Hot Tea

by Sheila Horgan

  AJ was sitting at the computer. I caught him observing out of the corner of his eye. The smile was gone. A shirt was on. He looked quite professional.

  Liam introduced me to Morgan. She has a lovely smile, in perfect proportion to her lovely face. She has rich mocha skin, brown eyes that hold secrets and laughter, and a warm and inviting aura about her. She is a beauty and I would think her smart, if she weren’t marrying my brother.

  All I could think to say was, “You guys want a cup of tea?”

  Liam jumped in, “Sure, I’ll put the kettle to boil.”

  Jerk. Leaving me to fend for myself with these people that I don’t even know, but will be related to in three weeks.

  I called to the kitchen, “Mom just called. She said you have some news.”

  Morgan laughed, “I’d be willing to bet that isn’t all she had to say. Was it ugly? Am I crushed?”

  I couldn’t help it. I was thrilled. Less than twenty words and she’d communicated that she was truly one of us. She already has Mom figured out and she’s good with it.

  I threw my arms around her, something I’m not prone to do, and squealed, “A new target. I could just kiss you. She’s gonna be so busy with you, she isn’t even going to think about me. I’m off the hook for months, maybe even years, depending on your family planning plans.”

  Her little guy was looking at me like I’d grown another head. Poor thing was being thrown into our family. He had no idea what he was in for.

  “Hey handsome, would you like something to eat? I think I have some Oreos in the fridge. If nothing else, I’ve got ice cream, and your mom will probably let you have anything you want because she won’t want you to be unhappy the first time you meet me. Want something good?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Oh Sweetie, you have two choices here. You can call me Cara or you can call me Auntie, which is what all the kids call me. I gotta warn you, you’ll get better Christmas presents if you call me Auntie.”

  He threw his arms around me in a giant hug and in a very purposeful stage whisper said, “Auntie, you’re my favorite!”

  We all burst out laughing.

  Morgan formally introduced us. “Auntie, please meet my son, Jordan.”

  “Why Jordan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I shook his proffered hand. “I think you made a good choice about the whole Auntie thing. Do you have any other favorite aunts? On your side of the family?”

  “No, Mom is an only child. I’m an only. Our family is little.”

  “Well Sweetie, all that is about to change.”

  “Mom told me. She said that Pa comes from a really big family and that it would be fun, and noisy, and that I might get to have a whole bunch of new cousins.”

  So, Liam had become Pa already. I had to smile as I spoke to my new nephew, “Well, your Pa is going to be dragging you from one weird relative to the next. We all drink tea. We all eat cookies. We all get really loud. We are all going to love having you as a new member of our family.”

  “Thanks Auntie. You were saying -- cookies?”

  He would do just fine.

  As I walked toward the kitchen, out came Liam, right toward AJ.

  “Hi, I’m Liam, Cara’s brother.”

  “AJ”

  “Nice to meet you AJ.”

  “The pleasure’s mine.”

  There was a moment of silence. I was trying to decide how to frame my introduction.

  AJ took care of the problem very gracefully. “Have you heard about Cara’s new business venture? I’m sitting here trying to come up with some ideas for a website.”

  With that, Morgan hurried over. Turns out she’s a web designer. There is a God, and he loves me.

  The kettle boiled, I rushed in to the kitchen, hoping to calm down a little and get my brain wrapped around all that was happening.

  I made a quick pot of tea, put the rest of my Oreos on a plate and grabbed some mugs and napkins. I was just about to carry it all to the table when the door opened and Teagan rushed in.

  She was in the middle of “What the hell? That looks like Liam’s car out in front. Your new …” when she saw the crowd. She did well. She didn’t drop anything, even though she was juggling buckets of chicken and all the fixings. She saw Jordan and Morgan. She saw Liam talking to AJ, not knowing how much Liam knew about my current living arrangements.

  Bless her wee little heart she handled it perfectly.

  “I see you have a houseful Cara. Sorry to barge in. Can you help me get all this stuff to the kitchen please?”

  We barely made it into the kitchen when she dropped everything she was carrying and opened the fridge door. We both stuck our heads in for cover. She hissed, “What the hell?”

  I whispered, “AJ has quasi-introduced himself as helping with building the website for my eulogy business, his living here hasn’t come up. They only got here a couple of minutes ago.”

  We were interrupted by Jordan coming to call for more cookies.

  “Sweetie, this is my sister Teagan. That makes her your Pa’s sister too. Teagan, this is Jordan.”

