The Tea Series Page 17

  “Would have loved to get some of her moves on a cell phone camera. Can you imagine?”

  “Remember Franklin? She made his big brother cry, and he’d come to pick Franklin up in a car. He was old enough to drive! And just about every time she talked to Susan what’s-her-name, started with an O, Susan wet her pants. She went on to be some kind of beauty pageant person and could stand up in front of a gazillion people in a bikini, so maybe Sister Bernadette had a positive effect, because if I had to stand up in front of a crowd in a bathing suit, I’d wet my pants for sure.”

  “Shut up, dingleberry. Maybe Vicky is doing you some good. You sound a little psychobabble-ish, but that will work itself out in time.”

  “I’m not going back to her unless something outrageous happens or you get hit by a bus, but then I wouldn’t go see her anyway because no one could fix that hole in my heart.”

  “What a lovely and twisted thing to say, Cara.”

  “Thanks, turns out I’m good with that.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve decided I am who I am, and I like who I am, and now I just have to wrap my brain around that, take responsibility for it instead of blaming everything on being an O’Flynn, and get good at recognizing the reality that everybody in the family is entitled to be whatever they are without the O’Flynn filter.”

  “Okay, now you’ve lost me. We are all O’Flynns, Cara. We are all good people. We just aren’t all as, I don’t know, O’Flynn-centric as you are. It’s not that we aren’t O’Flynns or don’t like being O’Flynns or aren’t respectful of O’Flynness.”

  “I know. I’m just saying it wrong.”

  “As long as you know, that’s the important part.”

  “Okay, that was way too convoluted. I wonder if there is any information about Barry online.”

  “Could you put your blinker on before such a huge subject change? I just got whiplash.”

  “You know what? If I know what is happening with Barry, I can relax and stop being so weird and living in my head all the time.”

  “Ask Suzi. I’m sure she knows, and it would be a whole lot easier than trying to track it down online.”

  “Suzi and I are in a weird place. We are trying really hard to get back to where we were, friendwise, but I don’t think having a discussion about her husband beating the crap out of me is going to help that, and she’s pregnant and everything. Not to mention she’s A.J.’s sister and he is really protective of her.”

  “Okay, dingleberry, you’re being an idiot. You don’t need to shy away from the reality that Suzi’s husband is a jerk. Nor do you have to hide the fact that you were brutally attacked just to make it easier on other people. That isn’t the way life works. You aren’t walking out in front of their place of employment with a sandwich board proclaiming that Suzi married an ass. You are just trying to get on with your life in a healthy manner.”

  “This is why I don’t have to go back to Vicky. I have you.”

  “Yes, you do, and you always will, but you may still have to go back to Vicky from time to time.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The weight of your mental health issues is just too much for one person to carry.”

  “Very funny. So, do you think they’ll have information about Barry online?”

  “We can check. We can also talk to your brother. He is a cop, you know.”

  “My brother? He’s your brother too. What did he do? Why are you mad at him?”

  “I’m not.”

  “You lie.”

  “Okay, you know what he did? He didn’t do anything.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You know how good he is with Becca?”

  “He is the perfect husband. She is the perfect wife. They live in domestic bliss. That’s from my vantage point anyway. What’s up?”

  “I called him the other day. There is a part-time job at my office. Very light-duty. Virtually all of the work can be done from home. I happened to mention to Becca that it was available, and she was really interested. She likes being home with the kids — they are both so young that daycare would eat into any money that she earned — but she thought it would be nice to do a little something now and then and to get adult contact from time to time. She also said that she wanted to keep her resume somewhat current just in case she ever needs to get a job again.”

  “That’s smart.”

  “That’s what I thought. So when it was time to get her in for an interview, I called. Rory took the message. Never gave it to her.”

  “Maybe he just forgot. Life can be like that.”

  “That’s what I assumed. But it happened twice.”

  “That is weird.”

  “I called him on it. You know what he said to me? He said that Becca doesn’t need a job and to stay out of it.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “I called Becca. She said that she’d given it more thought and she’d decided that she would wait a couple of years before she went back to work.”

  “Really? That doesn’t sound right.”

  “I’m so mad at Rory I don’t even want to talk to him.”

  “You don’t know all the details. Maybe it isn’t as bad as we think.”

  “Cara, you know as well as I do that O’Flynns are a little bit chauvinistic.”

  “Why would you say that? Just because Seamus would rather meet the death squad without a blindfold than allow anyone to see him wash a dish?”

  “I went over there really early one morning to drop something off for Valerie, they had the front door open with just that storm door closed, and I saw Seamus vacuuming. You would have thought I’d caught him with three hookers and a goat.”

  “See, this is where I get in trouble with my weird O’Flynness. You assume that Rory is doing something wrong. I assume he is doing something right.”

  “What does that even mean? How can keeping your wife away from a job that she said she wanted be right?”

  “I don’t know. I just know that if I’m honest with myself, I assume that if you are an O’Flynn, all your insanity is for good, not for evil.”

