Page 6 of Welcome to Ero-TEA-Ca: We’re Open!

Cassandra

T hree and a half hours. Surely that was enough time for the local council to have read Cass’s email and responded.

Obviously not. How irritating. Clearly, Cass’s concerns were worth a quick response.

They couldn’t ignore drug use, right? As if she believed Nabi The Hippy and all that nonsense about connecting with the shop’s energy.

Puuuleeasse! She was on wacky baccy, for sure.

“Cass, if you’re just going to stand there scowling, can you bugger off to the back?”

“I’m not scowling. I’m waiting.”

“I can’t believe you sent an email.”

“I can’t believe I waited so long. Drugs, Ken. Drugs. I knew the shop was a bad idea. Can you imagine the clientele they’ll attract? Not on my watch.”

“Please stop. Seriously, Cass. If there really is a drug issue, the council will sort it out. I don’t want you getting involved. Whether you like it or not, the tea shop is here for the foreseeable future. We need to be civil.”

“Kendal, I’m always civil.” Cass didn’t appreciate the snort or the slap on the back.

Brushing off Kendal, Cass did a sweep of the café, clearing tables and chatting with the regulars. The dinner rush was over, and the late afternoon lull was in full force. They had an hour or so until the workaholics came in to refuel their fried brains.

Time for a cup of coffee.

Cass had just poured herself a shot when the doorbell rang.

Setting her espresso to one side, she turned, ready to take the order.

Huh, it was the woman from earlier. Cass remembered her because she was momentarily distracted from her high horse.

The woman was clearly younger by several years—maybe ten.

Her hair was sunshine, as was her smile.

Wow, it had been a few years since anyone had caught Cass’s attention for even a second.

Why was she back? Was she a coffee nut like Cass? Or had there been a problem with her coffee? Cass scoffed. No way. The Oxford Beanery only served Grade A coffee. Could the pastry have been soggy?

“Hi,” the woman said, causing Cass to jump.

Clearing her throat, Cass put on her best smile that she hoped didn’t come across as a grimace. “Welcome to The Oxford Beanery. What can I get you?”

She watched the woman shuffle from foot to foot. “Oh. Um…nothing actually. I was hoping I could speak to you. You’re the owner, right?”

“Yes, I own the café. What can I help you with?”

“My name is Harriet Kirkwell.”

“Cassandra Beaufort.”

“Right. So, this is awkward. I’m the owner of Ero-Tea-Ca. I’m your new neighbour.”

Well, shit.

“What can I do for you?” Cass repeated in a monotone voice.

Harriet placed a box on the counter. “I brought you some tea as a way of apology. I understand my tardiness this morning meant the moving van was in the way of your shop and also caused some potential safety issues. I truly am sorry. I was supposed to get here super early and get all the boxes in the shop before you opened. I also want to apologise for the smell that wafted through to your stockroom. Nabi, my best friend and employee, was burning sage and several other herbs.”

So, Harriet was sticking with the same story as Nabi. No doubt she wanted to stop any investigation from happening. “Likely story,” Cass mumbled. “I don’t need tea, Ms Kirkwell. As you can see, I only serve coffee.”

“I know that.” Harriet chuckled. “The box is for you. It aids sleep.”

“I sleep just fine, thank you. Even better when the council launches an investigation into drug use in your shop. That and the fact I’m positive your employee is living in your back room.”

Harriet looked panicked. Good. “I promise, no drugs are being consumed on my property. Nabi doesn’t live in the back either. She has a lovely house.”

Crossing her arms, Cass huffed. “That’s for the council to decide.”

“You already contacted them?” Harriet asked in a high voice.

“Oh, hey, you’re back. Enjoy the coffee that much, huh?

” Kendal called as she pushed through the door from the office.

Cass watched Harriet shift her pale face to Kendal.

She tried to put on a smile, but it didn’t really work.

Cass faltered. Was she being too harsh? Then she remembered this woman was opening a sex shop next door, and that concern flitted away pretty damn fast.

“Hello,” Harriet stammered. “I just came to introduce myself to Cassandra. I’m opening the tea shop next door.”

Of course, Kendal had the complete opposite reaction to Cass. Sometimes Cass swore her ex-wife did it on purpose just to wind her up. Instead of the scorn Harriet deserved for opening an inappropriate shop in their respectable street, Kendal’s eyes lit up.

