The Tea Series

by Sheila Horgan

  “You have no idea what hearing you say that means to me.”

  “Even if I thought you were wrong, which I don’t, she’s your baby, and you need to do what you think is best. Mom is always saying that if you make every decision based on what you think is in the best interest of your children, even when you’re wrong, and sometimes you will be, there’s nothing to feel bad about because you honest to God did your best.”

  “Keep reminding me of that.”

  “Teagan could paint it on your wall.”

  “I might have her do that.”

  Several trips across the hall to carry baby paraphernalia to Suzi’s apartment — and to get Suzi and Evelyn settled — and I was back home in a suddenly silent apartment.

  I know it should be a relief, but it felt really lonely.

  There’s something about having a baby around the house, even if it isn’t your baby, that just makes the house better.

  Plus, I like having Suzi around.

  I decided to get some work done. That would keep my mind busy. A busy mind is a good thing.

  I was walking to the office when someone knocked on the door.

  I opened it to see Suzi standing there with Evelyn sound asleep in her arms.

  “Gee, that was fast,” I teased.

  “It dawned on me that we have some unfinished business. Since Evelyn is asleep, I figured this was a good time.”

  “What’s up?”

  “This requires tea.”

  “You sound serious.”

  “The tea is for you, not me, Cara.”

  “Uh-oh. I don’t like the sound of this already.”

  “Should I put the kettle on?”

  “No, why don’t you put Evelyn down? I put her Moses basket in the closet in the office.”

  By the time the kettle boiled, Evelyn was settled in her basket on the floor in the living room, and Suzi was sitting at my table with a determined look on her face. “What is going on with the trunk?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Cara, my brother and I are very close. He knows you are my best friend in the world. He doesn’t tell me everything, but he did tell me that you’re having a really hard time with some things that happened in your past and something in the trunk brought up a bunch of junk from your past. Don’t be mad at him; he’s worried about you.”

  “I know. He sicced Teagan on me too.”

  “If you and Teagan figured it out, you don’t have to tell me. I was just worried.”

  “I haven’t figured anything out, really, but I don’t really want to talk about it either.”

  “That’s fine, Cara. I’ll do the talking.”

  I was confused, but I figured I’d let her have her say. The good Lord knows she has had to spend more than a few minutes listening to me.

  “You have told me a hundred times that the time I spent with Barry — which can be counted in years, not moments — should not define my life. I don’t know what happened to you back in the day. I don’t know what the trunk is telling you. What I do know is that whatever it is doesn’t define your life.”

  “I know — ”

  “It can upset you. It can freak you out. It can cause you to cry, but don’t let it destroy all the good stuff. At some point you have to move forward, and all the time you dwell on the past, you’re missing out on the future. Someone smart said that to me.”

  “I’m not so sure she’s so smart.”

  “You are. You know it. I’m sorry bad stuff happened to you, but it doesn’t define you.”

  “You know, the really sad and frustrating part is that I’m not even sure that is what the trunk is all about.”

  “What? Cara, don’t confuse me.”

  “I’ve put off opening the stuff in the trunk since the day I found out Bernie left it to me. First because I thought it was special little gifts and I wanted it to last a lifetime. Then because I was freaked out because I built this whole thing up in my mind that there was some kind of mystery and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was or that I was capable of solving it. Then the whole thing about the past came popping up. That was bad because not only did it bring up bad memories from my past, but it triggered a few for Teagan and my mom too.”

  “I’m sorry if I’m making this harder for you.”

  “You aren’t. Anyway, Teagan pointed out that the letter Bernie left me shows that she was kind of proud of putting all the stuff aside for me. She did it as a sign of how much she cared about me. If the stuff in the trunk was supposed to signify the craziness of the stuff I remember, she’d have to be out of her mind to think it was a good thing.”

  “Maybe she was.”

  “I think I’m missing something. I just don’t remember what it is. Or was. Whatever.”

  “There’s no reason to drive yourself crazy about it. It will come to you when it’s supposed to.”

  “Teagan thinks I should open all the stuff now, deal with it now, and then I can move forward like you said.”

  “And Teagan is right, for Teagan. But you aren’t Teagan. You don’t have to do it the way Teagan would do it.”

  “I know.”

  “Cara, your sister is great, she has been really good to me, and I know you would completely freak out if I was disrespectful to her or about her, but you need to remember that you guys are two different people, and you do things differently, and that’s okay.”

  “I know that.”

  “Intellectually you do, but do you know that with your heart?”

  “Probably not.”

  “You have to do what is right for you, not what is right for Teagan.”

  “I know.”

  Evelyn started to fuss.

  “That’s my daughter. Asserting her control. Over everything.”

  We laughed.

  “Cara, I’m so lucky.”

  “Yes, yes, you are.”

  “I’m going to bring her home. I just had to say what I said. You can do with it or not do with it anything you think is right.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you mean that.”

  “I do. Having people care about you is always a good thing.”

