The Tea Series

by Sheila Horgan

  I put down the journal. Put on the kettle. Checked the chocolate supply. Pulled out a new box of Kleenex and a hand towel and put them on the table. The Kleenex for Teagan; she doesn’t even mess up her makeup. The hand towel in case there would be sympathy crying going on.

  I took out four chicken breasts and infused them. Got out my tiny saucepan and melted some butter, seasoned salt, chicken bouillon, pepper, and a half a pinch of poultry seasoning. Let that all get acquainted while I pulled out a baking sheet and a cooking bag. Put the chicken on a plate. Drizzled both sides with the melted flavor stuff. Stuck the chicken in the bag and tied it off. Put half a dozen small slits in the bag and set the bag on the baking sheet. Slapped all that in the oven, set the timer, and even remembered to turn the oven on. I forgot to do that one night, but to be fair, A.J. did interrupt, and it was a good thing I forgot, or the whole place might have burned down by the time I was thinking about cooking again.

  Teagan let herself in the apartment. She must be in a state if she didn’t even bother to knock. The look on her face said that I’d better get serious. This wasn’t good.

  She sat at the table and started unwrapping chocolate while she talked. “I cornered Jessie, and I got it out of him. Now I want to put it back.”

  “It can’t be that bad. I didn’t hear your name on the news. Either that or the body is buried in the perfect place.”

  “Cara, he doesn’t want a wedding.”

  “He doesn’t want to get married? Why did he do that whole weekend then? He got everybody involved. He did the whole thing. Why would he do that and then break up with you?”

  “He doesn’t want to break up, dingleberry.”

  “So he just wants to live in that beautiful house without any kind of real commitment? How do you feel about that?”

  “He doesn’t want to live together, dingleberry.”

  “Okay, you are allowed one dingleberry per hour. Quit!”

  “Not my fault you choose to be a dingleberry. I didn’t say he didn’t want to get married. He doesn’t want a wedding.”

  “You mean a big wedding. He wants something small? Intimate? That could be nice.”

  “He doesn’t want anybody there but us.”

  “Just the family?”

  “Just us! Me and him. Teagan and Jessie. No family. No friends. Just us.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh? That’s all you have for me is oh? Mom is gonna have a crap hemorrhage.”

  “No, she won’t.”

  “Yes, she will.”

  “Okay, she will, but you need to think about you and Jessie. Did he tell you why?”

  “He says you need to focus on the marriage, not on the wedding, and when we did that whole weekend we already shared our love with our family and friends, so now we should just do the legal part and be done. Actually, to be fair, the way he said it was truly beautiful and meaningful.”

  “Jerk. If he weren’t so gracious, I’d have to hate him for it, but you know, he is kinda right. He did share with all of us and made us a part of that whole weekend. He planned it all, and, Teagan, he spent a fortune and a half getting it all done and all done so fast. He even paid for Sinead’s dress because he didn’t want her to have to pay when she’s got everything going on in her life that she has going on. He was kind of great about all of it.”

  “I know. What am I going to do?”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I want a big wedding. Outrageous. Like that weekend.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t in on the planning of that weekend.”

  “Would you have planned anything different?”

  “That’s what pisses me off. Nothing. He even chose the right music, damn him.”

  “Yeah, Teagan, it’s really too bad that a guy loves you enough to go to the trouble and knows you well enough to make every single decision the way you would have.”

  “I know. But what about Mom and Dad? They put a lot of stock in the whole wedding thing.”

  “I think that maybe we have been projecting a little more on them than any of us would care to admit.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Think about it. When you heard that Liam and Morgan were going to get married in a ballroom instead of a church, after only weeks of engagement. Liam of all people. What did you think would happen to Mom?”

  “I thought her head would explode.”

  “And how did she handle it?”

  “With complete grace. She even got Morgan’s family involved, even if it didn’t last.”

  “Exactly. I really don’t think that Mom is as invested in a lot of this stuff as we think she is. It’s like when we were kids and she used to tell us that if we got a tattoo, she would cut it out with a dull spoon. Now that we are all grown, I’m pretty sure she would use a knife.”

  Teagan shook her head and rolled her eyes.

  “What about you?”

  “What about me? It’s not my wedding, Teagan.”

  “Yeah, but you are the maid of honor.”

  “Really? That would have been great. But I’d prefer to think that I do all that kind of stuff every day, not just on your wedding day. I kind of have to agree with Jessie. I’d like to be supportive of the two of you every day, not just on your wedding. So if you and Jessie want to run away and get married and don’t want to invite anyone in the family — as your honorary maid of honor — I will hold back the angry mob, and I won’t say anything really nasty about your choices for at least five years.”

  “You are too good to me.”

  “I know.”

  “What do you think Mom will say?”

  “I think she will say that she loves you and she wants you to be happy and that Jessie is a very lucky man.”

  “Yeah, she has to say that; she’s my mother. What do you think she will think?”