  Teagan responded a little too loudly, “Pa?”

  Liam’s voice came from the other room, “Teagan, I’m getting married!”

  Teagan squealed and ran to the alcove pulling Liam out of his chair. She was laughing and hugging and doing a bit of a happy dance, before she released poor Liam.

  Jordan came around the corner just in time for Teagan to scoop him up.

  “If Cara told you to call her Auntie and that you’d get better Christmas presents, just forget it, she isn’t your favorite, I am. You can call me Aunt Sis. I give much better presents, and, my house is more fun. I have a big screen TV, I love football, and I have a Wii.”

  Again with the hug and the stage whisper, “Aunt Sis, you’re my favorite.” He got an appreciative laugh.

  Proper introductions all around, we spent the next couple of hours eating chicken, licking our fingers and getting to know our new family members.

  Morgan is serenity. She walked into our crazy lives and was quite at home there. She is obviously a very good mother, and she loves my brother. My brother adores her. Jordan has obviously become his son.

  Teagan and I had a little trouble convincing Morgan that Mom’s only concern was for Jordan. We explained Mom is all about kids, and her first concern is always for a child. Now that that child is one of her grandchildren, the concern triples. Long story short, Mom is of the opinion that Liam might not be ready for home and hearth, and if that is the case, and he screws up, Mom is going to stand up for Jordan, not Liam. Hard to fault a grandma for defending her grandkids.

  Morgan pointed out that having someone take up for her child was not a bad thing, and over time, others would see the side of Liam that she did.

  We teased Liam endlessly, but the truth of it is that each time he looked at her, you could tell he’d already grown into the role of husband and father. I’d never seen him happier or more sure of anything. I was happy for him.

  When our impromptu family dinner was winding down, AJ excused himself and said he had to get going. He waved and walked out the front door.

  Teagan was completely confused, waiting all of ten seconds; she went out the door after him.

  Morgan laughed and said, “So, is your sister after your roommate?”

  I pulled a face, somewhere between innocent and stone cold busted, “What makes you think he’s my roommate?”

  Morgan counted off the facts, “Your mom mentioned that your old roommate Suzi moved out a couple of weeks ago. She said that you seem unconcerned about money, and that you’re starting a new business, after having quit your job.”

  “How’d she know I quit? I thought everybody assumed I’d been fired.”

  Liam chimed in with, “I assumed Teagan told her.”

  “Remind me to smack the crap out of Teagan. Oops, sorry Jordan.”

  I looked over at Jordan’s angelic face. He was loving every moment of this. I guess bigg
er families are better for the occasional explosion. There’s a shortage of brother-sister-sister drama when you’re an only child.

  Wait till the rest of the family is added into the mix. We’ll keep the child entertained for eons.

  Teagan walked back in the door.

  I looked down at Jordan and said, “Can I ask you a favor child? Can you go watch TV, cause this is about to get ugly, and I don’t want it to tarnish your perfect impression of me.”

  Jordan laughed and headed for the living room.

  Teagan took his place at the table.

  Before her buns hit the seat of the chair, I was on her. “You wanna tell me why in the name of all that’s Holy you felt the need to share with Mom that I quit my job? Then you can tell me what the hell gave you the right to tell anyone that AJ is my roommate? And you can finish up with what you want done with your ashes. You want them spread over the various eateries in town, or should I just take them to the ball field and spread them around home plate, cause Teagan, I’m gonna kill you. You have about six seconds before the bludgeoning begins. Talk.”

  Boy was she pissed. So pissed she was perfectly calm. “I didn’t tell anyone that AJ lives here, Mom guessed you quit your job, she thinks you’re so flippin’ perfect that no one would have fired you, and if you honestly think you can take me, try it. Come on Cara. You throw the first punch.”

  I was completely deflated. I schlumped down in my chair, “Well shit.”

  “Yeah, well shit. I’ve given up most of my vacation time for you. I’ve come over here 40 times a day to try to help you. I’ve fed you and supported you and put my life in danger by keeping a secret from Mom, for you, and the way you repay me is to assume, without a moment for me to defend myself, that I’ve betrayed you. You know what Cara? I’m done. You do whatever the hell it is that you think you need to do to recapture that tiny bit of sanity you once possessed, and when you get back to that place, if you get back to that place, you give me a call, until then, you leave me the hell alone.” She stormed out the front door.

  Liam was up and after her.

