The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane

by Sheila Roberts

  He nodded and followed her out, and they settled on the front step.

  It was a companionable enough lunch. He asked her how everything was going at the office. She asked if he and Bailey needed any help pulling the house together.

  “Nah. I think we’ve about got it covered. Once I’m done with the floors, we can start moving in the shelves and tables and chairs. We still have to paint the trim, but she can’t decide on the color.”

  He sounded like a husband talking about his wife’s decorating ideas and his honey-do list. “You sound so domesticated,” she joked. And her sister was the one domesticating him. It was all she could do to keep her smile in place.

  “Don’t worry. I’m still a wild man,” he said and gave her a kiss on the shoulder. Then he grabbed a piece of chicken. “So, you want to bring your sister over to the Cave Saturday night? We’ve got a darts tournament going. You can watch me in action.”

  Bring her sister? Hmm. And had she just seen him in action with Bailey? “That’ll be a thrill a minute,” she said, which he took for a yes.

  She wasn’t that hungry anymore. She didn’t stay much longer.

  “Leaving so soon?” he protested, but it seemed halfhearted.

  “I’ve got to get back to the office. I’ve got some things I need to do.”

  And one of them involved having a little talk with her sister….

  The little talk started out well enough that evening, with Cecily commenting during dinner on the progress Todd was making on the house.

  “It’s going to be so cute when we’re done,” Bailey said happily. “When were you by?”

  “I went over on my lunch break. I saw you leaving.”

  Bailey’s cheeks turned pink. “I took over some of the cookies I want to serve to see what he thought.”

  How very innocent. Except pink cheeks didn’t lie. “You’re blushing,” Cecily accused.

  “I am?” The pink grew deeper.

  “Is that the only reason you took cookies over?”

  “Of course! He’s my partner. I want him to know what I’m serving. Why else would I bring him cookies?”

  “You tell me.”

  Bailey shoved aside her half-finished plate of enchiladas. “You think I’m trying to steal your boyfriend?”

  “Aren’t you?” Cecily demanded.

  “No!”

  Cecily pointed a finger at her sister. “You’ve always done this. Every time you fall for a guy, you start baking for him.”

  “But this is different,” Bailey protested. “This is business.”

  “Well, see that you keep it business,” Cecily said. She sounded like a bitch. She knew it. But, darn it all, she was tired of losing men, and now that she’d finally given in to the crazy attraction she felt for Todd, she was not going to lose him. And she certainly wasn’t going to lose him to her sneaky little sister.

  Bailey glared at her. “That wasn’t very nice. And don’t be bossing me around.”

  Shades of childhood. You’re not the boss of me.

  “I’m not bossing you around,” Cecily insisted. “I’m just expecting you to be a good sister. I’m starting something with Todd, and you should respect that.”

  “And I’m going into business with him and you should respect that,” Bailey shot back. “And I ought to be able to bring him a sample of something I want to serve without you having a pissy fit.”

  “I am not having a pissy fit,” Cecily said between clenched teeth.

  “Yes, you are, and you’re getting pissier by the minute, all because you’re afraid you can’t hang on to your man.”

  That came painfully close to the truth. Failure in love was even worse than failure in business, and Cecily had failed twice. Which made her twice as insecure about Todd as she would have been if she hadn’t been hurt so badly.

  Before Cecily could bare her wounded soul to her sister, Bailey said something that really made her mad. “And if you can’t hang on to him, it means he wasn’t the right one anyway.”

  Cecily had been in the business of matching people up, and her spoiled little sister had the nerve to lecture her on love? “Oh. Really?”

  Bailey’s chin lifted a notch. “Yes, really. You don’t have a ring on your finger, and you’ve only just started seeing him.”

  “How do you know that?” Cecily demanded. She might have been with Todd for a short time, but they’d been dancing toward being a couple for a long time. Now that they were, things were heating up fast.

  “He told me.”

  “Told you what?”

  “That you’d just started seeing each other.”

  “When?” Todd was talking to Bailey about their relationship?

  “The other day,” Bailey replied vaguely. “I don’t remember.”

  They were spending so much time together, it was probably hard to keep all those cozy conversations straight. Why had he told Bailey that, to warn her off or to encourage her? Cecily suddenly felt as if she stood on an icy hill in tennis shoes.

  “Anyway, I’m not doing anything wrong, and here you are, accusing me,” Bailey said tearfully.

  Okay, she was being unreasonable, and after everything her sister had gone through, she should be ashamed.

  But before she could open her mouth to apologize, Bailey said, “I don’t know if I even want to stay here.”

  As if Bailey was doing her a favor rather than the other way around. The apology was aborted. “You little ingrate.”

  “I’m not an ingrate!” Bailey grabbed her plate and marched to the sink. “I just don’t want to be yelled at for nothing.”

  “Nothing! Oh, don’t go there.”

  Bailey scraped her unfinished food into the garbage. “Here I am, cooking for you every night.”

  “And not having to pay rent,” Cecily pointed out.

  Bailey whirled around, the picture of outrage. “You’d charge me rent? I’d never charge you rent!”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to. I know when I’m not wanted,” Bailey said and stomped out of the kitchen.

