Sheila Horgan - Green Tea (Fourth Book in the Tea Series)

GREEN TEA

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, businesses and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person is intended or implied.

GREEN TEA Copyright 2011 by Sheila Horgan. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, or distributed without the written permission of the author, with the exception of short quotes for purposes of review.

CHAPTER ONE

You want to go on Liams honeymoon with me?

Excuse me?

Cara, that seemed like a perfectly clear question.

Teagan, youre anything but clear these days.

If thats an attempt at humor because of my rash

Why would Liam and Morgan want us to go on their honeymoon? Im not even sure theyre taking Jordan, and Liam adores him, and hes Morgans one and only child. We arent that high on either ones list.

Not with them, with me.

Start at the beginning.

I won a cruise.

You did? Thats amazing. Congratulations.

Yeah, it was great till I called Jessie and found out that he cant go. Then I called Liam and Morgan and asked if they wanted to use the trip as a honeymoon and they declined. Now Im calling you. You want to go?

I feel so special. When everyone else turned you down, you came to me.

I havent asked everyone else. The advantage of coming from a large family is that I still have a long list of people I could invite, so if you dont want to come, say so and Ill ring the next person on my list.

Where?

Alaska.

When?

Well, thats the thing. Originally, the tickets were good for a year.

Well, then take Jessie when he gets back or gets unbusy or whatever.

I said, originally. Turns out theyve been sitting around for a while and were down to the last few weeks. My boss bought them at some charity thing thinking that he would bring his new wife, but she said theres no way that shes going toward cold. Shes a Floridian for a reason. If theyre going to cruise, theyre going to the islands.

Why didnt he just trade them in?

Well, turns out that the cruise line normally lets you do that, but something about these tickets makes them not turn-in-able.

Then how do you know theyre transferable?

Okay, you know what? I didnt call so that you could beat me up about the tickets. Do you want to go or not?

Id love to go. Ive never seen Alaska.

Me either. Im not sure exactly when were going to go, but since youre unemployed, I figured youd be open.

Not my fault that unemployment runs high in this state right now, and besides, Im not completely unemployed, I am alternately employed.

Youre the one that quit your job.

Ive been doing just fine thank you very much. Im making just as much money doing odd jobs here and there as I was working full time before.

Good. I really am glad. Were gonna need long johns I bet. Where do we even find those in Florida?

Im sure theyre available for the snow birds if nothing else or we can always buy them online.

True. Youre in charge of finding out what we need and finding out where we can get it.

Why me?

I have the tickets, a job, and Im in a piss-poor mood because Jessie is off with some woman I dont know instead of coming on the cruise with me.

Woman? What woman?

Ill tell you about it when Im not at work. Im not sure if Im pissed or hurt or just, I dont know.

You want to come over tonight? Ill cook.

I cant. Jessie and I are going to go out tonight. I want him to leave here with really good, bonding, know-Ill-track-your-ass-down thoughts of me.

That sounds really healthy. You dont need to visit with a mental health professional at all.

Thats what Im sayin. Ill call you tomorrow. Get busy with all things Alaska, figure out if we want to do any shore excursions, theyre not included with the tickets, price wise, but I have a gift card thingy that will pay for at least part.

Excursions? Anything youre particularly enamored of?

We could look for whales.

Teagan, I would love to see a whale in the wild.

They have boats that get really close.

Yeah, I saw that on the Internet, the big ol whale came crashing out of the water and hit the boat. I think it broke the mast. Poor whale.

Yeah, well, had I been on that boat Id have had a heart attack and died, then who would you be feeling sorry for?

The whale.

I should have known. Anyway, you can get close enough for the spray to hit you if you get on the right excursion.

Teagan, you do realize thats the whale blowing his nose on you. You get that right?

It is not.

Youd probably just think of that as one more skin treatment anyway.

Dont go there, Im still sensitive.

How is the rash from hell?

Mostly gone. I still have patches where my skin stays warm.

Eww, that doesnt sound good.

Its not.

Thats what Im trying to tell you.

What?

The whale, its snot.

Are you in 3rd grade or what?

Sorry, couldnt resist.

Oh, and Cara, I got a call from Steph, shes moving forward with the memory cards, she uploaded them and theres some pretty disturbing stuff, most of which is self-explanatory, but a few of the things are just weird. She works with an investigator and hes going to look into it a bit.

That sounds expensive.

Pro bono.

Why?

The investigators trying to get his new business off the ground and thinks that if he comes up with something really important itll be covered by all the media and that itll pay for itself with free advertising.

Great, my goal was to keep it quiet, not spread it around for free advertising.

According to Steph, theres no way this is going to stay quiet, she used words like salacious and degenerate and nefarious.

Crap.

Nothing we can do now, now its in the hands of karma and the universe.

Dont go all new age on me, it doesnt suit you. Great, now Im nervous all over again.

I would be too Cara. Ill talk to you tomorrow.

Oh, I need the details for the cruise so Ill know where we stop and everything.

Ill email all the stuff I have within the hour.

Did you think maybe Mom and Daddy might want to join you?

Well, its just for two, and I thought about just giving the tickets to Mom and Dad, but they said theyre all about Ireland.

So, I was closer to the bottom of the list than I thought?

Cara, you know how it works, were a big family, were all loved just the same.

Yeah, right. But still, there is a pecking order.

I wouldnt say that, Id say that due to circumstances, you are blessed to be accompanying your favorite sister on an adventure to Alaska.

Thats why they pay you the big bucks, you can make anything sound good.

True, you should hear how I describe you.

Shut up. Thanks. And good bye.

So, with Steph, Teagans lawyer friend looking into the memory cards that we found at Louiss, Louis being the ex-cop maybe turned bad guy or maybe killed for being a good guy, does that mean that I officially have one less thing on my plate or with the call from Teagan about going to Alaska, do I have one more thing on my plate?

Either way, its time to start clearing some of that stuff off.

I texted AJ to see if he needed me at the photography studio. Im not convinced that working for your boyfriend is a good idea, even if its only part time and I need the money. Truth be told, Im not even sure I can justifiably call him my boyfriend, but calling him the guy I live with and have sex with is too many words and besides, my mother would kill me. We havent defined our relationship yet, but that doesnt mean we dont have one, after all, he has accidentally, or maybe it was on purpose, told me he loves me, and that means something.