  “Well, I think Rory just likes his life the way it is. He likes the fact that he has a wife who stays home all day every day and takes care of his kids and washes his clothes and makes his bed and has dinner waiting for him when he comes home from work.”

  “Okay, Teagan, I’m not going to lie. That sounds like a pretty good life to me, but then I’m stuck somewhere around nineteen fifty, the sequel.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m like all those people who buy a Victorian home and they go back and put in all-new everything. I like the idea of nineteen fifty, but I want the cleaned-up, romanticized version. I don’t want the version where I would have had few, if any, choices. I want all the modern conveniences, like being an equal, with all the romance of the façade.”

  “You need more help than I can give you, Cara.”

  “Probably true. All I’m saying is that Rory might have a good reason for doing what he did.”

  “Only in your twisted little brain.”

  “I acknowledge that, but if you don’t talk to him or to Becca, how are you ever going to find out?”

  “I have you for that.”

  “Okay, I’ll call now.”

  “What are you going to say?”

  “I’m gonna say, ‘Hey, Becca, Teagan thinks that Rory is a jerk. I think he is a saint. Where does your vote fall?’”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m going to say I’m just checking in. I’m going to say that I think we should have a big dinner when Mom and Daddy come home, and then I’m going to try to gently sway the conversation in the direction of you mentioning in passing that you thought she might start working in your office and you were really looking forward to it.”

  “If you can pull that off, that might work.”

  “I can pull it off. Don’t be a jerk.”

  I stood up and headed
for my office. Roland and the guys had set up the furniture, but it was all in the wrong places. That would drive me nuts until I got it all changed around.

  “Where are you going?”

  “In the other room. I don’t want you listening in and giving me all kinds of hand signs to say something because I’ll get all confused and sound like an idiot.”

  “You can do that all on your own, dingleberry. You don’t need my help.”

  “Yeah, I love you too. You want me to do this or not?”

  “Go, I’ll make tea.”

  “Thanks.”

  The tea was well brewed by the time I got back out to talk to Teagan.

  She didn’t look amused.

  “Dang, dingleberry, I thought you’d fallen asleep in there. No, wait, others fall asleep when you are talking. Got that backwards.”

  “Funny. I was right. You were wrong.”

  “What?”

  “Turns out that Rory, an O’Flynn, was doing the right thing and you took it wrong.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Becca has been having some health problems. Turns out since she gave birth, she has bouts of hemorrhaging. They aren’t sure what is going on. Becca and Rory want more kids, so they are being really conservative in their approach. Rory doesn’t want her to add any more stress — physical or otherwise — to her life. He even has one of his friends’ wives come in and help with the kids and house a couple of times a week.”

  “Why didn’t they say something? We could have helped for free.”

  “Becca said with me getting beat up, they didn’t want to add anything to my already-full plate.”

  “I could have helped.”

  “Teagan, I don’t think anyone really looks at you as a domestic goddess.”

  “Well, that just sucks. I can watch a kid and straighten up a house just as well as you can.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “I thought for sure you’d say something about that. You, being the cleaning avatar of the family.”

  “Yes, but you said straightening. You didn’t say cleaning. Big difference.”

  There was a thud at the door, then the faint sound of a frustrated male cursing. I jumped up and headed for the door, remembering to check the peephole, which really made me mad.

  Why should I have to check the peephole every time I hear a noise outside?

  What is this world coming to?

  Oh my goodness, I sound like Grandma; that’s not good. Even if I’m the only one hearing it, I can’t be saying stuff like that.

  It was A.J.

  He wasn’t happy.

  “Hi. Sorry about being locked out.”

  “No problem. I just want you to be safe.”

  “Teagan’s here. She’d scare away any sane person, and if the person is insane, a lock probably wouldn’t help anyway.”

  “Cara, don’t start with me tonight. I know you are trying to be funny, but the day I’ve had, you can’t even believe.”

  He sounded like he’d come straight from New York.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is great, but I’ve never met anyone that can work as hard as Morgan, and I’m trying to keep up with her.”

  Teagan poked her head around the corner. “And she’s doing it all in heels.”

  “I know. With a husband and a kid to take care of.”

  “Yeah, and there’s something else going on there, but Teagan won’t tell me what it is.”

  “Ask your husband.”

  “I don’t have a husband.” I didn’t mean to snap it quite as loudly as I did. “Do you know what’s going on with Morgan?”

  “Other than the work stuff, I know nothing, but considering the success or total failure of my business depends on Morgan’s ability to hold up her end of this bargain — admittedly she’s also holding up a rather large portion of my end — I’d like to know if there is something I should be concerned about.”

  Teagan volunteered. “Nope. It’s all good.”

  “It doesn’t sound that way.”

  Teagan snapped. “Cara, you’re the one who just gave me a lecture about being positive when I was coming down on Rory.”

  “What did Rory do?” A.J. was trying to catch up on the conversation.