  “I’m not going to lie to you, Teagan. It’s gonna hurt. She’s your mother. She is going to want to be at your wedding. I think that eloping, or whatever you want to call it, is a very selfish act.”

  “Thanks. That makes me feel better.”

  “I think a wise woman once told me that every once in a while, you need to be selfish.”

  “I said that?”

  “No. Mom said that. You aren’t wise. You’re a wiseass. There is a difference.”

  “So you don’t think Mom is going to hate Jessie forever?”

  “No. She is going to be a little unamused with you for a while, but she actually likes Jessie, so she’ll let him slide.”

  “You’re a jerk.”

  “Don’t talk to your honorary maid of honor that way.”

  “So if you think this is such a good idea, you want to tell Mom and Dad for me?”

  “Ah, no. I didn’t say it was a good idea. I said I understood it and that I would support you through it, but if Jessie wants to do this, then you and Jessie need to tell Mom and Daddy.”

  “You’re right.”

  “You’re not the first person to elope, Teagan.”

  “I’m the first O’Flynn to elope. Probably in the history of man.”

  “You like to be the first at things, but, Teagan, you haven’t said what you think.”

  “What?”

  “You asked how Mom and Daddy would feel and how I would feel, and you told me how Jessie feels. What about you?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “Really. Sounds like you’re pulling a Cara to me.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You call me on it all the time lately. Putting everyone else’s wants and needs before my own. Are you doing the same thing?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, but for what seems like your whole life, you have talked about the big wedding thing. It brings all your favorite stuff into one single day. The dress and the makeup and the pictures and all eyes on you and the music and the celebrating and everyone’s good mood and all of that. You have had a plan since before Troya
’s plan to run away to the convent and become a priest.”

  Teagan laughed. “I remember Mom trying to explain that only boys become priests, that girls became nuns. Boy, was she mad at the injustice of it all.”

  “I think she still is. The question is, are you really and truly okay with just the two of you doing the basic legal thing instead of the big celebration?”

  “I am.”

  “You need to think about it. If you think about it and you are really okay with it, then I think everyone else will be okay with it too.”

  “You’re right. By the way, Jessie knows you better than I do.”

  “Really? What makes you say that?”

  “When we were talking, he said you would say basically what you said, and I said that you would go bat-crap crazy.”

  “Jessie knows the more mature side of me, and you know — ”

  She cut me off. “The real you.”

  “You couldn’t let me have my moment.” I did a really dramatic sigh.

  She was probably right, but that was a whole lot of thought for another day.

  She didn’t even stay long enough to enjoy chicken for dinner with A.J. and me. And maybe Suzi. I try to make sure I have enough to feed her even if she doesn’t come over to eat it. I knock on the door and hand her a plate. She is working and taking care of a newborn, and although she seems like she has it all under control, it can’t be easy.

  Teagan gave me a quick hug and took off out the door.

  The truth is, not seeing Teagan get married would break my heart. But this isn’t about me. It’s about Teagan. And I’m trying to be mature and brave.

  I didn’t cry until she left. That’s pretty damn mature.

  A.J. walked in the door just as the buzzer on the oven sounded. “Do I have time for a quick shower?”

  “Yep, that has to sit for a minute, and I need to do the potatoes.”

  “I’ll be quick.”

  “Don’t rush. It will keep.”

  He was out of the shower, hair still wet and just a pair of basketball shorts on, when I brought the food to the table. He’d been hiding his bruises pretty well, but now his chest and pretty much everywhere else looked like faded camouflage, a profusion of green and yellow with a bit of purple in one or two places. It tore at me.

  “Teagan was here today.”

  “How’s Teagan?”

  “Better. She talked to Jessie. They are working it out.”

  “Good.”

  I figured now that I knew what was going on, he’d say a little more, but he didn’t say anything. Which was kind of strange.

  “She thinks my Mom and Daddy are going to flip a widget.”

  He just nodded.

  “I told her I would support her in any decision she made.”

  “That’s what you and Teagan do.”

  “Is there something wrong?”

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “I don’t know. You’re just acting weird.”

  “I told you I didn’t want to get in the middle of it. For the record, I think it is chicken shit and that he should have said something before, but it isn’t my life.”

  “He probably wasn’t really sure how he felt until now.”

  “Maybe. I would think as a grown-ass man, you’d know. I sure as hell know. Look at Liam. He sure the hell knew. Okay. I don’t want to do this. Can we just eat?”

  Somewhere in the very back of my mind, a little tiny warning flag was slowly being raised up a tiny little flag pole, but I wasn’t looking in that direction, and I missed it.

  I was more focused on the chicken. It was really good. So tender and juicy you couldn’t believe it. Another quickie dinner option to add to my list.

  A.J. and I spent the night pretty much doing nothing, which is rare these days. He’s always working, and I’m either working or dealing with some kind of family trauma or lately doing something with Adeline’s dancers — that’s what we have begun to call the girls at the dance studio she is supporting — or doing something with or for Suzi.

