The Fortune Cafe (A Tangerine Street Romance)

by Wright, Julie

  “Really? Why?”

  “Here, the fortunes really come true.” Emma nodded as if sharing a great secret instead of a great bunch of baloney. She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “We have magic cookies.” She nodded again and winked at Cái, who for once didn’t seem to be taking the bait.

  He only grinned at her. “Yes, Emma. Yes, we do. Don’t you agree, Harrison?”

  Harrison gave Emma a look she couldn’t read, but he didn’t answer. He straightened and made a grab for the mop, but Emma pulled it from his reach. “Don’t tell me you’re buying into Cái’s creepy cookie theory.”

  “I’m just glad to be here.” He then said, “Except actually…” He pulled his phone from his pocket and scowled. “Hey, I gotta go run some errands and keep my world turning for a little while longer.”

  She nodded her agreement, and he turned away, his face unreadable as he peered at the screen of his phone and hurried out of the restaurant. Maybe she’d freaked him out when she told him that Cái believed in magic cookies?

  She glanced around the kitchen area and swallowed her disappointment. Harrison had left, and his leaving felt abrupt enough to be called an escape. She considered asking Cái for a refund on her cookie fortune but felt too disheartened.

  Better to get back to her job and focus so she didn’t drop any more trays. She serviced the table where the young woman she’d nearly spilled the tray on sat. The young woman sat with two older couples and a guy who looked annoyed to be there. It had to be a meet-the-new-in-laws get-together. And Emma was the lucky waitress who served them.

  She felt sorry for the girl and, as she went back to the kitchen to place the orders, decided that the one good thing about being perpetually single was that she’d never have to do the awkward in-law meeting.

  Except looking at the bright side of her singleness thrummed something raw and painful deep in her stomach. She’d had a boyfriend in high school, but none since.

  When her dad died and the world fell on her shoulders, there hadn’t been time for men. Besides, who wanted to date the girl with the neurotic mom? The couple of dates she had been on had been interrupted with phone calls demanding immediate attention as her mom wailed her distress loud enough that the guy had heard every word. Those guys never called back.

  She didn’t want Harrison to be like those men. She didn’t want him to think she wasn’t worth the trouble. Because no matter what she’d said to Cái, she really liked the idea of Harrison chasing her. But maybe it was better if Harrison didn’t chase her, because there was no way she could allow herself to get caught. She couldn’t pull anyone else into the emotional black hole of her mother’s life.

  She was glad she’d canceled the dinner plan, glad she’d told him how busy her life would be, and glad that he’d checked for himself to find that she’d been honest about that. He was only in town for two weeks. He could spend that time with his family and go back east, and she could continue being resigned to living her life as the reclusive girl with the crazy mom.

  Because she didn’t want him falling through the chasm of her mother’s depression. That was a fall she had to take alone.

  Harrison glanced at his phone again to see the address his sister had forwarded him. She wanted him to meet her at the seaside reception center where she’d planned to hold their parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary party. He’d managed to avoid her since the restaurant fiasco. He wasn’t up to her instigating a face-to-face confrontation with Andrea. But the anniversary party was important. He couldn’t put it off any longer. He pulled into the parking space next to his sister’s sedan and then entered the marbled building to find her.

  She stood at a fountain that burbled in the center of the main room. She stared at a large menu in her hands. It appeared that Andrea wasn’t with her. “Hey, Kris!” he called.

  “Harrison!” she called back, but hers was not a friendly greeting. It was a definite growl. “You’re in trouble.”

  “Usually am.” He gave her a hug even though she stood rigid and glaring at him. He refused to let go until she gave in and hugged him back— even though she did it with a swat from the menu to his shoulder.

  “I can’t believe you humiliated Andrea in front of an entire restaurant.” She took another swipe at him. “And then you never called her to apologize.”

  She raised her hand to smack him with the menu again, but he caught her hand.

  “Called to apologize? I can’t believe you’re taking her side. You’re unbelievable. I’m the blood relative here, and I’m the one who was assaulted and humiliated. She threw her meal at me.”

  “She actually did tell me that.” Kristin’s voice softened a little. “How’s the waitress?”

  Harrison let go of Kristin’s hand and narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t press charges. Andrea’s lucky.”

  Kristin finally had the decency to look abashed. “It was bad enough she could’ve pressed charges?”

  “Andrea threw a plate at the owner, but it hit Emma instead. Property was damaged, Emma’s arm looks like a car ran over it, and a huge mess was made.”

  “She did say she had no idea what came over her. Your rejection threw her pretty hard. She really does love you, Harrison.” Kristin lifted her eyebrows. “I have no idea why.”

  “And it isn’t that I don’t care about her— although I confess I’m far less inclined to care about her after her little outburst— but we’re not good together. You know? Not like you and David. Not like Mom and Dad. Some people make sense. Others... don’t. Andrea and I don’t make sense together. You can respect that, right? No more trying to force us back together?”

  “She’s my friend. I hate to see her heartbroken.”

  “I’m your brother. Doesn’t my heart count?”