  “Nothing. He’s just trying to be a good and supportive husband, and Teagan jumped all over him for it.”

  “I did not jump on him. I didn’t even say anything to him. The voodoo dolls are only half-finished, and I wouldn’t have done anything really ugly, maybe just early male pattern baldness.”

  We all laughed.

  Teagan said, “Oh, Cara, before I forget, I found the perfect kettle. Electric. You know how when you make a cup of tea, if it’s really hot when you add the milk, you get that little film on the top of it by the time it’s ready to drink? Well, I found a kettle, and you can set the water temperature to what you want, and no more scum. Anyway, I gotta go.”

  A.J. put his hands up. “Don’t leave on my account. I just came to change clothes. I have a shoot, and I didn’t want to mess up my suit. I’ll be out of here in five minutes.”

  “Oh, in that case, I guess I’ll stay. I haven’t even told Cara about Honey.”

  “I’m not going to ask.” A.J. kissed my forehead and walked toward the bedroom. “Oh, I forgot. Suze said that she is going to start moving in this weekend. Gran called and said that she’d like to have a little house-warming thing. Can you call her and figure something out? Please?”

  He looked so tired and pathetic I wanted to kick Teagan out the door and make him very late for his shoot.

  “Sure. I’ll call her in a few minutes. You want to do it here?”

  “You and Gran can decide. Robert and I are going to move her stuff.”

  “Tell Robert we can feed you guys, and if Maria doesn’t want to come over, he can bring food back for her and the little one.”

  “Thanks.”

  After I’d kissed A.J. good-bye I joined Teagan on the couch. “What about Honey?”

  “I got a call this morning. Honey talked to Mr. Fisher. She explained to him that I need time off work so that I can chase Jessie around the country. She explained to him that she and Lindsey can deal with the office. That I can train them to do everything that needs to be done in a week or two and then they can take it from there. She explained to him that I have given enough of myself for him and now it is my turn to be happy. As a woman. As a professional. As a sister in life. She knows what I need, and she’s determined to get it.”

  “That’s not good. What did Mr. Fisher say?”

  “She won’t tell me.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope.”

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “She gave me a hint or two. She called me a home wrecker. A career saboteur. And a couple of things that sounded more ethereal but not really enlightened. She’s not happy, but it sounds like I still have a job. I’m not sure how a woman who can talk in, out, and around everything but never get to the point can be a life coach. There’s something really wrong there.”

  “So you’re back at work?”

  “Nope.”

  “But wait a minute. If you still have a job, why aren’t you at the office?”

  “She didn’t specifically ask me to come back, I haven’t heard from Mr. Fisher, and I’m not going to play their stupid games. Mostly because I’m tired of Honey. I did some checking around. I know things are pretty tough right now in the employment market, but people who have my kind of experience are still in demand. Well, kind of in demand. I talked to a couple of people who have tried to woo me away from Mr. Fisher in the past.”

  “Woo? Really?”

  “I’ve been talking to Honey too much. Anyway, there are other people who want me, and I’m just tired of dealing with Honey. There’s a really big part of me that wants to tell Mr. Fisher that either Honey goes or I do.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh? All I get is oh?”
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br />   “I can understand how hard she is on you, really I can, but she’s married to him. She seems to be trying to do the right things even if they turn out wrong. She’s got a good heart. She was looking out for you in her own weird and warped way. You don’t want her divorced or out on the stoop.”

  “There has to be something I can do so that I can go back to the job I love and not have that woman there. Besides, just because she isn’t at the office doesn’t mean that she can’t bug the crap out of him at home. I’m not asking him to bury her in the backyard. I just want her to go away.”

  “Maybe she can volunteer. If you find her a volunteer position and she feels useful, then she’ll be busy with that, and you don’t have to deal with her all the time.”

  “I can’t think of a single organization that I hate enough to send Honey their way.”

  “She must do something right. Mr. Fisher loves her.”

  “You’re right. You sound like Mom, but you’re right. I’ll think about it.”

  “Maybe I can talk to my friend at the animal shelter. Does she like animals? She could be a big help and probably not do any damage there. She can talk to the cats, and they’ll just ignore her. They’re good at that.”

  “That’s a thought.”

  “Let me know.”

  Teagan’s phone rang. She held up one finger, mouthed the words “Jessie’s sister” and walked into the other room.

  Ten minutes later she came back.

  “I have it on good authority, although I can’t tell you how I know…”

  Could it be any more obvious how she knows?

  She continued. “That you don’t have to worry about Barry.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Well, it was a violent offense. It was not his first. I guess that Florida tries to get their inmates to serve about eighty-five percent of their original sentence. They’ve had teenagers get seventy years for attempted murder. Barry is facing those charges, so he should be out of the way for a while.”

  “Attempted murder? What?”

  “That’s what they are going with. They’re of the opinion that he was trying to kill you. I guess the statements that he made left no room for doubt. He said he wanted you dead. He said that his only mistake was that you’re still alive. When this all happened his biggest regret was that you were still breathing.”