Iced Tea

by Sheila Horgan

Jovana commented on the fact that it is rare to see people our age that don’t drink. I filled her in on my theory that there are people that have the guts to be themselves, and people that need the excuse of being drunk to be themselves, and I am in the former group, so I don’t need to drink. Besides which, my family is so big and always getting themselves into one conundrum or another, that I need to be able to jump up and drive away at a moment’s notice. Can’t do that if you’ve had a few drinks.

  It dawned on me a little to late that I was speaking to a person that owns a bar. Good job.

  Over dinner we talked about everything from owning your own business, to my brother’s upcoming wedding.

  I admitted feeling guilty that I don’t know more about the arrangements. Liam and his lovely fiancé were just engaged when we lost our Bernie, and everything seems to be put on hold.

  I tried to give Jovana the big picture of the last few weeks, without sounding too crazy. I was probably just desperate to explain why the wedding had been put on hold, and how I wasn’t a terrible sister for not even knowing the basics about such an important day in my brother’s life.

  Jovana said that they often use the ballroom over the bar for wedding receptions, and that if Liam and Morgan were interested, we could figure something out. Her generosity was overwhelming, but very much appreciated.

  FIVE

  “Liam, I need you and Morgan to be honest with me.”

  “Morgan is always honest.”

  I laughed, “Which means that you are not?”

  “I’m always honest about the important stuff. When people ask me if I really do like having you as a sister, I might be generous with the praise, truth is I might not like you nearly as much as I make it sound, I’m kinda generous with the good things I say about the family.”

  “That’s not dishonest, that’s smart. Teagan and I could still do you some serious damage if we set our wee little minds to it.”

  Sounding just like my mother he said, “There will be none of that! Now tell me, just what is it that you need our honesty for?”

  “Maybe the better word would be blunt. I need you guys to be blunt.”

  “I’ve a gift for it. What’s going on Cara? Are Mom and Dad okay?”

  “They’re fine, it’s nothing to do with anything like that. I have a kind of weird offer to make you, and I want to make sure that you know that there would be no hard feelings if it didn’t work out and that there are no strings attached.”

  “What’s going on, Cara?”

  “AJ met this wonderful woman…”

  “Oh, oh.” He went to a full-blown mafia B movie accent, “You want I should break his legs?”

  He took my laughter for reassurance. “Not like that you dink. She has a photo studio in Old Town. They’re going to share a workspace.”

  “That sounds cozy.”

  Again, I laughed without a moment of concern, which really is a good thing, because it shows the world, and me, that I have complete faith in AJ.

  “The woman’s name is Jovana. Think Mom, minus a few pounds, plus lots of money, minus a few kids.”

  “Minus a few kids would explain the lots of money. We brought Jordan clothes shopping last night. I swear to you, the kid outgrew everything by this morning.”

  “Mom used to say that the mall had some kind of special power over boys, that they would go to the mall, and that night, a growth spurt would hit. I’m convinced that’s why men hate the mall.”

  “I swear Cara, if I had known Morgan a few years ago, I’d swear that Jordan was my biological son.”

  “Biology is just an accident. Jordan is your son by choice, which brings us around full circle. The reason I’m calling.”

  “Oh yeah, what can I do for you?”

  “It’s more about what Jovana and her husband have generously offered to do for you and Morgan.”

  “What?”

  “You know that huge old building in Old Town. The one a few doors down from the old cigar factory thing. There’s a bar. I never really knew what the rest of the building had to offer, cause it’s huge, and that bar isn’t all that big.”

  “You mean the one with the windows?”

  “Yep. The one with the really ornate clerestory windows. Yeah, I looked it up. Those windows are something else. You would expect to see them on an estate in the country, in another country, not in Old Town.”

  “Yeah, I know the building, what about it?”

  “Jovana and her husband own it. The bar is on the front of the first floor. They have a full-fledged kitchen in the back. They have meeting rooms, I think some are on the first floor, but there are some huge ones on the second floor. They also have a ballroom.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know all that was in there, but I’m still not getting it.”

  “Poor Morgan.”

  “Funny. What’s going on?”

  “Jovana and her husband have offered you and Morgan the ballroom for your wedding, or your reception, or both, at a more than generous price.”

  “You’re kidding. Why would they do that?”

  “Jovana only has one son. They like to do this kind of stuff. They own it, they aren’t going to be out anything, and it’s worth looking at.”

  “I think it’s kind of weird. I’ve never even met the people and they want to host my wedding?”

  “I didn’t say host it, I said that they would make their building available to you for a very reasonable price. If you aren’t interested, no harm, no foul, I just thought I’d make the offer.”

  “I appreciate it, but I don’t see it happening.”

  “No problem.”

  “I’ll talk to Morgan, but I don’t think we’ll do it. I really appreciate the offer. Should I contact them and say something?”

  “First talk to Morgan. If she doesn’t want to even look at the place, then I’ll talk to Jovana. If she wants to look at the place, then we can do that, and if you guys decide against it, then maybe it would be good to send a little note or something.”

  “I don’t think Morgan is going to want to get married over a bar.”

