Page 25

Twenty-Five

VERA

···

It’s been quite a busy day for Vera, so busy in fact that she hasn’t had time to think about Millie’s strange texts. It was a good day, all in all. Her customers were a pleasant crowd, some of them regulars, the rest of them newcomers who heard about her from social media, and all of them were curious and respectful and wanted her to serve them tea based off her intuition, which is exactly how tea should be served—hot with a side of judgy but also motherly advice from Vera. Later tonight, Aimes will come over and spend the night here again, just so Vera isn’t alone. Vera rather likes having people staying over at her house. Makes for a really nice change.

She’s just drying the last of the teacups when there is a loud crash and the shop window seems to explode. A shard of glass whizzes across her forehead and she doesn’t even feel it slice into her skin, but a moment later her vision is darkened by blood.

“Oh,” she says. Stunned would be an understatement. Vera puts the dish drying rag to her forehead as the door flies open.

In walks the largest man she has ever seen in real life. He’s so tall that he actually has to lower his head as he enters, and seeing his hulking figure in her tiny shop brings the phrase “a bull in a china shop” to mind.

“My window seems to have broken,” Vera says. It is possible she might be somewhat shell-shocked.

“That would be because of the brick I flung through it,” the man says.

“I see.” She can’t help but shrink back as the man advances toward her. His gray eyes regard her in a cold, detached way. The kind of look a predator would give to its prey. “What do you want?”

“You’ve been snooping around, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” he growls. “You need to stop.”

This is actually a scenario that Vera has fantasized about, strangely enough. In her fantasies, a generic bad guy would storm into her teahouse, maybe to rob her or something or other, and through her wit and charm and motherly kindness, she would help him see the error of his ways. She would then brew some tea for him, and they would talk about where he went wrong in his life and how he can fix it, and over the years, he would come to see her as his mom and attribute every good thing in his life to Vera.

But real life is nothing like fantasy, and Vera finds that there is no wit or charm or motherly advice in her right now. All there is, is sharp animal terror. Her entire body shakes with it. “Okay,” she says. So simply, just like that, she’s rolled over and given in.

“And nothing happened here, you understand? We know where you live. We know where that cute little kid and the single mom live. Don’t fuck with us.” And with that, he storms out.

Vera sags against the wall, her breath coming out in a ragged whoosh. Dear Goddess of Mercy, did that really just happen? It was much less exciting and much more terrifying than she had expected. And now that the immediate shock and adrenaline rush is dying down, she can feel the painful cut on her forehead, and my goodness, it hurts.

“Aiya, Vera, are you okay?” someone cries.

“Winifred,” Vera says, still breathing hard.

“Ah! Your head! Come, sit down. Aiya.” Winifred helps Vera onto a chair. “Let me take a look.”

Vera winces as Winifred moves her hand aside.

“That will need stitches. I’ll call Tilly. Or maybe you need an ambulance?”

“Too expensive,” Vera says.

Winifred nods and calls Tilly, filling him in on what’s happened. All Vera can think is That man knows where Emma lives.

“Tilly will be here right away,” Winifred says. “What happened?”

“Someone threw a brick into my window. You didn’t hear it?”

Winifred shakes her head, and Vera is glad that Winifred is hard of hearing. Hopefully it means that Winifred didn’t see the man come into Vera’s teahouse. He knows where Emma lives. Vera is going to have to step very, very carefully.

“Does this have to do with the death you’re investigating?” Winifred says.

“Maybe,” Vera mutters.

“Vera, you need to stop snooping. You’re in danger! Oh, you poor thing.”

Winifred heats up some water, pours it into a bowl, and dips a clean napkin into it. “Let me clean you up a little, you look like a scene from a horror movie.”

Vera’s thoughts are a mess as Winifred dabs at her face. And soaring above the messy swirl is the awful thought that keeps pulsing at her: They know where Emma lives. The thought overwhelms her and she grabs her phone. She dials Julia’s number.

“Hey, Vera, what’s up?”

“Julia, you listen to me. You take Emma with you and get out of home. Go stay with Oliver.”

“Uh. What’s going on?”

“Just listen to me.”

In the background, Vera can hear Emma’s voice going, “Is that Grandma?” Vera takes in a shuddery breath. Oh, Emma.

“Are you caught up in something bad?” Julia says in a low voice. “Have you told Selena? Does this have something to do with that dead guy you’re looking into?”