  Morgan asked if there was anything she could do, which broke my heart. I hate it when people are kind when I’ve been a moronic fool. It makes things worse, but how could she know that?

  All I could say was “I’m sorry your announcement ended up like this. The family is nuts, but we usually have some manners.” The tears ran down my face unchecked.

  She smiled and said, “Cara, this is only one day, I’ll be a part of the family forever.”

  I let out a little laugh, “Sure you want to chance it? Teagan and I are the normal ones. We get along the best. Normally. Mostly. Usually.”

  Liam came back in the door shaking his head. He explained that Teagan was unwilling to come back in and talk. That she was headed home.

  The implosion kind of killed the mood and Liam and his new family left a few minutes later.

  I grabbed everything off the table, trying to keep busy, still hoping that Teagan would get a couple of blocks and turn around. She didn’t.

  I took a shower and checked my phone. No calls. I tried her a couple of times, but she didn’t answer. I didn’t even bother with a gown or lounging, I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

  Teagan and I never fight, but when we do, it tears me apart.

  My phone rang. I was instantly awake. All I knew for sure was that it was a bright sunny morning after a long fitful night.

  I grabbed the phone before it made it all the way through the chimes I use as a ringtone. “Teagan?”

  “No, Love, it’s me.”

  “Mom? Everything ok?”

  “I’d say you and your sister are quite the pair. She was over here first thing this morning for a cup of tea. She didn’t sleep at all last night. Said the two of you had quite a row.”

  I started to cry, “Not really. We didn’t even have a chance. I said some stupid stuff and hurt her feelings. She walked out before I could say I was sorry. She hasn’t picked up when I call her.”

  “You need to fix this Love. She’s in a sad state. She wouldn’t tell me what the two of you went on about, but she did say that she felt betrayed. Cara, Love, she’s your sister. Don’t let this simmer between the two of you. You and she need to set this to rights.”

  “I’ll take care of it Mom.”

  “See that you do. You are the older sister Cara. It is your place to go to her. I don’t ask much of you girls, but I’ll not have you fighting, or worse, not talking at all. If you girls don’t fix this soon, your father and I will become involved.”

  “We don’t want that.”

  “No we don’t. Love, talk to her. Work it out.”

  “I will Mom. I promise. It’s just a misunderstanding. I let my big mouth get away from me. I’ll take care of it.”

  “See that you do. Would you like to come for dinner? Your father has requested stew.”

  “I appreciate the offer Mom. Let me see if I can get ahold of Teagan. Maybe I can drag her over with me.”

  “That would be lovely.”

  With that, she was gone. My parents rarely say good-bye. Something about death or superstitions, they usually just hang up the phone, or make a comment about talking to you soon, or seeing you later. It can be annoying, but it is never going to change, so there’s no reason to harp on it.

  I tried calling Teagan again before I took my shower. No answer. Again after I’d blown my hair dry. No answer. I was becoming annoyed. It’s one thing to fight. It is a whole other thing to be ignored.

  AJ had his head in the fridge when I walked into the kitchen. “Hey, good morning.”

  “Good morning.” I guess I didn’t hide my woes as well as I thought I did, because his response was immediate concern.

  “Ok, not such a good morning. Are you ok?”

  “I got in a fight with Teagan. She won’t answer my calls. She hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you. Maybe she went out last night to take her frustrations out on some lucky guy, and she’s busy, or not home yet.”

  How could he be fishing for information about my sister’s love life at a time like this? I was instantly pissed. “I highly doubt that. She isn’t involved with anyone right now. I’ve gotta go. Have a good day.”

  Before he could respond I grabbed my purse and keys and headed out the door.

  Teagan’s apartment is close. Really close. If you head out my apartment door, wind through the parking lot of my complex, turn right at the first available turn, and go down four blocks, you’re at her place. She has an apartment over the garage of a private home. It’s really cute. Bigger than you’d think. She can get to her place through the garage or up the outside steps.

  The outside of the building is painted a lemony yellow with white trim. They let her have free artistic reign when decorating inside. They even wrote it in the lease. When she first moved in, we went hog wild. We painted everything. Her bedroom is a custom blended pink. She has her bed done in white with lots of different textures and an antique quilt thrown across the foot of it. Her one hail to femininity. Everything else in the place is pretty much unisex.

  Her living room has a huge TV against one wall. Her couch is leather. Her area rugs are modern-ish. She has a bistro table of dark wood and a couple of chairs in the dining area.