Iced Tea Page 18

  “A visit? That would be splendid. I haven’t entertained in such a long time. Please, please come in.”

  She backed away from the huge door.

  To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

  The house was ultra modern. I guess the outside threw me off. From the outside it looked more like old-fashioned Hollywood, with lots of hedges and vines growing up the whole wall we saw from our approach. The only thing you could really see were windows, they were huge, and up high. Kind of like transom windows on steroids.

  I guess I figured her house would be more like Bernie’s. Little old ladies like the comforts of having all their stuff around, after all, wasn’t I here just to find out what stuff she wanted? I think I’d drawn a fair conclusion.

  Adeline showed us into the picture room. That’s what she called it. The room was big. I think my whole apartment would have fit in it.

  The whole room was done in white low-slung furniture with really clean lines. There were multiples of everything. White sofas. White tables. White chairs. On the walls and on every horizontal solid surface there were pictures. Pictures of family. Of friends. Of travels. Every one of them beautiful. Because the room was so stark, the pictures drew your attention. It was more than that, the pictures pulled you in, you had no choice but to walk to them and enjoy.

  Adeline spoke, “I’m sorry, but I have no staff at all. I’m not sure what I can offer you.”

  Jovana smiled. “I’m gonna get back to work. Cara here is going to stay and visit, if that is alright with you Adeline.”

  “I would like that.”

  We walked Jovana to the door. I had just a moment of panic. This was all a little surreal. What was I doing in the mansion of some little old lady I didn’t know, and how was I supposed to keep her occupied, while I basically spied on her.

  “So, which one of my children has employed you to check up on me, Cara?”

  The way she said it, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Genevieve. She is so far away, and she is worried about you. It will make her stay overseas so much better if she knows you are alright.”

  “Genevieve. I don’t understand that woman. She is of an age she should be retired, not fighting a war she doesn’t believe in. She is a good soldier. She loves her troops. But, she could have a much easier life here at home.”

  “Sometimes the best life is not the easiest life.”

  “Well said. Now that you know I’m fine, you can wire Genevieve and be done with it.”

  “I could, but I’d rather fix us a nice cup of tea. Would that be alright?”

  “Tea? That seems an old-fashioned notion for such a young girl.”

  “I’m Irish. We think tea will fix just about everything.”

  “Do you think I need fixing, Cara?”

  “No, actually, I’m the one that needs some fixing. I think my boyfriend, well, I’m not even sure that is the right term, I think that AJ is a trollop-squeezer, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

  Adeline laughed. “My first husband was like that. But we French, we thought ourselves quite sophisticated, and we women were told not to mind. I minded, and I let them both know.”

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll go out to the kitchen, if you will point me in that direction, and I’ll fix us a quick something, and you can tell me all about it. I might learn something. The Dear Lord knows I’m in need of guidance.”

  “I’ll show you the way.”

  We left the room the same way we’d entered.

  I should have brought my GPS, the house is that huge.

  As I left the picture room, the front door was on my left, I made a mental note.

  She was reading my mind, “Cara, that is not the front door, that is the service entrance to the side of the property. Those who know me well know that I choose not to open my door to strangers, so they come to me from the side of the property. It is also more convenient to the private quarters of the house, those areas for the public, or more precisely, non-family, are to the front, the west side, and the back of the home. The staff and guest quarters are to the back of the property, beyond the pools, the casitas, and the pond.”

  “I’m directionally challenged. If ever I disappear, would you please send help, or a Saint Bernard with tea or Pepsi, but wait a couple of days, I might happen back by accident.”

  “I married well, but I also brought assets to the marriages. My children have different fathers; perhaps that is why they are so different by nature. Genevieve is very caring and gentle, but regimented and logical. She is the very best of her father and the very best of me. I don’t always agree with her choices, but I’ve found that I always respect them, and her.”

  “She sounds great.”

  “My other children, there are two of them, are the very worst of their father, my second husband, and the very worst of me. Perhaps it is because Genevieve lost her father young, and my second husband never did accept her as his own. He doted on his two, but was quite distant with Genevieve, and that, of course, caused him to be quite distant from me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I suppose if I were born in these modern times, I would have left him, but then, in the station I was born to, women didn’t have that option. We might find a lover, we certainly knew that our husbands had many, but we did not succumb to the scandal that a divorce would entail. Separate rooms, separate lives.” Her voice trailed off.

  We ended up in a kitchen that looked like it belonged in a fine restaurant, not someone’s home. I walked over to the wall of refrigerators. “There is food in the one to the right, the one next to that is drink.”

  I opened the huge stainless steel fridge, and sure enough, there was food in there. I recognized some of it. Some of it, not so much.

  There were some things I could guess at. Exotic fruits shaped like everything from stars to God only knows what. There was a yellow thing that looked kind of like a blow fish, without fins, it was cut open and the inside was green with seeds and looked kind of slimy.

  There was a hot pink thing, kind of egg shaped, Adeline saw my confusion and filled me in. “That top one, the yellow, that is an African cucumber. I have it flown in from California. I make a smoothie out of it from time to time.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it. What does it taste like?”