  “It isn’t like that, but you guys need to decide what’s right for you.”

  “When do we have to decide?”

  “Considering I don’t even know when you’ve decided to tie the knot, that’s hard to say.”

  “Right.”

  “That was a rather non-subtle hint for you to share your wedding date with me.”

  “Last I heard it was the third weekend, next month.”

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Liam, what’s wrong with you? Why haven’t you told the world? That doesn’t give anyone much time. Have you told Mom and Dad? Do you guys have a list? Do you need help? What can we do?”

  “We don’t want to make a big deal out of the wedding Cara. We want to make it about the marriage, not the wedding day. All we want is to be married. We’ve talked about just going down to the courthouse and seeing a JP.”

  “You know we’ll support you in anything you decide, and if you decide to go to the courthouse, without Mom and Dad there, we will be sure the two of you are buried together. The family will take very good care of Jordan.”

  “That’s what I told Morgan.”

  “How did she take it?”

  “She said that she loves being part of a family. She thought she had a tight family growing up, but it didn’t work out that way. Her family kind of went to the winds a while back.”

  “She’s in for a hell of an adjustment.”

  “I tried to warn her.”

  “There’s no way to do that. The sane cannot communicate with the insane. The uninitiated can not fathom what it’s like to be an O’Flynn.”

  “Yeah, I’m trying to break her into the group slowly.”

  “Wise man. Talk to Morgan and then let me know.”

  “I will. Thanks for even thinking of us. Morgan is so organized and she knows exactly what she wants, so I’m pretty much staying out of it. I know she and Mom talk about it.�
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  “Really? Mom hasn’t said a word.”

  “You’ve been pretty busy trying to figure out if you’re in the crosshairs of a weirdo, I’m not sure anyone wanted to bother you with the details of ordinary life.”

  “Nothing is more important to me than the details of the family.”

  “Speaking of which, did anyone tell you that Maeve is seeing somebody?”

  “No. Who?”

  “Don’t know. Did anybody tell you that Troya is painting the house, and that she needs help?”

  “No.”

  “Did anybody tell you that Rory is buying a new car? I think they’re getting a minivan, which means they’ll have more babies to fill that puppy up. I don’t know what happened to him. I thought he was going to be the family stud, then he marries young, really young, and he’s like this Norman Rockwell living tribute to what a family man is supposed to be.”

  “I aspire to be as mature as Rory was at 12.”

  “Me too, Cara.”

  “Are you going to help Troya? Is she having everybody over? What’s the poop?”

  “She didn’t want to impose on anybody. She said that Teagan is just getting back to work, that you’re trying to build your career, that you and Teagan both have new guys, that Rory has the new baby, that Seamus is Seamus, I think maybe Sinead is gonna help, but I’m not sure.”

  “What about Mom and Dad?”

  “They’re busy planning the trip to Ireland.”

  “Have they decided when they are going?”

  “No. I suggested that maybe Morgan and I would accompany them, call it a honeymoon, and they could show us around Ireland, but they declined.”

  “I’m so far out of the loop I can’t believe it.”

  “The star’s alignment is a changin’ darlin'.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you used to revolve around the family like we were the sun in your universe. You have Mrs. Cooper’s son AJ as your new sun now.”

  “Very poetic.”

  “I thought so. Been waiting for a chance to use that one. You stepped right in it. At least I got to use it before Rory.”

  “Great. Well, anyway, talk to Morgan. See if she even wants to take a look at the ballroom. If she does, have her give me a call, and we’ll set up a time. If she would prefer to skip it, she can call and let me know, or she can just email me or whatever.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Liam?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Can I ask you a hypothetical question?”

  “Sure.”

  “If you had a problem, and you thought that I might be able to help, but you also thought that asking me for help might put me in the middle of a pile of poop, would you still ask me for help?”

  “How big of a pile?”

  “Pretty big.”

  “Are there any other options?”

  “Well, there are always other options.”

  “I’d like to say that I trust the family enough that no matter what the problem, I know that I can go to any member, and that they’ll have my back, but that isn’t the issue. Truth be told, I wouldn’t want to bring harm to the door of anyone in the family, especially my sisters, so, I’d probably go running to Rory like a little girl. He’s a cop. He has a gun. He isn’t afraid of things that go bump in the night. I’d probably run to Rory.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Anything I can do?”

  “Nope, I’m good.”

  “Are you going to run to Rory? You’re already a girl. It’s okay for you to do that.”

  “I don’t need to run to anybody right now. Should the need arise, I’ll decide then. I was just kind of letting my imagination go wild, and when I do that, as we all know, no good can come of it.”

  “Cara, all kidding aside, if you need anything, any time, any place, you call me.”

  “I appreciate it. Go talk to your future wife.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  I went into the kitchen, filled the kettle, and had just hit the button when the phone rang.

  “Your brother is delusional.”

  “I assume you’re talking about Liam, since he’s the one you’re about to marry, but I can’t really give you a definitive response until names are mentioned, since all of them are at least half as bad. What’s up Morgan?”

