Phil didn’t have anyone but us either,” Dave added.

  “And this place has everything we need,” Jack said, looking at the others. “We golf when we want to, we eat at the restaurant and there’s a lounge with televisions and a bar for members.”

  “Sometimes we just sit around telling stories,” George said.

  “They haven’t thrown us out yet,” Dave said. The three men shared a chuckle.

  Megan smiled with them and then she listened to a few of their stories. According to them, Phil hadn’t been much of a golf player.

  “He just never applied himself the way he needed to,” Dave said.

  “I told him how to adjust his swing,” Jack shook his head. “But he was stuck in his ways.”

  “Well, he didn’t care if he won or lost,” George interjected.

  “That’s the thing,” Jack agreed. “If something required effort, it wasn’t for Phil.

  “Phil didn’t have anyone else that he spent time with?” Megan asked.

  The three men looked at each other and shrugged. “He didn’t have a lady friend or anything,” George said.

  “Well, there was one,” Dave said. “But that was just in his mind.”

  “Yeah,” Jack added. “Susan was out of his league.”

  “He wasn’t really serious about that anyway,” George said, looking at the other two for agreement. “He just liked the idea sometimes.”

  “Too much work to win a lady over then keep her,” Jack said.

  “Besides,” Dave added. “He’d have had to give up his life here.”

  The three men nodded in agreement.

  Chapter Twelve

  Erica breathed a sigh of relief when she reached out to open her front door at the end of a long Sunday. Although she understood the amount of time that had passed during the course of the day was the same amount for every day, it had seemed much longer when compounded with her sickness. She paused after stepping inside the house, allowing the sweet coolness of the air conditioning to envelope her. Looking down at the sweat-drenched clothes that clung to her body, she thought about taking them off where she stood. She wasn’t sure she had the energy.

  Closing her eyes, she willed herself to begin moving toward her bedroom. She made it several steps before the smell of the paint fumes hit her. She bolted the rest of the way down the hallway and made it to the guest bathroom just in time. When she was done, she remained there, lying on the cold floor thinking that the cold tile actually felt soothing.

  Brad found her a few minutes later. He’d been busy and hadn’t heard her come in. After getting her up from the floor, he helped her into the bathroom in the master bedroom, stripped her clothes, and stepped into a cool shower with her.

  Eventually, Erica looked down at her fully dressed husband, now soaking wet in the shower. “You’re wet.”

  “Yeah, not to worry. It’s happened before and I didn’t melt. I wasn’t sure if you could stand on your own in here. Are you feeling better now?” Brad turned off the water and pulled a clean towel from the shower door. He wrapped it around Erica, then stripped, dropping his wet clothes in the shower. Pulling the other towel from the shower door, he wrapped it around himself then reached for Erica again.

  “Okay, you ready to make it to the bed?” Brad asked as he held onto Erica.

  She nodded numbly. Bed sounded awesome. Brad helped her to the bed, dragged a sleep shirt from a drawer, pulled it over her head then covered her with a light blanket. Once he had her settled, he pulled out some more clothes for himself and quickly dressed. He leaned over to kiss her before leaving the room. She looked so pale. Erica grabbed onto his hand and held him close.

  “Don’t leave. I haven’t seen you all day,” Erica mumbled.

  “I thought you might want to sleep,” Brad said as he brushed damp hair back from her forehead.

  “Was that paint I smelled?” Erica asked, her eyes fluttering closed.

  “Yeah,” Brad smiled. “I painted the nursery.”

  Her eyes flew open. “You did?” Erica smiled. “What color?”

  Brad smiled back. “When you get up, I’ll show you.”

  “It felt good to lie here for a little. But I think I’m doing better now. I could probably try getting up,” Erica said as she tried to push up from the bed.

  Brad gently held her back. “It’s okay. You don’t have to go anywhere just yet. You can rest for a while longer.”

  “I think I just got overheated. I really am feeling a little better,” Erica insisted.

  Brad narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you sure? I could make you some tea.”

  “Tea?” Erica wondered why that sounded familiar. “Oh, tea. Megan said I should get some tea from Lauren.” It seemed like a year ago, but it had only been this morning.

  Brad nodded. “Megan told Lauren about it. Lauren came over and dropped some off. She also gave me some advice on the furniture we’ll need for the nursery. You stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  Erica stayed where she was and thought about her friends. They were the best. But thinking about Megan made Erica wonder if Megan had learned anything with her snooping today. She and Jerry weren’t getting far with the case yet. Maybe Megan had learned something that might help.

  Brad returned with a cup of tea and some crackers on a plate. He could tell by the look on Erica’s face that his cop was back. She really must be feeling a little better. He helped her sit up with pillows behind her then sat on the edge of the bed near her. “Lauren said to try the crackers too.”