  Kristin blew out a breath of annoyance and put her arm around him for a squeeze, though he flinched because he thought maybe she planned on swatting him with the menu again. “I guess so. But please tell me you’ll still bring her to Mom and Dad’s party. Things will be so awkward if she has to come alone.”

  “Kris... what if I want to bring someone else?”

  “The waitress?”

  “I can’t believe Andrea even brought that up to you guys. Don’t say it like that. Emma isn’t just the waitress. I’ve known her since high school. She saved me from getting beat up every day. She’s... always been interesting to me.”

  “You are such a wimp. A girl had to save you from getting beat up?”

  He leaned over to the fountain and flipped his hand so water sprayed out at his sister. She let out a squeal and moved to retaliate except one of the employees of the center ducked his head outside of his office to see what was going on. Kristin straightened up.

  “It’s just a night. You don’t have to be there as Andrea’s date, but she is going to be there. I can’t not invite her just because you get all lovesick over a waitress. And it’ll be insanely awkward if you bring a different girl. Maybe go stag? I just want the night to go well for Mom and Dad, okay?”

  “I’ll think about it, but I promise nothing.” With that declaration, he and his sister got down to business.

  She toured him through the location, showing him where the food would be set up, where the DJ would be able to hook up his equipment, and how the dining tables would be arranged around the dance floor. She handed him the menu and rattled off all the details of the food, expecting Harrison to pay attention. He had a hard time focusing, because he kept thinking about Emma.

  He had really wanted to take her to his parents’ party. Maybe he could talk to Andrea and work out something that wouldn’t be awkward, but he doubted it. The way she’d flipped out on him was unreal, a complete mental break.

  He followed his sister around the gardens with the outside fountain while she droned on and on about fairy twinkle lights. He hadn’t even known fairy twinkle lights were a thing. He made all the appropriate expected comments about how fairy twinkle lights would be great and of course a vegan
option made sense for those guests with particular food needs, even though he knew the only guest his sister worried about was Andrea.

  Harrison appreciated the work his sister had put into the event because he knew it really did mean a lot to his parents. He also appreciated that his sister had insisted she needed help in planning and had strong-armed him into taking two whole weeks off for the party.

  He might not have met up with Emma otherwise.

  He owed his sister big time for that one. And he planned on using the two weeks to the fullest. He smiled thinking about the way Emma had blushed when her boss had teased her over the fortune she’d received. And though Harrison didn’t put any stock in the silliness of clairvoyance, the fortunes he and Emma had received were totally dead accurate. He’d been brave once and actually said the words “I love you” to Emma on their graduation day, but he hadn’t been brave enough to say them loud enough. He had loved her all those years ago. Loved the quiet way she helped other people— the quiet way she helped him. Loved the doodles on her papers, and had loved reading the papers themselves. As soon as he saw her again at the restaurant, he knew he’d been reunited with his soul mate. And he had every intention of chasing her down. So what if he had to give up one night to the anniversary party?

  He still had eleven other days and nights before his flight took off. He planned to use them to maximum capacity, which meant he needed to hurry his sister along with her little tour so he could call Emma and see if she needed any help with her mom. He could offer to bring over some soup, or whatever. He sighed as Kristin pointed out the various places they could use for family photos.

  He was ready to chase Emma in earnest.

  Emma’s shift ended, allowing her to thankfully clock out and flee Cái’s curious looks and overbearing remarks. He wanted to see her happily settled. He wanted to believe that somehow his restaurant would be the reason behind her happiness. The fact that he followed her around the kitchen saying, “A man doesn’t marry a girl’s mother. He marries the girl!” proved he didn’t, and wouldn’t, understand.

  She probably shouldn’t have told her boss about how she couldn’t allow Harrison to chase her, even if her fortune was supposed to be true, because her mother required too much energy, and she just didn’t have time for it.

  Cái lectured like he was preparing her for a master’s degree in romance, so slipping behind the wheel of her car and driving away toward her mother’s house was a huge relief. An interesting change. Emma never imagined she’d be glad to be going to her mom’s house for anything.

  Driving time was good for her. She liked to process life, and driving allowed her time to do just that. Except... she couldn’t think about Dragon’s Lair. No witty dialogue came to her; no interesting four-paneled plot presented itself. She only thought of Harrison and wondered what he might be doing at that exact moment.

  Her phone rang. She took a deep breath and with traffic being bumper to bumper and her hands-free headset still being lost, she didn’t bother glancing at the screen before answering. She knew it was her mother. The miracle was that her mom waited so long to start calling. The calls would come every minute on the minute if Emma didn’t pick up immediately.

  “I’m on my way,” Emma said into the phone, not bothering to hide her exasperation.

  “Really? That’s a wonderful surprise for me, but I thought you were going to your mom’s house,” a man’s voice said.

  Puzzled, she moved the phone away so she could see who’d called. Harrison’s name glowing up at her from the screen startled her so much she nearly dropped the phone. “Harrison?” she said, confirming what her eyes saw, but her mind couldn’t make itself believe.

  “Why do you sound like me calling is the most unlikely thing to ever happen?” he asked. “I stole your number fair and square, which means I’m within my rights to use it.” His teasing tone made her stomach flip.