“Oh my God, hi. Why didn’t you say something earlier? I’m Kendal, co-owner of The Beanery. I’m so happy to meet you and I can’t wait to visit your shop. What a unique idea. I’d love to talk more. Maybe you could come over for coffee when we close?”

“Kendal,” Cass growled.

Harriet looked suitably uncomfortable. Hopefully, she’d just leave. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, but thank you,” Harriet replied, her eyes flitting between Cass and Kendal.

Kendal squinted her eyes at Cass. “Well, if you change your mind, just pop by.”

“Have a lovely rest of your day. Um, bye.” And then the ray of sunshine left…a little dimmer than when she arrived. A thread of something tugged on Cass’s heart. She wasn’t a bitch—really, she wasn’t—but there was a time and place for things, and that shop, on this street, was neither.

“I’m going to fill in the rota,” Cass said before she inevitably got an earful from Kendal.

Her peace and quiet lasted three minutes. Kendal shattered it by banging open the door and launching the box of tea Harriet left on the counter. “You are an arse, Cassandra Beaufort.”

“Ow, Christ, Ken, you hit me in the eye!”

“Good! What in the ever-loving fuck was that?”

“Do you have to swear?”

“Yes, you lunatic. That poor woman came in here offering an olive branch and you were awful. No way this is just about her shop. What the hell has gotten into you?”

“It is about the shop. It’s about decency and keeping some decorum in the world. She could open up her porn shop anywhere! Why here?”

Kendal shrieked in frustration. It reminded Cass of one of their countless arguments over the years. “It doesn’t matter, Cass. It’s none of your business. You certainly don’t have the right to bully the woman.”

“Who the hell is bullying? I simply did my civic duty and reported unlawful behaviour.”

“Unlawful my arse. You couldn’t wait to report them, because for some reason that is beyond my understanding, you’ve become overly upset over another business that, in reality, is very unlikely to affect you, me, and the café negatively.

In fact, I’d be so bold as to say they will attract new people to the area. ”

“The wrong kind of people,” Cass shot.

“Oh, wow,” Kendal scoffed. “This is a new level of shit, Cass. Since when did you become such a snob?”

“Why is it so wrong to want to uphold a certain level of propriety?”

“Are you hearing yourself? I can’t listen to this anymore.

” Kendal stormed back out, slamming the office door.

Heat rushed up Cass’s neck. She hated arguing with Kendal.

It reminded her of their worst times, which then reminded her of how she had failed.

The only thing Cass succeeded at was the café. She couldn’t let anyone taint that.

“Mr Whiskers, it’s not dinner time yet. Young man, I will not allow you to manipulate me.

” She was definitely going to be manipulated, and Mr Whiskers would get two dinners.

At least he would be happy to be around her.

Kendal had cancelled their usual Friday night dinner because she was still angry.

Cass let her hair down and ran her fingers through it. She was getting a stress headache. It wasn’t the ponytail; she knew that. It was the entire day and the lingering doubts she’d gone a step too far. Was Kendal right?

A bing drew her attention away from her darkening thoughts. Cass sucked in a breath when she saw it was from Roger at the council. Nibbling her lip, she opened it. After reading the email three times, Cass was both pissed and relieved.

The council couldn’t do anything without a police report. The police! Cass felt a cold sweat start at the base of her spine. Reporting Nabi and her possible weed-huffing ways was one thing. Involving the police, quite another, especially if Cass was wrong.

The next part of the email explained in detail how the council was fully aware of Harriet’s business plan, and they didn’t intend to reverse their decision allowing Ero-Tea-Ca to open.

Well, that was that then, unless Cass decided to take her complaint to the police, which she didn’t think Kendal would ever forgive her for if she did.

“So, Mr Whiskers, it looks like the naughty tea shop is opening. I still don’t like it, but what else can I do?

” Mr Whiskers, unsurprisingly, didn’t answer.

In fact, he turned his back and sauntered off to his scratch post. Cass wouldn’t get any more attention from him until she held up her end of the deal of putting food in his bowl.

Sticking a frozen pizza in the oven, Cass paced through every room on the ground floor. She was irritable and didn’t know what to do with herself. She needed to talk to Kendal and make amends.

She’d done a lot of work on herself since their divorce, mainly on communicating, which had been a big reason they’d ended up splitting.

Kendal was Cass’s rock. Her ex-wife might be angry at her and not understand her point of view, but they were best friends and owned a business together.

