“Please interrupt. That chat with myself was going nowhere fast.”
Paul sat on the edge of the bed. “How’d you sleep?”
Tessa grunted. “I’ve been going through everything in my mind over and over again. I keep trying to come up with a way to convince Mrs. Steele that she’s making a mistake. But I’m coming up empty. No ideas, no fixes, nothing.”
“Let’s talk to someone who knows her better than we do.”
“Crazy Kate? She was there yesterday, and she didn’t offer any suggestions. She didn’t even speak to us the entire way back to her house.” Tessa sighed. “I’m not sure there’s anything she can do either.”
Paul tapped his finger to his chest. “I have a feeling this morning.”
“Is it indigestion?”
Paul’s grin made Tessa want to believe everything would be okay. “Get out of bed, Tess, and get a shower. I’ll make coffee.”
An hour later, Tessa and Paul were caffeinated and on their way back to Crazy Kate’s house. When they arrived at the cottage, Crazy Kate wore a floppy large-brimmed
sun hat and was bent over a flowerbed in the front yard, pulling weeds. She stood and tossed the weeds into a woven basket as Paul parked the car.
“Come inside,” she said. “No wonder I bought extra cheese from the store. I’m having guests for brunch.” Crazy Kate grabbed the basket and carried it around the side of the house.
Tessa and Paul followed her around to the backyard, and Tessa paused at the sight of the garden. Crazy Kate’s garden was a stunning display of colorful, vibrant, and organized chaos. Flowers, herbs, vegetables, and greenery spanned across at least half an acre. Tessa saw signs of the river waters having risen and stretched into the yard during the flood, but if there had been any major damage, it had been repaired already.
Crazy Kate left the woven basket by the back stoop, opened the door, and walked inside. She motioned for them to follow. She pointed toward the round kitchen table. “Have a seat. I’ll make tea first.”
“Not rosemary tea,” Tessa blurted out.
Crazy Kate looked over her shoulder at Tessa. “Something tamer, I agree. Honey and lavender.” She filled a kettle with water and then placed it on the stove. The gas burner clicked a few times before igniting. “I know you’re looking for answers, but I don’t have any.”
“There must besomethingyou know that could help,” Tessa said. “Anything. You know Mrs. Steele—”
“Knew. I don’t know the woman she is now. She’s had a good half a century of discontentment boiling in her veins.” Crazy Kate opened the refrigerator and pulled out a half-moon of blue cheese, a package of bacon, and a stick of butter. “For some questions, it’s best to have patience, and the answers will come to you.”
Tessa frowned. “But we don’t havetimeto wait for the answers. Mrs. Steele is going to have Honeysuckle Hollow demolished.”
Crazy Kate grabbed a cast-iron skillet from a lower cabinet and placed it on a burner. “What makes you so certain?” The teakettle whistled, and she removed it from the stove and placed a tea infuser full of loose tea leaves into the kettle.
Paul shifted in his chair. “You heard what she said yesterday.”
Crazy Kate nodded. She dropped a few slices of bacon into the skillet. “I’m curious about what she didn’t say.”
Tessa’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean?” She wanted Crazy Kate to help, not discuss vagaries. She kept thinking about Honeysuckle Hollow being razed. When she closed her eyes, she could already picture a line of people ordering greasy burgers and fries from Fat Betty’s. Clueless people would shuffle across a linoleum floor that was built on top of a priceless historical home.
Crazy Kate filled three cups with the steaming tea and brought two to the table. She placed a cup in front of Tessa. “It means you should drink your tea and wait and see what the day brings.”
Crazy Kate sandwiched soft blue cheese and cooked bacon between two pieces of butter-soaked bread and smashed it against the hot cast-iron skillet. Once the sandwiches were browned, she flipped them onto paper plates. Then she carried the grilled cheese sandwiches to the kitchen table.
“Thank you,” Paul said, taking the offered plate. “Smells great. Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked Crazy Kate.
“You two go down to the river and eat. There’s a bench where you can sit.” Tessa glanced at Paul in question, but Crazy Kate made a shooing motion with her hands. “Out. You two need to be outside where you can breathe and wait.”
Paul shrugged, and Tessa followed him outside and down to the river’s edge, where they found the wooden bench.
“That was weird,” Tessa said.
“Did you just call the town weirdo weird?” Paul joked.
She nudged him with her elbow. “I’m serious. We come to see her and talk about what to do, and she makes us sandwiches. And who, by the way, eats grilled cheese for brunch? Anyway, we’re here to see her, and she sends us outside to play like children.”