  “It has a unique taste, think about bananas and limes and passion fruit, with the cool crispness of cucumber.”

  “I can’t get my brain around all those tastes at once.”

  “You are welcome to try some.”

  “No, thank you. I’m not very adventurous about food. What is this pink one?”

  “Dragon Fruit.”

  “I’ve never seen food these colors. Hot pink fruit. I never would have thought about it.”

  “I love the juice. They are sent to me from Mexico.”

  “I’m really not a gourmet or anything. I’m not sure what I can fix you, but if you just sit down and supervise, I’m pretty good at following directions.”

  “Sit? Why would I sit? You are a guest in my home. I’m not as young as I once was, but I’m also not the doddering old fool that my children would have you believe.”

  “It isn’t that at all. I’ve never even seen a kitchen like this. I thought it might be fun to actually putter around in it. Probably the only chance I’ll ever get. I was just being a little selfish. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be silly. This is a wonderful space. If you would like to cook, I’d be pleased to chat while you do so, or, I can teach you to prepare something new.”

  “What would you like? I’m a country cook. I am really good at preparing great quantities of good tasting comfort food but I’m not really good at anything fancy.”

  “Can you make a crunchy grilled cheese? I’ve not had one in years. My one cook, Dana, could make a crunchy grilled cheese, but I’ve not found a single person since.”

  “That I can do. One of my sister Teagan’s favorite things in life is eating. For surviv
al, I have a few things that I can prepare immediately and since they fulfill her need for crunchy she doesn’t eat everything in my cupboards while waiting for the real meal.”

  I went through the pantry quickly finding thick heavy bread on one of the shelves. I grabbed it, the cheese out of the fridge, which I put in the microwave on melt and got to room temperature quickly. It is so easy to screw up cheese if you leave it in too long, or leave the zapper on high. Then you don’t have cheese; you have a yucky mess.

  Once the cheese was room temperature, I started the broiler, put the bread on the broiler pan, and shoved it in the oven, further down than you would for a steak. I waited till the bread was just starting to turn color, pulled it out and flipped it, put cheese on each slice of bread leaving it open-faced and shoved it back in the oven. Took almost no time for the cheese to melt, grabbed the sandwiches, smooshed the cheese sides together, browned the bread on both sides, took the sandwiches out, put a little butter on both sides and handed Adeline my masterpiece for inspection.

  She loved it. You can’t fake that. Her eyes kind of rolled up and she made a great noise, and she finished the whole thing before I could serve her Pepsi.

  It was exactly the icebreaker we needed.

  We spent the rest of the day chatting and wandering around the huge house, and although she was supposed to tell me how to deal with a trollop-hugger, we never got around to that.

  At dinnertime, Jovana showed up, pointing out the fact that my car was still in her driveway. We sat and chatted, Jovana and Adeline broke open a bottle of wine, and were sipping and laughing when I excused myself, assured Adeline I’d be back soon, and headed for my car.

  I got in the door, just as my phone started to ring. I hate that. I dumped everything on the couch, trying to find the little sucker in my great big purse. Why is it that they make phones so small, and still make purses so big? By the time I found it, it was too late.

  Voicemail.

  Teagan.

  “Change your message Dingleberry, then call me. I have news.”

  For the record, there is nothing wrong with my message. It says that I’ve gone out for a long walk and will call back as soon as I’m able. Granted, it has said that for months, but once in a while it’s accurate. Without changing my message, I called Teagan back.

  “I know you didn’t change your message, it would have taken you longer to call back.”

  I whined back, “You’re not the boss of me!” Cause I’m mature like that.

  Teagan laughed. “Listen, I think I have your problem solved.”

  “Which problem.”

  “The whole memory card thing, Dingleberry.”

  “Good. What?”

  “I talked to a lawyer today.”

  “Why were you talking to a lawyer about this?”

  “I wasn’t. Well, not really. I have a client that’s a lawyer. It was lunchtime. We decided to grab lunch, and I broached the subject in a way that didn’t really give away any of the details, but got me some good information.”

  “How does Jessie feel about you grabbing lunch and free advice from a lawyer?”

  “Well, the lawyer’s a woman, but I don’t need Jessie’s permission to go to lunch with anyone, at any time, or to do anything else for that matter. This isn’t 1943.”

  “Jeez, hit a nerve? I was just kidding.”

  “Well, it isn’t funny. One of the women at work is having real boyfriend-is-just-jealous issues. I think that he’s probably beating the crap out of her, but she isn’t saying anything, and until she’s ready to accept help, there isn’t much we can do.”

  “Sorry. That sucks.”

  “She’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I think that she’s trying to save him from himself. That doesn’t work. I’m really afraid for her.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No. Unfortunately.”

  “Teagan, what about your boss’s girlfriend? Maybe she can use her life coach powers to do something.”

  “This is a serious problem Cara. I don’t trust that woman.”