  Let her go, the little brat. Cecily ignored her half-finished meal, the enchilada sauce turning to acid in her stomach. Why did Bailey have to be such a drama queen?

  And why did she have to be such a stinker? She’d taken a small thing and blown it out of all proportion. With a sigh Cecily pushed away from the kitchen bar and went to the spare bedroom to make up.

  She got to the hallway and heard her sister’s tearful voice. “I didn’t deserve it, Sammy.”

  Now Bailey was tattling to Samantha?

  “I haven’t done anything wrong. And she shouldn’t be with Todd anyway. Deep down she knows it.”

  Bailey, the relationship expert. Cecily ground her teeth.

  There was a moment of silence as Bailey listened to whatever Samantha was saying. This was followed by, “No, but if she can’t keep his interest, that’s not my problem.”

  The little sneak! She was out to get Todd. Cecily strode into the room. “You brat!”

  Bailey jumped and let out a squeak and dropped the phone.

  “Bailey?” Samantha’s tinny voice said. “What in the name of Godiva is going on?”

  Cecily grabbed the phone. “Nothing. Except Bailey’s tired of staying here. Can she come over to your place?”

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” Samantha said in disgust.

  “That’s fine with me,” Bailey snapped and grabbed back her cell phone. “I’ll be right over,” she said and ended the call. “I sure don’t want to stay where I’m not wanted.”

  “Yeah, well, no traitors wanted here,” Cecily informed her and left the ingrate to pack. In the kitchen she shoved dishes into the dishwasher, ripped tin foil from the box and co
vered the remaining enchiladas. Then she threw the pan in the fridge and slammed the door shut after it.

  Ten minutes later the front door slammed, too, and Bailey was gone.

  Cecily stayed on her barstool. Good riddance. Let Sam deal with her.

  The condo seemed suddenly very quiet. This was ridiculous. She should call Bailey and apologize, ask her to come back. She picked up her cell phone and fingered the numbers.

  Or Bailey could call her and apologize. Bailey had been the one who’d escalated their conversation into a full-fledged fight. Bailey had been the one to pull in an ally. Cecily set the phone back down.

  But she’d acted like a little girl with her first crush. How pathetic was that? She picked up the phone again. It was wrong to be so suspicious of her sister. She sat there for a few minutes, trying to decide what to say.

  “I’m sorry” would be good for starters.

  Bailey would be at Sam’s house by now. Cecily made the call.

  It rolled over to voice mail.

  So Bailey wasn’t even going to take her call? That was mature.

  Well, then. There was no point in leaving a message. She hit End and pushed the phone away.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “You really should work things out with Cecily,” Samantha said once she and Bailey were settled at her kitchen table with mugs of chocolate mint tea.

  “How can I? She’s being completely unreasonable!”

  Samantha studied her baby sister. Bailey could be a bit of a drama queen. “That’s out of character for Cec.” Cecily usually assumed the role of peacemaker in the family. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

  “I already told you, Sammy. She just went ballistic on me, accused me of trying to steal Todd.”

  “Well, are you?”

  Bailey’s cheeks took on a guilty flush. “We’re in business together, for goodness’ sake.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Well, I shouldn’t have to,” Bailey said and frowned at her mug.

  “He is gorgeous,” Samantha said. And a ladies’ man. She’d seen him in action long before Cecily hit town. He had a gift for flirting, and she suspected he was a bit of a bad boy, which was probably why Bailey was attracted to him. Brandon Wallace all over again. If Samantha had known Bailey was going to fall for Todd, she would’ve done everything she could to discourage her from going into business with him. She should have known. Pregnancy was making her lose her mental edge.

  “And he’s really nice and really supportive. And I like being around him. But that doesn’t mean I’d deliberately steal him from my own sister.”

  The heck it didn’t. Women did crazy things when they were in love.

  “Anyway, I didn’t even know she was with Todd at first,” Bailey continued. “I thought she was with Luke.”

  So had Samantha. She shook her head. “What’s with you two? Todd Black is probably bad news for both of you.”

  “No, he’s not,” Bailey insisted, giving herself away. The fresh pink on her face showed that she realized it.

  “I have just two words for you,” Samantha said. “Brandon Wallace.”

  “He’s not like Brandon. He’s…more mature.”

  “An older Brandon,” Samantha said.

  “You’re the one who told me what a good businessman he is,” Bailey reminded her.

  “Yes, businessman. Not boyfriend. He’s a player.”

  “I don’t know why we’re having this conversation,” Bailey said crossly. “I’m not going to steal him from Cec.”

  “I believe you,” Samantha said. “But I’m warning you…just in case.”

  “The one you need to be warning is Cec. She’s the one who’s acting crazy.”

  “Why don’t you call her?” Samantha suggested.

  Bailey’s expression turned mulish. “No. I’m done talking to her.”

  “What? You’re not going to speak to her for the rest of your lives?”

  “No. I’m not going to speak to her until she stops acting crazy.”

  Cecily acting crazy was hard to imagine. But it was obviously true. Someone was going to have to pull her out of Looney Land, and it looked as though that someone would have to be Samantha.