  “It is. Do you know what you’re going to do about the trunk?”

  “No. I’ll think about it.”

  “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “You want to come over for dinner? I’m actually cooking.”

  “I should let you and A.J. have a little time to yourselves.”

  “Suze, you know he would love to have you here.”

  “I’m not sure about having me here, but I’m pretty sure he would like to play with his niece. I gotta admit, he has more baby mojo than I thought he would. We were never really around babies. I have no idea what I’m doing. I guess that kind of shows. Most guys don’t want to deal with a newborn, but A.J. has been so good to us.”

  “He’s a good guy.”

  “He is.”

  SEVEN

  I KNEW IT was Teagan when the phone rang. People who say you can’t tell who is calling by the ring just don’t have a sister, or at least a sister like Teagan.

  “I can’t find Honey.”

  “It’s cell phones.”

  “What?”

  “I read a thing the other day that said bees don’t like cell phones. Something in the cell phone signal confuses the bee, and then they can’t find their hive, or they don’t want to deal with the queen or something. I can’t remember the details, but it has to do with cell phones. Some say pesticides. It’s complicated. I don’t use it very often, but I think I have some.”

  “Not that honey, dingleberry, Honey, honey.”

  “What?”

  “Honey! As in Mr. Fisher’s wife. She’s flown the coop.”

  “Very good, carrying on the whole farm thing.”

  “I swear to God, Cara, I’m going to come over there and — ”

  “Sorry. Start over. What happened to Honey?”

  “That’s the point. I can’t
find her. Mr. Fisher came in all but hysterical and said she was going to go out on some call, a new client for her life-coaching business.”

  “She’s still on that?”

  “Long story, but Mr. Fisher swears that she is. I think she just uses it as a cover.”

  “Cover for what?”

  “Probably goes off with friends and smokes. I told you she was into that.”

  “Yeah, you told me she smoked herself stupid.”

  “Not so loud.”

  “Am I on speaker phone? Because if I am, I’m gonna kill you, Teagan.”

  “No, you’re not on speaker, but you know as well as I do that your voice carries. Forever.”

  “It’s just because there is nothing between your ears to block the sound from coming out the other side. Do you want my help or not?”

  “I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t want your help.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I don’t know. Think of something constructive.”

  “Does Mr. Fisher know the name and address of this new client?”

  “No.”

  “Does she normally work out of an office?”

  “No.”

  “Does he know where she usually meets clients?”

  “No.”

  “How often does she have clients?”

  “She’s been working here in the office pretty regularly, so I thought she’d pretty much given up the whole life coach thing, but Mr. Fisher says she was feeling like she was in the way here at the office. He didn’t actually say it, but I felt like he was kind of annoyed with me for not making her more welcome around here. Anyway, now she’s missing.”

  “How long has she been missing?”

  “She left their house at a little after eight this morning, and no one has seen or heard from her since.”

  “Have you guys called her?”

  “Of course we have, dingleberry.”

  “Have you texted her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you tell if the messages have been delivered?”

  “I didn’t think to ask. Hold on a minute.”

  Teagan was back several minutes later. “Can’t tell.”

  “Well, crap.” I thought about it for a minute. “What’s the rest of the story?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Teagan, Honey is a grown woman. She’s been gone for most of the day, but that doesn’t really constitute abandonment, and there’s no real reason for Mr. Fisher to go hysterical. There has to be more to the story.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I asked. He didn’t really answer. I’m guessing things aren’t going too well. I’m guessing that he married a little too fast, and if I had to guess based on the vein that is throbbing in his forehead, which I can see all the way down to his eyebrow, there was no pre-nup in place. Based on that vein, he could stroke out at any minute.”

  “And he expects you to find her? Really?”

  “Cara, don’t judge. Just help me.”

  “Okay, where are you?”

  “I’m at the office.”

  “Okay, I’m on my way. Find out what she’s driving. Find out what she was wearing. Find out who she has been talking to. Just go in and calm Mr. Fisher down and talk to him about anything and everything and see if you can come up with something.”

  “Thanks. How long will it take you to get here?”

  “Five minutes to make myself presentable, two minutes to check on Suzi and the baby, two minutes to text A.J., and then traffic.”

  “Text at stop lights!”

  “Don’t be an idiot. I’m on my way.”

  I ran to my closet, grabbed some really cute skinny jeans in white and a really weird blouse that I love. Like most of my favorite clothes, it’s hard to describe, but worth the effort, so stay with me. The blouse is white and sleeveless. Perfectly tailored (Teagan is right, a good tailor is necessary in life). The blouse has kind of a mandarin looking collar that stands up in the back but has a big square notch in the front, kind of like a priest’s collar without the white part.

  Here’s the tricky part. You slip your arms in the armholes — really, where else would they go? — and you end up with lots of fabric in the front. You take the piece that cascades down the left, and it has two little buttons up by top, which button on the inside of the blouse on the right shoulder. There is another button down the side, probably so your boobs never show, but I don’t have that problem. So now you have fabric that pretty much covers the front of you.