  “I agree, but maybe, under the auspice of her being a life coach, you guys can work as a team, and at least get her in front of a real professional, or into a place for abused women or something. Maybe you can open the discussion just making fun of your boss’s girlfriend.”

  “Wife.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, they ran off to Las Vegas. Did the Little White Chapel thing.”

  “Wow, that was kind of quick.”

  “They say that a man that had a happy marriage will remarry quickly if his wife dies or leaves him or whatever. My boss had a happy life until it just kind of imploded. Maybe this will work for him.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Back to your problem. The lady I had lunch with is a top-notch lawyer. She doesn’t have an axe to grind, but she also isn’t buddy-buddy with the cops or those in power in this area. She’s getting married and moving out of state in the next few months. Already took the bar exam in Ohio, Iowa, some state like that. She has nothing to lose by pissing off the cops. She said she would handle it, and that ‘my friend’ didn’t even have to come out from behind the curtain. You can stay completely anonymous.”

  “Yeah, right. If I’m so anonymous, how did I find the stuff to begin with? Anyone that knows anything about what’s going on is going to know that I’m involved in it.”

  “You want to meet with her?”

  “I guess so.”

  “When?”

  “Sooner is better.”

  “Well, she and I are going to get body wraps at that new place tonight, so I can’t do it tonight, how about tomorrow for dinner?”

  “How come everything you do revolves around food or glamour?”

  “I is what I is Cara. Don’t mess with the formula if it’s working.”

  “Then how come you’re always trying to dress me up, and glam me up, and make me go to one of your houses of torture, oh, I mean, beauty?”

  “I said, if it’s working, don’t change it. Draw your own conclusion Dingleberry.”

  “You’re Dingleberry delusional today. Quit calling me that. Have fun getting mummified, call me tomorrow and tell me what’s going on.”

  “Will do.”

  “And Teagan?”

  “Hmmm…?”

  “Thanks.”

  “That’s what sisters are for.”

  Teagan out of the way, at least for today, I turned my attention to all things AJ. I was walking back toward my closet, to get into some eveningwear, when I remembered that he is a trollop-hugger, and that must be addressed before I can share something as personal and intimate as my eveningwear.

  I made myself a cup of tea and tried to decide just how I felt about seeing him with that girl. I tried to remember the body language and everything, but to be really honest, all I saw was him, and her, and his arm around her.

  There’s a huge part of me that thinks I should just keep my mouth shut and see if he says anything about it to me. There is an equally huge part of me that thinks I need to talk to him about this, because I don’t like playing games, and if I can’t be open and honest with AJ about everything, then what have we really got going anyway? Great sex. That would be about it. For some people, that might be enough, but I’m not some people. If I can’t have it all, relationship wise, I don’t want any.

  I could call Teagan back and see what she says.

  That’s probably a bad plan. She’s busy at work, and after work she is going to go get mummified.

  Mom wouldn’t be much help with this one. She’d go all Mom on me, and say if I were married to him, instead of just living with him, I wouldn’t have these problems, which isn’t true anyway, because if a guy is a trollop-hugger, he is gonna hug a trollop with or without a wedding ring.

  I guess I have to handle this one myself.

  I’ve got too many things on my plate. That’s the problem. I’m trying to do all this stuff, and getting none o
f it done. I’m just spinning in circles.

  I got out some paper and made a to-do list.

  Talk to the lawyer.

  The phone rang. Teagan. What could she want? Okay, so I sighed out loud, but she couldn’t hear me, and it really isn’t a sign of getting old, although, you get a lot more of those kinds of sighs from old people.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey, you busy tonight?”

  “I thought you and your lawyer were going to get mummified.”

  “We were, but my technician called and said they have this really special formula on sale tomorrow only, and only for loyal customers, so we are going tomorrow. I thought maybe we could come over tonight, since we are available and since she is doing this pro-bono.”

  “Free?”

  “Yep.”

  “I didn’t realize. Actually, I didn’t even think about it. Tonight is good. You want dinner? You want me to take you guys out to dinner? What time?”

  “No dinner, we are going to grab something on the way, but if you want to run out and get dessert, that would be good. Is AJ going to be home?”

  “I don’t know, why?”

  “Jessie asked. I think he needs help lifting something. They seem to have bonded.”

  “I’ll text him. Can you text me Jessie’s number and I’ll forward it.”

  “Done.”

  “What time?”

  “How about seven-thirty.”

  “Any requests for dessert?”

  “Nope, it’s pretty much just something to stuff our faces with when we are trying to think, sugar helps with that, doesn’t it?”

  “Got it, high octane. See you at seven-thirty. Thanks Teagan.”

  I texted back and forth with AJ for a while; it was decided he would be home late, he was going to help Jessie, then they were going to go out for a couple of beers.

  I told him to call me if he needed a ride. I have a real thing about drinking and driving; there is just no reason, and no excuse. He promised if he had more than one beer, he would call.

  I ran around the apartment, making sure everything was in its place. Refreshed my makeup and hair, and headed out to the grocery store to find the perfect high calorie dessert.