  She put her plan into action later in the week, casually wandering into Cecily’s office, where she was busy working on a new Sweet Dreams ad campaign. “Are you past wanting to strangle our sister?”

  “For the moment,” Cecily said.

  “Good. I think the stress of you murdering Bailey would be bad for the baby.”

  That brought a reluctant smile to Cecily’s face.

  “How about coming over for dinner Friday night?”

  Cecily made a face. “I said I was past strangling her. I didn’t say I wanted to eat with her. I need a Bailey break.”

  “So come and have dinner with Blake and me. I’ll send Bailey over to Mom’s.”

  “All right,” Cecily said, “on one condition. No lectures about how we need to make up.”

  Samantha held up both hands. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Sisterly mediation is your department.”

  If Cecily caught the irony of that remark, she didn’t let on. Anyway, Samantha wasn’t too worried. It wasn’t in Cecily’s nature to stay mad for long. Bailey’s, either. They’d work out this small hiccup after Samantha got Cecily on track with Luke again.

  Back in her office, she called down to his.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “Dinner Friday at my place,” Samantha said. “I’m having an impromptu party.”

  “Sounds good. What do you want me to bring?”

  “Just yourself,” Samantha said. “Come on over around six-thirty.”

  And that took care of that, she thought as she returned to work. Once they got Cecily’s confused hormones sorted out, everything would be fine.

  * * *

  After her shift at the lodge, Bailey went to Lace and Lovelies to pick out curtains for her tearoom. It would be a little embarrassing to shop there after the job with Tina hadn’t worked out—but, hey, Bailey wasn’t going to hold a grudge. Anyway, it was good for business owners to support each other.

  The shop door chimed as Bailey entered, catching Tina in the middle of a conversation with Shelley Graves, who worked at Bavarian Brews. “If she doesn’t break all the china in that tea shop, it’ll be a…” Tina suddenly noticed Bailey and swallowed the rest of her sentence.

  Too late. Bailey had heard, and they both knew it. Awkward silence filled the shop, and Bailey could feel her whole face sizzling like a stove top. If she were Samantha, she would’ve walked on in as if she owned the world. If she were Cecily (well, the old pre–Todd Black Cecily), she’d have smiled and been diplomatic. But she was neither, and she was hurt and humiliated.

  She turned and walked right back out. She’d go to Wenatchee, Seattle, the end of the world, anyplace but Tina’s shop, to find her lace curtains.

  Tina’s voice followed her out the door. “Bailey, wait!”

  She just kept on walking. People had been mean in the big city, but here, back home in Icicle Falls, she’d expected better. What a dope. People were people, no matter where you lived.

  Now she heard footsteps behind her. “Bailey!”

  Okay, to keep walking would be rude. Put on your big-girl panties. She turned and forced herself to smile pleasantly.

  Tina’s face was as red as hers probably was. “Bailey.”

  This was so awkward. Bailey raised one hand. “You’re right. I’m a klutz.”

  And, as Tina had seen, it always got worse when she was nervous. Maybe she would break all the china in her tea shop.

  “And I’m a bitch. I’m sorry, Bailey. Please come back. Whatever you want, I’ll giv
e you fifty percent off.”

  That wasn’t a bargain; it was extortion. “Let’s forget it happened,” Bailey said. Heck, she’d done her share of gossiping.

  “Only if you let me give you a discount.”

  Bailey wasn’t a robber, but she wasn’t stupid, either. “Okay. Make it thirty percent, and you’ve got a deal.”

  Tina nodded, and they started back to the shop. “I do think the tea shop is a great idea,” she said. “I don’t know why I was being so catty.”

  Bailey could sum it up in two words: Shelley Graves. Shelley was one of the worst gossips in town. She also didn’t like Bailey. No doubt that had something to do with the fact that her boyfriend had dumped her for Bailey way back in high school. Pretty insulting for a senior girl to lose her boyfriend to a lowly freshman. Greg Trotter had gone off to Stanford and forgotten them both, but Shelley had a memory an elephant would envy. She’d probably been happy to talk to anyone who came into Bavarian Brews about the headlines Bailey had made when her business went under.

  Of course, Shelley had pretended to have forgiven and forgotten. She was all syrupy smiles whenever Bailey came into Bavarian Brews for a frappé or coffee, but those were about as real as her boobs. (There’d been plenty of women in town more than willing to share the news when she got a boob job after her husband left her and moved to Wyoming. Boy, there was never a shortage of gossip in a small town.) Shelley hadn’t done much with her life, so Bailey supposed it made her happy when other people failed.

  “It’s all right,” she said to Tina.

  “Is it true you’re going into business with Todd Black?”

  Bailey nodded.

  “Lucky you. That man has half the women in town with their panties on fire.”

  “He’s seeing my sister,” Bailey said.

  “Oh.” That shut Tina up for a moment. “Well, I’m sure the food will be great,” she said as they walked into the shop.

  “If she doesn’t poison anyone,” Shelley murmured on her way out. “See you later, Tina.”

  Better not come into the tea shop, Bailey thought. Or I might just be tempted to poison you.

  Never mind, she told herself. There would always be people who wanted you to fail. But she wasn’t going to, not this time.