The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane

by Sheila Roberts

  But Todd was still the best-looking guy there, wearing the same jeans and T-shirt he’d had on earlier in the day and still looking just as sexy. He was leaning against the bar, watching the proceedings and wearing an easy smile. One of the men said something to him and nodded in Bailey’s direction, and suddenly the smile didn’t seem quite so easy.

  He wasn’t happy to see her. The incident at the house had ruined things. What had started as a promising partnership and growing friendship was now about as good as a fallen soufflé.

  But you could always make a new soufflé. She’d find Cec and straighten everything out. And she and Todd would be strictly partners. Well, partners and friends, but not friends with benefits.

  Todd left the group at the dartboard and came across the room to meet her. “Hey there,” he greeted her. “I’m glad to see your sister hasn’t murdered you.”

  “Or you,” she said. “I’m really sorry I messed things up between you and Cec.”

  “You didn’t.”

  She should have said, “Good,” or “I’m glad,” but she couldn’t quite nudge the words out of her mouth. Instead, she said, “At least we know the ice machine works.”

  He smiled and nodded.

  Now the new guy joined them. “Well, hello,” he said, giving Bailey an appreciative once-over. “What have we got here?”

  “My business partner,” Todd said sternly.

  If that was meant to put the newcomer in his place, it didn’t. “You sure can pick ’em, bro.”

  “So, you’re Todd’s brother. It’s nice to meet you,” Bailey said.

  “It’s even nicer to know me,” the newcomer said with a wink. “I’m Devon. Everyone calls me Dev.”

  “I’m Bailey.”

  “And everyone calls you ‘gorgeous,’” said Devon, making her blush. Man, Todd’s brother was sure full of hoo-ha.

  “This is the first I’ve heard of you having a partner in this place,” Devon said to his brother.

  “Oh, we’re not in business here,” Bailey explained. “We’re opening a tea shop.”

  From the look Devon gave his brother, it was clear Todd was going to get teased about that later.

  “Come on and have a beer,” Todd said, ignoring his brother.

  “Actually, I’m looking for Cec. I thought she might be here.”

  The mention of her sister’s name made him shoot a glance toward the door. Was he nervous about Cec finding them together? As if they had something to be ashamed of?

  “She should be here any minute,” he said.

  Bailey didn’t want to get him (or herself) in trouble with Cec. “I’ll wait out in the parking lot,” she offered.

  “No need to do that.”

  “And why would you want to when you can have a beer and play darts?” his brother threw in.

  Good point. “I don’t know how to play darts.”

  “We’ll teach you. Right, Todd?”

  “Absolutely,” said Todd, moving her away from his brother. “Get Bailey a Hale’s pale ale.”

  Well, why not? She had to do something while she waited for her sister.

  * * *

  Heart pumping with nervous excitement, Cecily walked carefully across the potholed parking lot of The Man Cave through trucks, Jeeps and motorcycles. The Neanderthal in lederhosen painted on the outside wall seemed to leer at her as she passed him.

  This place was no Zelda’s, but she’d better get used to it. She’d be spending a lot of time here. Maybe, once they were engaged, Todd would even want her to help out behind the bar. If he did ask her to help, she would, since it would be a while before she could convince him he even wanted a family.

  The thought of plodding her way to having kids was frustrating. After two false starts, she was more than ready to follow Samantha into the land of married bliss and parenthood and not excited about the prospect of waiting indefinitely. But a woman had to make sacrifices for the man she loved. One step at a time, she told herself as she opened the door.

  The usual gang was present—the grizzled old guys at the bar, the pool players, the token woman or two and, over in the corner…her sister!

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Cecily watched her sister throwing darts. Two barely caught the outside of the dartboard, and the last throw missed entirely, lodging in the wall. Todd said something, and she gave him a playful slap on the arm.

  Cecily’s eyes narrowed. All right, he would not be reaching the summit tonight—at least not with her.

  As she stormed back across the parking lot, she could almost hear the Neanderthal in lederhosen snickering. Modern woman not too bright.

  That was for sure.

  She returned to the condo and dug out the ice cream. Then she found a movie on Netflix and stared at the TV, seeing Bailey flirting with Todd and him eating it up like the dog he was.

  Her cell phone rang around nine, and Todd’s name appeared on the screen. She didn’t pick up. He called again at nine-thirty, and then at quarter to ten he was pounding on her door. She turned off the lights and went to bed. Alone. Under the circumstances, that was best. She was in no mood to get romantic with Todd, no matter how many candles he lit.

  * * *

  What the hell was happening here? What the hell was happening to his life? One minute everything was going smoothly, and the next it was a mess. Todd banged on Cecily’s door one last time, waited one more frustrating minute and then gave up. What had gone wrong between the promise of candlelit romance with hot sex and now?

  His brother, for one thing, but that wasn’t what had kept Cecily away. Had she come to the bar and seen her sister hanging out there? Todd frowned. That was the only explanation that made sense. That on top of the ice-machine fiasco—man, no wonder she wasn’t answering her door. He wouldn’t let himself in, either. You deserve this, he told himself. You’re being a jerk. Only a jerk of the first order would be flirting with his business partner when he was seeing another woman. And sisters? Did he have to be doing this with sisters?