They couldn’t go days without talking. At least Cass couldn’t.

She needed to clear the air, otherwise she wouldn’t be sleeping.

“Kendal, please don’t put the phone down,” Cass shot as soon as the line connected.

“I need some space, Cass. Today was a lot. You were a lot, and I don’t say that lightly.”

“I know. But please talk to me.”

“What’s there to say?”

“I got an answer from the council.”

“Jesus, Cass, you’re still on that?”

“No. They said I’d have to report my suspicions to the police.”

“Cass, I swear—”

“I’m not going to do that, Ken. I promise.”

“I should hope not. You owe Harriet an apology. You’ve made her first day on the street awful. I can’t get the look of panic she had all over her face out of my mind, Cass. We don’t do that to people. We both know better. Or I thought we did.”

Great. Big swirls of guilt swam in Cass’s stomach. She could see Harriet’s ashen face, clear as day. “I…I really thought there were drugs, Ken.”

“You were looking for something, Cass. You need to work through whatever’s going on with you, but leave Harriet and her business out of it, okay?”

“Fine. I still don’t think an erotic tea shop is right for the street, but I promise I won’t actively try and harm her business. Time will tell, I guess.”

“Did you put a pizza in the oven?”

“Maybe.”

Cass heard shuffling and a few expletives. “I’m coming over, okay?”

“Okay,” Cass replied with a smile. Her world was righting itself, thank God.

“We can discuss how you’re going to grovel to Harriet. See you soon.”

Cass laid her head against the closest kitchen cabinet and banged it repeatedly on the wood.

As much work as she’d done on communication, Cass still sucked at admitting when she was wrong—even though she wasn’t completely convinced she was wrong…

not entirely. Either way, she had to apologise to Harriet.

“But I’m not apologising for my opinion. The shop is still incompatible with the street,” she uttered to the room.

Twenty minutes and one boiling-hot pizza later, Cass sat silently as Kendal eyed her. “So?”

“So?”

“Cass, don’t act dense. How are you going to apologise?”

Cass ruffled her hair. “Um, how about a note?”

Kendal dropped her piece of pizza, picked up a napkin, and wiped her mouth. “Try again. You reported her to the council. Do better.”

“Right. I…I could give her a bag of our best beans. You know, in reciprocation to her for giving me tea.”

“That would be nice. Also, maybe apologise to Nabi. She might not be the owner, but you accused her of using drugs and living in the shop.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Cass poked at her last bit of food. Tomorrow was going to be painful.

“Cass, what’s this really about?”

“I’ve told you.”

“Yeah, and I don’t buy it.”

Curse her overactive tear ducts. Cass could feel her eyes welling up. “Dammit,” she grumbled, swiping her face as fast as she could.

“Tears? Come on, Cass, it’s me. Talk to me.”

“The café can’t fail, Ken,” Cassie burst. “Opening up such a controversial shop next door to us could tarnish the café. It’s the only thing I’ve done right, and I can’t lose it!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where’s this coming from? What have you failed at?”

Cass glared at her ex in astonishment. “What do you think?”

“Cassandra, you can’t mean us?”

Cass shrugged. “I mean, it’s true, right? I couldn’t change to give you a life you wanted, and we divorced.”

“Sweetie, we wanted something different. And neither of us should’ve had to compromise on something so big. We talked through this in therapy.”

“Maybe I’m just hormonal.” Cass chuckled.

“Well, you’re old enough to be pre-menopausal,” Kendal sassed.

“I’m forty-one!”

“Your mum was young when she started.”

“I hate you know that about her.”

Kendal laughed. “She sure shared a lot of detail.”

Cass screwed up her nose. “God, didn’t she just.”

Kendal smiled softly. “Cassandra. Whatever you’re going through, you have me, okay?

You’re my person, even if we aren’t married.

And because I’m your person, I get to tell you to chill the hell out about the café.

We have a great business, and nothing will screw it up.

Well, maybe if you piss off all the owners and they kill you and bury you under the outside terrace… ”

Cass grinned. “Thanks, Ken. I needed this.”

“Anytime. But please promise to just stay out of Harriet’s way. You don’t have to agree with Ero-Tea-Ca, but you can’t undermine her business. It’s her life, like The Beanery is ours.”

Cass patted Kendal’s hand. “I promise. I’ll make things right in the morning and then I’ll mind my own business.”