  “I would love to take you up on your kind offer. I can’t guarantee that we can have the wedding in the ballroom until I see it, and until I can figure out a budget, we’re trying to keep everything reasonable, but I’d love to take a look at it. Even if we don’t use it, going to see a ballroom is so bride-ee. I can’t wait. When do you want to do this?”

  “I can call Jovana as soon as I hang up. I’ll tell her you’re thrilled and would love to twirl on her wooden floors. Any time better than any other time?”

  “That’s the beauty of working for yourself. My schedule is my own. Any time that is good for you and Jovana is good for me.”

  “Do we need to check with Liam?”

  “We don’t even need to consult with Liam. He said that as long as he gets to pick out his own shoes, he’d do anything I want.”

  “Smart man.”

  “That’s one way to look at it.”

  I laughed, “I’ll call you back as soon as I have a date and time. I’m really excited about this.”

  “Me too, and Cara, thanks.”

  “I haven’t done anything.”

  “You have, I’ll tell you all about it some day. For now, just thanks.”

  “You are very welcome.”

  When I called Jovana, I explained that the wedding was probably too soon to do anything at her property, assuming they book well in advance, and informed her of the date. She said we were in luck, it was no problem at all, said we could come by any time, she’d be at the photo studio or the bar, give her ten minutes notice and she’d meet us there.

  I called Morgan, and since we were already running out of time before we even started, we decided to head that direction today at about lunchtime so that Teagan could meet us there.

  We parked in the public lot and strolled in the direction of the bar.

  Teagan was sitting on a bench. There were flowers hanging from the old-fashioned light standard. They are made to look like gas lamps, and are absolutely beautiful. One of the many charms of Old Town.

  Teagan looked relaxed and happy and more than a little excited to be included, and completely oblivious to all the guys leaving a trail of drool as they passed.

  “I didn’t know there was a ballroom here.”

  “Neither did I until AJ introduced me to Jovana. She and her husband own the place.”

  “I bet it’s expensive as hell.”

  Morgan started to look a little deflated.

  “Jovana told me at dinner, since they own the property, and they own all the stuff that’s normally used for such things, she can make us a great deal. You never know until you talk about it. We aren’t making any commitments or anything, we’re just taking a look.”

  “Yeah, but you have to be careful when you do things like that. It’s kind of like test-driving a Mercedes when you know you can only buy a Hyundai. If you went straight to the Hyundai dealer, you’d probably be thrilled with their car, but once you’ve driven a Bentley, the Hyundai isn’t gonna be as impressive.”

  “At least keep your cars straight. There’s a difference between a Bentley and a Mercedes.”

  Teagan rolled her eyes, “Depends on how you look at it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a Bentley or a Mercedes, I can’t afford either one.”

  “Deep breath people. Be positive. If nothing else, we might get some great ideas.”

  We formed a little bridal party chain, Teagan on the left, me on the right, Morgan in the middle. With newfound determination, we headed toward the building.

  “Jeez, look at those windows. Is that where the ballroom is? I wonder about the light. That would probably be just beautiful in pictures.”

&nbs
p; Teagan bubbled, “I can see you in silhouette in the arch of one of those big windows. Have you picked your dress yet?”

  “We aren’t doing the whole princess wedding dress thing. I’ve got Jordan. I’d feel stupid in white.”

  “Firstly, not all brides wear white. Secondly, doesn’t matter if you have been married before or have a child or whatever, these days wearing white is symbolic of a new beginning, not a virginal wedding bed. You should wear anything you want.”

  “I was looking online trying to find something at a reasonable price. I don’t want to get all carried away. I watch those bridal shows on cable, and those women spend more on a dress than I used as a down payment on my condo. I’m not willing to do that. I’m sure I can find something that will work for the money that I can afford to pay.”

  Teagan took a deep breath, “Morgan, I need to ask you something really personal, and if you don’t want to answer, I fully understand, and please don’t take it the wrong way.”

  “Shoot.”

  “If it isn’t stepping on too many toes, if your family doesn’t want to be in charge, or even if they do, we can still be support people.” Teagan pointed back and forth between the two of us, like I had any say in the matter. She continued without so much as a breath, “Is there anything we can do, anything at all, to help plan the wedding? Can we maybe do a shower? We don’t need to make any of the decisions or anything, we can just be gofers. You want something; we’ll track it down. I know that you’re going to want to have your wedding your way, and I agree 100%, but you’re family now, and we’d really like to be a part of all this. But if it’s all too new, and you aren’t comfortable, just say so, we will mind our own business, and just attend the wedding with smiles on our faces and we’ll hardly resent you at all.”

  Morgan burst into tears.

  Great job Teagan!

  “Oh, no-no-no-no-no. I didn’t mean to make you cry. Forget I said anything. I overstepped. I do that. I’ll learn to shut up.”

  Teagan searched her purse and came up with a slightly wrinkled, but probably not used, Kleenex and handed it to Morgan.

  Morgan accepted it, like a good sister should, and said, “It isn’t that. It isn’t that at all. Can we talk about it after we look at the ballroom?”