  Erica wrinkled her nose. She hadn’t been real successful with food lately. But Lauren knew way more about this baby stuff than she did. “I haven’t figured out why they call it morning sickness when it lasts all day,” Erica said as she munched on a cracker slowly.

  Brad smiled. “How did work go today?”

  Erica shook her head absently as she munched. “We haven’t gotten very far. There’s definitely something important that we’re missing, but I haven’t figured out what yet.” Erica looked down and realized all of the crackers were gone. She looked up at Brad.

  He grinned at her, happy to see her eyes clear and focused. “Here, try the tea.”

  Erica sipped gingerly. “I need to call Megan and see if she learned anything. And I want to tell her about the burner
phone.”

  “Burner phone?”

  “Yeah. Our current person of interest said he got a text from Stan to meet him at the studio. We tracked the phone number back. It wasn’t Stan. It came from a burner phone.” Erica drained the rest of the tea.

  “That means someone set him up, right?” Brad asked.

  Erica nodded her head forward once then tilted it to the side. “Either that or he’s got an accomplice to make it look that way.”

  Brad took the empty cup and plate and stood up. “I’ll go get your phone.”

  Erica watched her husband leave and thought again about how lucky she was. She hoped that wherever Jerry was, he was feeling as lucky as she was. He deserved it after the day he’d had with Erica. The only thing worse than morning sickness was spending your day trapped with someone with morning sickness.

  ***

  Jerry slowed his pace and fell behind Madison as another bicycle passed them on the trail. He picked up speed after they passed and matched pace with Madison again.

  “You must have had a difficult day if you’d rather take a run than eat dinner,” Madison said amiably.

  Jerry huffed a laugh. “My day was better than Erica’s. I’ve never seen anyone that sick. She wouldn’t give up though. As soon as she was done being sick, she’d get right back to work.”

  Madison flashed a quick look at Jerry, her face concerned. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Yeah.” Jerry had been thinking the same thing. None of his sisters had been as sick with any of their pregnancies.

  “Well, I have dinner in the slow cooker if you’re interested.” Madison began slowing her pace. They were almost back to the parking lot.

  Jerry slowed his pace to match Madison’s. “You don’t have to ask me twice. I’ve been trying not to eat in front of Erica. I think I lost twenty pounds last week.”

  Madison looked over at the healthy man walking next to her and laughed all the way to her car.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jax showed up on his sister’s doorstep just before dinner on Sunday without warning. Caitlyn wasn’t completely surprised to find him standing there. They’d both messed up with their mother recently. When they were younger, they’d always bonded together in times like this. They’d figure out what they could do to get out of whatever trouble they’d gotten into. Then they’d present a united front to their mother and win her over. She had never been able to stay mad at them for long.

  Caitlyn opened the door for Jax and led the way back into her kitchen. She’d been staring into her refrigerator before Jax had arrived hoping something would magically appear. It hadn’t. Opening the fridge door again, she took out two bottles of water and handed one to her brother. He stared at it for a moment before setting it down, untouched, on the counter he was leaning on.

  “What should we do?” Jax asked. His sister was usually the one to come up with the idea to get them out of trouble.

  This time Caitlyn shrugged. “I guess they’re at dinner right now. Doug texted me a minute ago. He said they just showed up at the Station Pub & Grill.”

  Jax pushed away from the counter and stood up. “We could go there and join them. Have a nice dinner together. Maybe act like adults for a change?” He gave his sister a wry smile.

  Caitlyn glanced back at her empty refrigerator and nodded. It was worth a try.

  ***

  Ross set the menu down and smiled. “I keep telling myself to try something new on the menu, but I love the sampler with several different kinds of smoked meat. I’m stuck on that.”

  “Well, now that you’re going to be living here, you can take your time exploring the menu,” Susan teased.

  “I’m going to enjoy it too,” Ross said with a chuckle.

  “I hope you enjoy the furniture we picked out for your house. It’s supposed to arrive tomorrow morning. If you need someone to let the delivery people in, I can be there.” Susan set her own menu down.

  She was glad they’d decided to have dinner out. She hadn’t felt much like cooking. For one thing, it was too hot. For another, she was too distracted by thoughts of her children. She wasn’t accustomed to being on the outs with them. Not as adults. As children they’d acted up from time to time.

  Ross watched the emotions fly across Susan’s face. Reaching his hand out across the table, he rested his lightly on hers. She looked even prettier this afternoon than usual. Maybe it was because he was seeing new sides to her character. He’d been impressed with her handling of his situation with the death of another man. She’d never shown any doubts of Ross’s innocence. He appreciated the support she was giving him.

  “They’ll come around,” Ross said gently.

