Orbra looked at her with a jaundiced expression, but merely asked, “What kind of tea do you like, then, Fiona?” Her tone made it sound as if someone who didn’t eat meat would have very strange taste when it came to tea.
“I don’t drink caffeine,” Fiona replied, prompting a disbelieving look from Diana and a raised brow from Orbra. “So something herbal, or maybe a rooibos?”
“Why don’t you give her that canela blend you’re trying out for fall, Orbra,” said a new voice behind them. “It’s herbal—like cinnamon— and it’s really good with the cardamom and cacao in it.”
“That sounds delicious,” Fiona said quickly. “A great combination.”
“Hi, Cherry,” said Ethan and Diana at the same time.
A slender, toned blond woman in her late sixties slipped into the last remaining chair. She was wearing workout clothing because she was the owner of the yoga studio and had probably just come from a class.
“I’ll have my usual after-vinyasa tea,” she told Orbra.
“So we’ve got one full tea set-up, extra no-meat sandwiches,” Orbra said, giving Fiona a side-eye, “an autumn specialty blend, a strong-brewed chai with lots of milk so it doesn’t taste like tea” —she gave Diana a quelling look— “and a silver needle tip brewed light, with almond milk on the side. What tea did you want, Ethan?”
“Oh, I’ll have whatever you recommend,” he replied with a big smile—thus making all the ladies at the table look bad, and himself taking the prize for “best customer.”
Fiona rolled her eyes, then re-introduced herself to Cherry as Orbra went off to put their order together. “We’ve met once or twice before.”
“Of course I remember you—you’re Ethan’s sister. The palm-reader. Good thing Iva’s not here—she’d flop her hand down on the table and ask for a reading right off.”
“Fiona’s going to be in Wicks Hollow a lot more often now,” Ethan said, and went on to explain briefly. “In fact, I told her she could stay at my cabin whenever she wants. So you’ll see a lot of her.”
“Her shop is that old place up on Violet Way? Oh, it’ll be wonderful to have someone tending to it again,” Cherry said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw it even open.”
“Iain’t never seen it open in ten years,” Maxine informed them. “And I drive by it all the time.”
“You do not,” Juanita said, shifting her bag so Bruce Banner’s carrier was on the deep windowsill next to her. “And I remember seeing it open a year ago—when there was that sesquicentennial celebration—”
“You don’t remember nothing,” Maxine told her. “I—”
“My niece just moved here from Philadelphia,” Cherry said in a voice designed to forestall anymore arguing. “Her name is Leslie, and she’s renovating Shenstone House—getting ready to turn it into a B&B.”
“’Bout time someone did something withthatplace,” Maxine announced. “Used to be a speakeasy, way back when, according to what my mother used to tell. And there’s that story about the missing jewels—”
“And the ghost,” Juanita put in, her pudgy fingers reaching for one of Maxine’s scones. “There’s always a ghost.”
Fiona glanced at Diana—the least likely person at the table to believe in ghosts—and was surprised that the other woman wasn’t scoffing at their pronouncements. Come to think of it, hadn’t Ethan mentioned something about a ghost at her house last summer?
“So,” Cherry went on with a smile at Fiona, “you’ll both be new business-owners here in Wicks Hollow. And she’s about your age too.”
“I’ll look forward to meeting her—but it’ll be at least a few weeks, maybe even a month, before I actually come into possession of the shop,” Fiona told them as Orbra wheeled up a tea cart laden with pots and cups and very fragrant tea.
“So what are you going to do about your job, anyway, Fi?” asked Ethan. “Thurston & Mills will be lost when you leave.”
Fiona grinned and began to systematically pull off the thirteen rings rings she habitually wore, letting them pile onto the cloth-covered table. “You know I can’t wait to quit. I’d give my notice next week if I was sure the shop would support me in the manner in which I’m accustomed.”
“I’m shocked at your restraint, Fiona.” Her brother grinned, looking up as Orbra placed a small pot with dainty pink flowers painted on it in front of him. “You change careers more often than those Kardashians change clothes, and I figured it was about that time for you to be making a switch anyway. How long have you been there? Eighteen months? Two years is about your max, isn’t it?”
“Twenty-five months last week, in fact,” Fiona told him haughtily. “I’ve been at Thurston & Mills for twenty-five months, which, yes, is a record for me—but they treat me wellandthey really do love me.”
“Who wouldn’t,” Ethan said in a teasing voice. “You’re so energetic and fun to be around, especially first thing in the morning—”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, I am looking forward to giving it a real go.”
“And there’s that hot blacksmith Declan Zyler who just moved to town,” Cherry put in. “Though I’m hoping he and my niece will hook up so I can live vicariously through her. You do like men, don’t you, Fiona?”
Fiona laughed as Orbra placed a cup in front of her. “I certainly do. Very much.”