  He returned to the tavern, where he knew Bailey would be waiting, still hoping her sister would show up, and he didn’t return in a happy mood. The mood got even less happy when he saw that his brother had abandoned the bar, where he was supposed to be helping out, to play darts with Bailey.

  He could tell her heart wasn’t in it, though. She was looking hopefully toward the door, but at the sight of Todd coming in alone, the hope faded.

  “I still haven’t seen my sister,” she told him.

  “I don’t think she’s coming in,” Todd said, and Bailey bit her lip, her expression anxious.

  “Hey, we can still have fun,” Devon insisted. “How about another beer, Bailey?”

  “Hard to serve her when you’re not behind the bar,” Todd said between gritted teeth.

  Devon shrugged. “Not that much going on right now.”

  Todd glanced over to where Pete was busy pulling pints of draft. “Yeah?”

  “Guess we got a couple of thirsty ones in the last couple of minutes,” Devon said and went behind the bar.

  “I think I’ll go home,” Bailey said.

  Todd nodded in agreement. The sooner she got away from his womanizing brother, the better he’d like it.

  “If she does come in, will you tell her I was here?”

  Todd nodded again, even though he knew Cecily wouldn’t be coming in. Bailey wasn’t the only one she wasn’t talking to right now.

  She left, and Todd went to sit at the end of the bar next to Henry.

  “You look like the end of the world, son,” Henry said to him. “Woman troubles?”

  “That’s what happens when you’re greedy,” said his brother, giving Henry a refill on his beer.

  Todd scowled at Devon.

 
“I’ll take one of those two off your hands,” Devon offered with a smirk. “Which one do you want, Bailey or that Cecily?”

  “Cecily’s sister?” Henry said in surprise.

  “Sister?” echoed Devon.

  “I’m not seeing Bailey,” Todd told Henry.

  “Then I guess I can,” Devon said.

  Todd pointed a finger at him. “No. You can’t.”

  Devon frowned. “You just said you’re not seeing her.”

  “That doesn’t mean you can.”

  “Hey, you don’t own every girl in town. In fact, you don’t own this town.”

  “Don’t push me, Dev,” Todd growled. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “Yeah? Well, me neither. Anyway, I kinda like her.”

  “Stay away from her.”

  Devon planted both hands on the bar and leaned toward Todd. “Who’s gonna make me?”

  Todd stood and planted his hands on the bar, too. “Who do you think?”

  Henry scuttled off farther down the bar, taking his beer with him.

  “Oh, big man,” Devon said scornfully.

  Todd jabbed a finger at his brother. “Just stop it, Dev. Like I said, I’m not in the mood.” Damn it all, he should have been at his place with Cecily, making use of those stupid candles he’d bought at Johnson’s Drugs.

  But, of course, Devon didn’t stop. How many beers had he had? Enough to make him contentious. He came around the bar. “Just because you’ve made some money, it doesn’t make you better than me. You never had a ball career.”

  “Yeah? Neither did you.” Okay, that was a rotten thing to say. He knew it the second the words were out of his mouth. He’d been there for his brother during that big disappointment, telling him he would’ve been great if it hadn’t been for his trashed pitching arm. He’d been there for Dev when he talked about going back to school, had even lent him money. And now, with one sentence, he’d erased all the good-brother points he’d ever scored.

  He started to apologize but didn’t get any further than “Dev” before his brother socked him in the jaw.

  He reeled backward into a table, knocking booze onto the floor and making the table rock. “Whoa, there,” Bill Will said, trying to steady him.

  Meanwhile, here was Dev, motioning for him to bring it on. Great. He was in a tavern brawl in his own bar.

  Feeling the eyes of every man present on him, he mustered as much dignity as he could and got up to walk past Devon. “I’m not going to fight with you. This is stupid.”

  “You bastard! I’m sick of hearing about what a success you are, how you’ve made something of your life. You’ve got a tavern. Big deal!”

  Who’d been talking about what a success he was? Surely not his old man. There was no time to process that remark since his brother was shoving him.

  “Cut it out!” he yelled and shoved back.

  Devon cut it out by shoving him again, and that was when he snapped. With a primal snarl, he rushed his brother, plummeting them both into the wall, parting customers like the Red Sea and nearly knocking over the Budweiser sign.

  “Call the cops!” one of the women screeched.

  Todd turned and held out a hand. “No—no cops.”

  Then something crashed down on his head, and he saw stars. And the Red Sea closed in on him. And it smelled like beer.

  When he came to, he had a knot on his head, and Tilda Morrison and Jamal Lincoln were hauling his brother away, Dev’s words floating back to him: “Man, even the cops here are hot.”

  Oh, great. Just great. He staggered after them. “Tilda!”

  She stopped and looked at him sternly, one eyebrow raised.

  “Uh, that’s my brother.”

  “Not anymore,” Dev muttered, his jaw stuck out.

  “I never would have guessed,” Tilda said.

  Yeah, the resemblance was pretty obvious.