  How could just hearing his voice make her feel all melty? She wasn’t even sure she could get air to move past her vocal cords. She tried though. A barely perceptible squeak came out.

  “You there?” His voice was warm and rich.

  “I’m here,” she said.

  “So I’ve been thinking that maybe when you’re done at your mom’s, we could get some dessert or go for another walk or something. I don’t mind if it’s late. Or maybe I could go to your mom’s house and help with stuff there. I’m great at doing dishes.”

  She smiled in spite of herself and pulled onto her mom’s street. “Doing dishes or breaking dishes?” she asked.

  “Hey, the broken dishes were the fault of the other person. Remember?”

  Emma hadn’t actually meant Andrea when she made the broken dishes comment and felt her face grow warm that he thought she had. “Sorry, I was actually referencing my brother. When we were younger, he sometimes broke dishes or threw them away to get out of having to clean them.”

  She heard the smile in Harrison’s voice as he said, “That worked? Man, I wish I’d been more clever as a kid. It never occurred to me to find alternate methods.”

  Emma smiled. “Yeah, that’s my brother all right, always looking for a way out of responsibility.”

  “But not you,” Harrison said, the admiration in his words almost tangible.

  “How do you know not me? You haven’t seen me in a long time.” She turned into her mom’s driveway.

  “Because you’re going to take care of a sick mom.”

  “That’s different from dishes.”

  “No, not different at all. Responsibility is responsibility. Sure, there are different levels. Some responsibilities weigh more, but at the end of the day, the guy who gets it done is the guy you can label responsible.”

  She turned the key to kill the engine. “Did you just call me a guy?” she asked to deflect her discomfort in his compliment.

  He laughed. “Not a chance. Do you want me to come over and keep you company? Play checkers with your mom? I don’t mind driving.”

  “No really, I’m okay. I got this.” As she exited the car and glanced up at her childhood home, she knew she meant it. Harrison was right about the weight of responsibility. Caring for her mother had the equivalent weight of a mountain. But in the last year she’d come to understand its weight. She knew how to shift it around on her shoulders to make carrying it bearable.

  She walked up the front steps, knowing she should tell Harrison good-bye before entering the house. Her mom’s loud voice carried well enough that he’d be able to hear anything she might say. Emma opened her mouth to tell Harrison that she’d call him when she finished up at her mother’s. He wanted to go out, no matter how late, and in spite of her earlier resolution to stay away from him, she really wanted to see him again. But as she began the sentence, she frowned and really looked at her mom’s house.

  All the windows were open, the curtains moving against the faint breeze. Open windows felt wrong. Her mom grew excessively more paranoid every day. She never left windows open. But more than that strangeness was that not one light glowed from behind them.

  “Mom?” Emma whispered.

  She’d forgotten Harrison in that brief moment of assessment, but his voice coming through the phone reminded her of his presence. “Is everything okay?”

  “I don’t know,” Emma answered. “It looks like no one’s home.”

  “Maybe she felt better and went to the store or something.”

  Emma shook her head, though he couldn’t see the movement. “No. She doesn’t have a car any longer.” A car accident. Her mom had insisted it wasn’t her fault, but Emma never found out the particulars. Sometimes, with her mom, it was better not to know.

  “Okay, Harrison, I’m going to ask you to do something weird.”

  “Okay... what?” He must have understood that something wasn’t right because he dropped the playful tone.

  “I need you to not take it personally when I tell you we can’t meet later. And it’s probably best not to call back tonight. I don’
t think I’ll be available.” She did the hasty hang up that she always did with her mom.

  She did it because she had to. Whatever was going on inside that house, she did not want Harrison to be on the other end of the line listening. She slowly walked up the stairs and went to try the knob, but the door was already ajar— waiting for her.

  Just like her mom to make the really hard things easy. It was going to be a long night.

  She entered the house.

  She flipped on lights as she went, trying to illuminate her own thoughts as well as her surroundings so she didn’t trip or anything. A cursory look through all the rooms provided nothing. She searched each room again, checking under beds, behind draperies, inside closets, but her mom wasn’t there.

  “All right, Mom!” she shouted to the walls. “You got me! I can’t find you! Come out!”

  No response.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket, nearly startling her into a heart attack. She glanced at the screen, deciding she wouldn’t answer if it was Harrison calling back. Not recognizing the number, she answered. “Hello?”

  “Is this Emma Armstrong?” The man’s voice sounded hard.

  “Yes.” Her mind shouted questions back to the man. Who are you? What’s going on? “This is Emma,” she said.

  “This is Officer Cowan from the Seashell Beach Police Department. Is your mother’s name Corinne Armstrong?”

  “Yes.” Emma slumped down on a chair in the kitchen, her legs unable to hold her weight any longer. “Do you know where she is?” she asked, feeling the tired in her bones rumble in her own voice.

  “We have her in custody. We’ve already called her psychiatrist who confirmed she isn’t a danger to herself as long as she is taking her medicine and in the care of a responsible party. We’ll release her to you if you’ll come pick her up and agree to keep watch over her, otherwise we’ll need to hold her in the psych ward for three days for observation.”