  When I brought her plate over, Suzi looked completely wiped out. I brought Evelyn back to the apartment. Told Suzi to take a nice long bath and a nap. I hope to God she didn’t fall asleep in the tub and drown. Evelyn was quite content in her little Moses basket sitting between A.J. and me on the couch. For some reason, he kept staring at her, like she held the secret to the universe. If she does, she isn’t sharing it.

  It was three o’clock in the morning. Sometime about three weeks ago, I found this secret place on my phone, at least it was secret to me until then, that allows you to change the vibration to a different pattern when you have your phone set on vibrate. I just had to mess with it. Now I know why they don’t use the pattern I chose as their default. When the phone rang at three in the morning, it rattled around so loud on my bedside table that it scared the sweet bejeezus out of me.

  There is no such thing as a good phone call at three in the morning.

  Ever.

  Not even a three-in-the-morning booty call is good news.

  “Hello?”

  It was Teagan. I wasn’t sure if she was drunk or just unable to form a sentence. After a few seconds I decided that it was hysteria, not booze, that was the problem.

  “Where are you?”

  It took a minute, but I finally got it that she was at her place. Alone.

  “I’m on my way.”

  A.J. was almost awake. “What?”

  “Teagan.”

  “Shit. I knew it. Give me a minute. I’ll drive you.”

  “She’s at her place. It’s two minutes away. I’ll text you when I get there. There isn’t any reason for you to go.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yep.”

  I pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, slipped my feet into tennis shoes, didn’t even bother with a brush for my hair, grabbed my purse, and with my keys in my hand just in case there were bad guys between me and Teagan — I have learned a few things in the last few months — I headed to her place.

  She opened the door as I came up the stairs. She’d been waiting for me. She looked terrible. She looked… She looked shattered.

  She was cussing.

  A lot.

  For Teagan, that is unheard of.

  The cleaned-up version is that Jessie is the son of a so-and-so, and it just went downhill from there.

  When she calmed enough to make sense — which took a while and a lot more than just questioning Jessie’s lineage — I followed her into the kitchen, where she splashed water on her face, no makeup left and her eyes swollen almost shut.

  She took a deep breath, sat down at the table, told me how her day had gone after she’d left my apartment earlier.

  She said that she’d left the apartment with a sense of calm. If I hadn’t blown up, then maybe the family could deal with Jessie’s requirement of a small non-ceremony. If everyone else could handle it, then so could she. It was, after all, only one day, and she would have the rest of her life to enjoy her marriage. She didn’t need a big wedding. It was just one day.

  O’Flynns had always done things a little differently. Even things outside the strange and wonderful world of O’Flynn.

  We did something extra for Lent instead of giving something up. That was different. We didn’t hand a transient a dollar; we handed him a meal or a bottle of cold water. That was different. So if she and Jessie decided that what they wanted to do was have a small, intimate non-ceremony for their wedding, that was their business.

  She’d almost convinced herself of it.

  She’d left my apartment and gone to find Jessie. She went to his office. He’d just moved into the new one, and her picture was prominently displayed on his credenza. It made her smile that he wanted the world to know that they were a couple and that he was taken. It reinforced her decision to do it his way.

  She’d told him that she had been to see me and that I said I would support her in whatever her decision was. She said that they’d made a bet, and sh
e’d laughed when he said he aimed to collect that night.

  It all sounded pretty good.

  She got up and started pacing around the kitchen.

  The bad part was coming. I could tell.

  She told me that when he mentioned that he planned to collect on their bet, she said that she thought it was a bad idea, as she had been taking some antibiotics for her ear infection and that the antibiotics can cancel out birth control and unless he wanted to start their family sooner than they’d talked about, she’d take a rain check.

  She had an ear infection? Maybe that’s why she’s been so mean.

  Anyway, she said he got a really weird look on his face, said he wished that all women were that careful, and told her to wait a minute. He told his assistant that he’d be gone for the duration, took Teagan by the arm, and for the second time in as many days, basically dragged her from where they were to some other place. This time it was a park about three blocks from his office.

  He pulled into the parking lot and asked Teagan if she wanted to walk or talk in the car.

  “You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

  “There’s something I need to tell you. I should have told you a long time ago, but at first I thought…” He seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. “That’s not true, at first I thought that maybe, no…” He pounded his fist on the steering wheel. “I don’t know what I thought.” He ran his hands through his hair. He looked like a cross between a caged animal and someone who had just been told they had a terminal illness. “I was afraid you’d walk away.”

  She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Jessie, you need to tell me. Now.”

  “There’s another reason I didn’t want a big wedding.” He couldn’t look at her. He didn’t even try. He stared at the steering wheel. Played with the stitching.

  “Just say it.”

  “Before I met you, I dated a woman named Joy.”

  She wanted to tell him that she was aware that he’d dated other women, or to correct him and say that they were children when they’d met, or anything else that she could think of to delay what she was afraid was coming, but she stayed silent and still.

  “She and I weren’t together that long. She is insane. A total psycho.”