  “Did you know I was a pro ball player?” Dev asked her, trying to keep his balance.

  “Uh-huh. Come on, A-Rod,” she said and started moving Devon toward the door again.

  “Where are you taking him?” Well, duh. Where did he think?

  “Drunk and disorderly. Witnesses say he assaulted you,” Tilda said. “You want to press charges?”

  “No! Here, just give him to me. I’ll take care of him.”

  “We can see how well that’s working for you,” Jamal said. “He can cool off in a cell tonight.”

  “Want to keep me company?” Devon asked, leering at Tilda.

  She gave his arm a jerk and really got him moving. “You have the right to remain silent. Use it.”

  “Get someone to look at that bump on your head,” Jamal advised. “You might have a concussion.”

  And then they were gone. The enthralled silence in The Man Cave lasted another moment, after which the patrons went back to their business, or rather discussing Todd’s business.

  “Why don’t you go on home? I can close up.” Pete handed him a bag of ice; he set it on the small mountain growing on top of his head and winced.

  Home. There’s no place like home. Home is where the heart is. Yeah, right. He went back to his empty house. The candles in the bedroom mocked him. He picked one up and threw it against the wall. And then another. And another. That made him feel good…for about a second. He dug some aspirin out of the medicine cabinet and swallowed a couple of pills dry. That should help the headache.

  But nothing was going to help the ache he felt deep in his chest. He fell onto his bed and shut his eyes and saw the faces of Cecily, Bailey and Devon. They all kept whirling around like a carousel.

  “When did you get so messed up?” he mumbled.

  He was still trying to figure that out when he finally drifted off to sleep. He woke up the next morning feeling as if someone had planted an ax in his forehead and went in search of more aspirin. Then he went in search of his brother.

  He didn’t have to look far. Devon was just checking out of the Icicle Falls B and B for miscreants. He greeted Todd with a stony glare.

  “I’ll take you to the house.”

  “No, thanks,” Devon said. “Take me back to my truck, and I’m out of here.”

  “Don’t you have to go to court?”

  “Do you care?”

  Todd sighed. “Yeah, I do. I said some shitty stuff last night. I’m sorry.”

  Devon suddenly became fascinated with the view of Sleeping Lady Mountain. “Yeah, well, I don’t remember much of what you said. Except that it pissed me off.” He shrugged. “I was a shit, too. I’ve been a shit for a long time now.” He turned his gaze back to Todd, offering a close-up view of unhealed pain and regret.

  Put a plunger on my head and crown me king of the shits. How hard it must have been to think you had a dream securely held in your hands, only to have it slip through your fingers.

  Todd clapped a hand on his brother’s back and started them toward his truck. “Come on over to the house. We both need coffee.”

  Three mugs of coffee, two bowls of cornflakes and an hour later, they were brothers again and hovering somewhere near friendship.

  “I’ve gotta get my act together,” Devon said, staring into his mug. “Dad’s right. I’ve become a total loser.”

  “Dad isn’t always right about everything,” Todd said.

  “Yeah, but he was about me. It’s just that, damn, for so many years—all through high school and then the minors—I was a baseball player. That’s who I was. And now I don’t know who I am. I guess I came here to find out. It seemed to work for you.”

  Todd nodded. He’d figured out who he was long before he hit Icicle Falls, but there was no sense saying that to his brother. “You’re good with your hands.”

  Devon smirked. “That’s what all the wom
en say.”

  “Now, look,” Todd said, “you can’t be playing fast and loose with the women up here.”

  Devon shook his head. “I know. I know. Man, you never used to be such a priss.”

  “And you never used to be…” Oh, no. He wasn’t going to start that again. “What happened with Gina?”

  Devon’s brows drew into an angry V.

  “You guys were serious. What happened?”

  “My career ended—that’s what happened.”

  Todd nodded slowly. “Okay, I get it. She was a bitch to you after your career fell apart, and now you’re going to make every woman you meet pay for it.”

  “No,” Devon protested. “I like women.”

  “You mean you like to use women.”

  “Hey, who doesn’t want to get laid? And don’t tell me you’ve never used a woman.”

  Todd couldn’t tell him any such thing. And at one time, that hadn’t bothered him. His girlfriends had never had any reason to complain when he was with them. He treated them well…except when the relationship began to get serious. Then he’d always bolted. Had he been planning to bolt with Cecily? And what about Bailey? Oh, man, life had been so simple only a few months ago.

  “Speaking of women, what’s with you and the sisters?”

  Todd dropped his head in his hands. “I don’t know.”

  “Man, you’re even more screwed up than me.”

  “That’s not possible,” Todd retorted, and Devon grinned and punched him on the arm.

  He chewed his lip a moment, then said, “I, uh, don’t suppose you want me to help out at The Man Cave anymore.”

  “You, me and beer? Until we both get our heads on straight, maybe not. You can paint the trim on the tea shop.”

  Devon nodded, resigned.

  “And I’ll put in a good word for you with Dan Masters.”

  “Thanks, Todd.”

  Todd pulled a spare key out of the junk drawer. “Here. You may as well move in. I think my love life is toast.”