“Julia,” Vera snaps. “Just listen to me and go, okay?”

Julia sighs. “Okay. For how long though?”

“I don’t know. But I will fix somehow.”

Winifred is staring at her with wide eyes as she hangs up the phone. “What did she say to you?” she says in Mandarin.

“None of your business.” She feels sorry for being so rude to Winifred, but she has no choice.

“Aiya! Look at you with blood pouring out of your head and me cleaning you up, literally cleaning up your mess, and you’re telling me it’s none of my business?”

Vera opens her mouth to argue, but just then, the door swings open and Tilly and Selena rush in.

“Oh my god, Ma!”

Selena takes one look at Vera and says, “We should get her to the hospital right now.”

They help Vera to her feet and lead her out of the teahouse. As Vera settles into the back seat of Selena’s car, she gazes out the window at her teahouse. Winifred stands at the door, wringing her hands.

“Don’t worry, I will lock up the shop,” Winifred calls out.

The shop, which has been Vera’s refuge for so long, no longer feels safe. She feels exposed, her every step watched. She sinks deeper into the seat, wondering if she’ll ever feel safe again.

···

The wound requires five stitches. Not too bad, all in all.

“It’s not actually too deep,” the doctor who stitches her up says. “Head wounds tend to show a lot of blood, so I know it looked alarming, but I think you’re going to have minimal scarring.”

Vera thanks him and sits there quietly for a bit, trying to gather her thoughts. Tilly is holding her hand and looking at her with such concern that she feels like a little kid. They drive home in silence.

Winifred has kindly swept away all of the broken glass on the floor, but still the shop feels cold and soulless, as though whatever friendly spirits had been there before have been scared away.

“I’ll help you pack your things,” Tilly says, helping her up the stairs. Vera doesn’t bother arguing with him this time.

When they finally get back to Tilly and Selena’s house, Vera feels like she’s aged by a decade. She has always enjoyed telling people she is a helpless old woman, but it is only now that she realizes what being a helpless old woman really feels like. She sits at the dining table and stares at her hands while Tilly cooks dinner and Selena gets the guest bedroom ready. He puts a big bowl of beef noodle soup in front of her.

“Here you go, Ma.” He sits next to her, and Selena on her other side, and they dig into the food.

Vera takes a small bite, then a bigger one. “This is very good.”

Tilly smiles. “You taught me how to make it, remember?”

“He has pots of homemade broth in the freezer,” Selena says.

Pride blooms in Vera’s chest, then quickly deflates when she recalls the horrible thought: That bad man knows where Emma lives.

Seeing the change in Vera’s expression, Selena puts her chopsticks down. “Okay, Vera, you’ve got to tell us what happened. Winifred said it was a hate crime. Did you see who did it?”

“I think we should give her some space,” Tilly says.

Selena’s mouth turns into a thin line. “Sorry. I just—this feels targeted. Especially taking into account the vandalism only a short while ago.”

Vera shakes her head. “I don’t know who did it. I didn’t see.”

Selena gives her a sharp look, and Vera’s scalp tingles. Selena is way too good at sensing bullshit.

“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me?” Selena leans forward. “Vera, if you know why this happened, you need to tell me right away. You were just assaulted, and—”

“Hey, come on,” Tilly says, and now there’s an edge in his voice. “Give her a break, okay?”

“I’m trying to help her.”

“You’re badgering her, so back off.”

“Badgering?” Selena says. “Don’t use your lawyer speak on me.”

“Don’t act like a cop with my mom.”

Oh no. Things have gone very, very wrong. “Stop arguing,” Vera says.

“We’re not arguing,” Tilly snaps.

“I’m gonna go for a jog,” Selena says, standing up abruptly.

Tilly rests his forehead on his hand as Selena leaves the table. Vera wishes she could disappear. What just happened? The argument started so quickly that she needs to replay it in her mind to catch up. The front door slams shut, making Vera jump.

“I’m sorry I cause trouble with you and Selena.”

“It’s fine.” Tilly sighs and picks up his chopsticks, gesturing at Vera to do the same. Then he lowers his chopsticks again. “Well, actually though, Ma, Selena had a point. I mean, she was being hard on you, but it’s because she’s been so worried about you. She’s a cop, she can sense when things are really bad, and I know she’s scared for your safety. I think that’s why she was coming on so strong tonight. What is going on?”