  Susan was about to respond when she saw Caitlyn and Jax walking toward their table.

  “Mind if we join you?” Jax asked.

  He waited for Susan’s nod before sitting. Caitlyn took the chair across from Susan while Jax sat across from Ross. He saw Ross’s eyes narrow as he watched Jax closely. Ross had always been able to read him. Jax decided to make it even easier this time. He smiled at Ross.

  Ross nodded once and returned the smile. “How about a beer?”

  “Beer sounds good,” Jax said just as Doug reached their table.

  Doug placed a wine glass in front of Caitlyn and a frosty mug in front of Jax. “I’ll give you a few minutes,” Doug said. He was rewarded with a warm smile from Susan.

  Jax took a sip before starting. “I’d like to apologize.” He saw that his mother was about to interrupt. He raised his hand and shook his head. “No, mom. You don’t understand. I really owe Ross an apology. Before I left Seattle, there was an incident.”

  Susan raised her eyebrows and glanced quickly at Ross. Ross felt her gaze but kept his face impassive and remained focused on Jax.

  Jax took a deep breath. “I don’t understand it, but a woman called the company and said that I harassed her.”

  Susan gasped in shock. Caitlyn focused on Ross to watch his reaction. He was very calm.

  “I told you then that I didn’t believe any of that,” Ross said. He took a sip of his wine and waited for Jax to continue.

  “I know that. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciated your support. I still don’t understand it. I mean, I never even spoke to that woman.” Jax turned pleading eyes to his mother. “I swear it. I didn’t even recognize her name. But she was so adamant that I’d exhibited unprofessional conduct on the phone. She almost convinced me that it happened.”

  Susan turned to Ross, confusion in her face. “You knew about this?”

  Ross looked directly at Susan. “I knew he was innocent.”

  “He never doubted me, mom. In the end, there weren’t any charges, but I’d already made up my mind before it happened that I’d had enough of the corporate life. That was when I packed it in and came home. Then Ross showed up here, and you two had already been seeing each other. I dunno, I guess just got everything jumbled up in my brain. I’m sorry.”

  Susan looked first at Ross then at Jax. “Well.” She looked over at Caitlyn.

  Caitlyn shrugged. “What can I say. My little brother is contagious. I got stupid too.”

  Susan couldn’t stop the smile she felt pulling at her lips. “Okay. So what are we having for dinner?”

  ***

  Jax was tired but happy when he pulled into his driveway and parked. He went into the house and changed quickly before going out to his deck. It was even with the kitchen in his split-level rental and there were steps leading down to the back yard. From the high vantage point, he could see across several yards in his neighborhood. He’d liked the view the first time he saw it and it had been growing on him ever since.

  Looking over, he could see Trina in the back yard next door, playing with her daughter. He hadn’t known that she lived there when he’d rented his house. At first, he wondered if it would be a problem. Now he knew that wasn’t the case. They’d been working together a lot lately and Jax was coming to rely on Trina�
�s help with his business. She’d made a few suggestions based on her experience working with Dan that had streamlined some of Jax’s operations.

  He must have made some movement because he caught Trina’s eye. She waved to him. He waved back and started down the steps. There was a fence between their yards and all the way around Jax’s back yard, but there were gates on each side.

  Jax went through the gate into Trina’s yard and smiled at the tiny mirror image of Trina. “Hey, who do we have here?” Jax asked as he hunched down to the child’s level.

  “This is Jasmine. She’s two.” Trina watched her daughter’s curiosity of Jax make her bold.

  Jasmine walked over to Jax and reached for his face with a pudgy hand. “Hey, careful now.” Jax laughed as he enfolded Jasmine’s tiny hand into his to protect his face from the squiggly fingers.

  “Were you out for dinner?” Trina asked.

  Jax nodded. “With my family.”

  He realized with a start what he’d just said. He decided he liked the sound of it. Ross had always felt like family. Jasmine gave him a dimpled smile and Jax looked up at Trina laughing. He realized that he hadn’t been this happy in a while. He was glad that he’d moved back to Teaberry. He liked his life here with his family. And he liked working with Trina and Seth with the landscaping business.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Seth and Evan stood in the back yard of Jessilyn’s house and stared pensively. Both had their left arm across their stomach. The elbow of their right was propped on top of it. They were rubbing their faces with their right hand. Seth was staring at the angle of the sun compared to the location of the house. Six year old Evan was staring at Seth, careful to mimic his every move.

  Seth looked down at his diminutive landscape helper. Evan’s hair was so blond, it looked almost white in the sun. “What do you think, buddy? Should we plant the tree here?”

  Evan didn’t have to consider his answer. He immediately nodded yes. If Seth thought it was a good idea, it must be. His blue eyes squinted back up at Seth and he flashed a toothless grin.