  With the fabric that cascades down the other side, you pull it over the top of the fabric that is already there, and there’s a little button down two-thirds of the way to your hip. Button the little button to keep that part in the right place. Then there is a little gold buckle on bright blue leather that comes from the side seam and the part that you just buttoned.

  The best part, the piece that flaps over when you buckle the buckle down towards your hip is brilliant blue, and you aren’t sure when you look at it how the whole things stays together, so it is a little bit sexy and a little bit different, and I love it.

  Hard to explain, and I really don’t have time to do a better job anyway because Teagan is probably pacing up and down in the conference room, getting more aggravated by the second.

  I slipped on flats with a gold buckle. They aren’t matchy-matchy but coordinate with the buckle on my blouse.

  Put some gold hoops in, tinted moisturizer and mascara, flipped my head upside down and sprayed it with freeze spray, then flipped it back up and ran my fingers through it to make it a little bit piecey. Another shot of freeze spray, some perfume, grabbed my purse and keys, and I even remembered to set the alarm.

  I very quietly knocked on Suzi’s door so that I wouldn’t wake up Evelyn.

  Explained to Suzi that Teagan is insane and I had to go. She didn’t even question it, which says a lot.

  Ran to the car and texted A.J. before I left. No response. He has been so busy that it can be hard to get a hold of him, but I’m so proud of all that he and Morgan are getting done.

  Teagan hadn’t worn a hole in the carpet yet, but there was no doubt that she’d been pacing.

  She sounded completely exasperated. “Mr. Fisher doesn’t know anything.”

  “She still hasn’t checked in? Has anybody checked the house? For all you guys know, she turned off her phone and went home to take a nap.”

  “I thought of the same thing. I sent Mr. Fisher home to check on her. He should get there any minute.”

  “So what do you want to do?”

  “Cara, I don’t know. I just need to do something. If we sit around and do nothing, Mr. Fisher is gonna go crazy, and that’s gonna make me crazy.”

  “I still think it’s strange that he is so upset when she’s only been gone a few hours. I think there’s more to the story, and I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere until we know what that is.”

  “I know.”

  “Have you guys called the police?”

  “They aren’t going to do anything this soon, Cara.”

  “They might, but I don’t think you or Mr. Fisher are going to like the results.”

  “What do you mean? Do you think they would look for her? I thought you had to wait seventy-two hours or something.”

  “I was thinking more that they might bring in the guys with the straightjackets for you and Mr. Fisher.”

  “Very funny, dingleberry. You aren’t helping!”

  “Other than standing here for moral support, I’m not sure there is anything that I can do. You have to admit this is a little bit strange.”

  “What is strange?” We both whipped around at the voice.

  “Honey? Where have you been? Mr. Fisher is frantic.”

  “I told him I was going out to see a new client. That’s where I’ve been. What’s this about? What is strange?”

  “First, you need to call him. He went home to check if maybe you went there.”

  �
��Why would I go home? It’s the middle of the business day. I am not calling him. This is just ridiculous. What on earth?”

  Teagan tried to sound calm. “I’ll call him then.”

  I tried to get Honey’s attention away from the call. She seemed more than a little bit annoyed that Teagan was making it. I didn’t want problems.

  I didn’t see any evidence that Honey had spent the day smoking herself stupid, as Teagan had thought.

  She actually looked very professional. For once.

  She was wearing a nice pair of slacks, with a lovely lavender blouse and a well-tailored jacket. Her hair and makeup were, for her, understated. She had on beautiful jewelry and lovely high heels.

  I decided it might be a good idea to get her out of the conference room so that she wouldn’t overhear whatever it was Teagan had to say to Mr. Fisher.

  “Honey, can you show me where the kitchen is? I would kill for a cup of tea.”

  “Sure, I don’t need to hear what Teagan has to say. I’ll find out later anyway. How have you been, Cara?”

  “I’m good. Better than good, actually. What’s up with you?

  “It’s been an interesting day. I’ll say that much.”

  “Do you care to say more?”

  “I’m not sure how much I should say. I was with a client. That stuff should really be confidential.”

  “Yes, but if you talk about it hypothetically and you don’t tell me the person’s name, just kind of tell me in general terms, then maybe I can help.”

  “True. Okay. Well, this isn’t really about life coaching. This is one of my old clients. When my husband was a private detective. I guess that he was one of my husband’s clients more than one of mine. I just did the books. Mostly.”

  “That sounds interesting, if not a little dangerous. Are you sure you want to be out there detecting?”

  “After today, maybe not.”

  “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

  “It’s not dangerous, just sad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The people who hired the people who hired me wanted to keep everything hush-hush, so they hired a company that hired a company, and that company used to do a lot of work with us. They called me. They didn’t know my husband had passed.”