Tears sting the back of Vera’s eyes. The man had warned her about not telling anyone. But this is her son, surely she could tell him? But he’s living with a cop, and she knows that once she tells Tilly, he will definitely want to tell Selena, and Selena would want to make an official report, and then it would be a whole thing. But maybe this is the best course of action to protect Julia and Emma? But what about Millie?

Cold fear seeps through Vera. Millie. Oh no. Vera has been so distracted by everything that she’s forgotten about Millie. Where is Millie? What if, by coming clean about what’s happened, she puts Millie in danger?

“Ma?” Tilly says.

“I am very tired, I think I go to bed.”

Tilly sighs. “All right. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Vera goes into the guest bedroom and leans against the door. She takes out her phone and goes through the last few messages that she got from Millie.

A text message comes in.

Julia: Vera, Tilly told me about the incident. My god! Are u ok?? Does this have something to do with you telling me to go to Ollie’s??

Vera: I’m ok. Everything ok at Oliver’s?

Julia: Yes everything’s fine. Vera, WHAT IS GOING ON??

Vera: I tell you later, too complicated.

Vera goes back to the message thread with Millie. Now that she finally has a chance to go through them carefully, she sees how strange Millie’s messages are. They don’t sound like Millie. Could they be from the man who had attacked her? She taps on the Reply button and then sits there for a while, her thumbs hovering over the screen.

What should she say? For the first time since Vera can remember, she feels completely out of her depth. And even though she has fulfilled her dream—staying over at Tilly’s house—she feels so alone and so scared and so guilty. She has made a meal of this, hasn’t she? And all because she started snooping. Now she has endangered the people she loves most.

Noises from outside make her head snap up. She goes to the door and cracks it open. It seems Selena is back from her run. That was a short run , she thinks. I take longer walks, probably burn more calories. Then she scolds herself for having such a silly thought.

“Hey,” Tilly says.

“Hey,” Selena says.

Vera braces herself for a heated argument from the two of them, but instead, Tilly says, “I’m sorry about earlier. I was being an ass.”

Oh. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting. She smiles to herself. Good boy, Tilly.

“No, you were right, I was being hard on your mom.”

“It was coming from a good place.”

“Yeah, I’m just so worried about her. All of my police instincts are going insane.”

Tilly laughs a little. “Your Spidey senses are tingling?”

“Uh-uh, they’re not just tingling, they are screaming. She’s telling lie after lie, and it’s so obvious that she’s scared out of her mind, and oh my god, she is the most infuriating person I have ever come across, and I deal with hardened criminals every day. I think she’s gotten herself involved in something really dangerous. I don’t want her to get hurt. I mean”—Selena sighs—“she’s already gotten hurt. I don’t want her to get even more hurt.”

“I know. Trust me, I get the frustration of having to deal with my mother.”

Vera’s smile turns into a frown. What did he just say?

“How about this,” Tilly adds. “Give her a night to settle down, and then you can interrogate her in the morning?”

Another sigh. “Okay, I guess. She can’t get into more trouble tonight.”

“Will you forgive me for—”

“For being a lawyer?”

Tilly chuckles. “Yeah.”

“Maybe I can overlook tonight’s infraction.”

“Thank you.” There are smacking noises that Vera realizes are kissing sounds. She makes a face and closes the door gently. It’s one thing telling those two to make grandbabies; it’s quite another having to actually hear them.

In the quiet of her room, Vera studies the messages once more. She drafts a reply, then deletes it and drafts another. Everything feels wrong, every step feels precarious, like she is standing in the middle of a minefield. All alone.

Except she isn’t alone, is she? She’s just been so used to thinking that she is alone that sometimes, she fails to realize that she is far from alone now. Outside of this very room, in fact, there are two young people who care very much about her, and there’s the little group that has become her family, and there’s Aimes and TJ and Robin and Millie and Qiang Wen, who she can see are quickly becoming part of her circle, and if any of them were to have a problem, she would be annoyed—no, offended—if they didn’t reach out to her for help. Would they not feel the same way about her? And Selena is right to have her Spidey senses go off, because yes, Vera is way out of her depth. And she is going to do something about it. She isn’t going to revert to her old comfortable ways and isolate herself. Old dogs, it seems, can learn new tricks.