The desire to find out was gnawing at her. Part of her said she had a right to ask, and the other part said she might not want to know. She didn’t really want to discuss it with her sponsor, because any normal woman would caution her or tell her to confront him.
Claudia knew Anthony was a good man and had dismissed the suspicions that rolled unbidden through her brain. Anyone who didn’t know him might think the worst—like maybe he had a family in the suburbs.
A knock at the door disrupted Claudia’s musings. The shop wasn’t due to open for another fifteen minutes, but she was grateful for the distraction.
Peeking through the window, she could see the top of Sadie’s gray head. Her braids were wrapped Gretel-style across her crown. Claudia had almost forgotten that Anthony’s aunt would be arriving a few minutes early to set up her table where she’d read tea leaves.
Claudia welcomed Sadie inside. The elderly woman hugged Claudia and smiled.
“How are you? I’ve missed your calming presence.”
Claudia chuckled. “I’ve missed yours too.” It was good to see Sadie’s familiar face. Claudia hadn’t realized until that moment how important a role the old woman had in the bar before, and she’d bet Sadie would become a fixture in the new business as well.
She watched Sadie wend her way through the tables to the one in the farthest corner. Sadie put her satchel down on the floor beside it. “Is it all right if I pull this one slightly farther away from the others to give my customers a bit of privacy?”
“Of course. Can I help?” Claudia quickly made her way over to the corner table, pulled out the chairs, and grasped one side of the table.
“Just a foot or so toward the back should be fine.”
When they’d rearranged the back corner, Sadie set her hands on her hips and surveyed the whole room. “It looks lovely. Are you sure you don’t mind my throwing off the arrangement like this?”
Claudia laughed. “The day I become so anal that I can’t tolerate a table being moved a few feet is the day I should hang up my apron.”
Sadie looked her up and down. “But you’re not wearing an apron. Come to think of it, aren’t you afraid you’ll spill something on that gorgeous purple dress?”
“That’s what dry cleaners are for. Really, Sadie,” she teased. “Priorities.”
Sadie settled into her chair. “And what are your priorities, dear?”
That took her by surprise. Was she being serious? “What do you mean? I was just joking about fashion taking precedence over practicality—although I’m not going to wear an apron. I want the atmosphere to be like a home where I’m the hostess and the customers are my guests.”
“Can you handle all that by yourself?”
“I prefer being busy to being idle.”
Sadie nodded. “Is that what your sponsor told you?”
Claudia’s jaw dropped. Anthony wouldn’t have told anyone she was in AA, would he? Didn’t everyone know what those letters stood for? Particularly the second A for “anonymous”?
“I can see I surprised you,” Sadie said. “And before you ask…no, Anthony didn’t tell me.”
Claudia slowly lowered herself into the chair opposite. “You knew that because you’re psychic?”
Sadie chuckled. “No. I knew that because I saw you going into the Sacred Heart Church’s basement entrance one Sunday evening. Then I got my psychic flash.”
“Oh.” Claudia felt her cheeks heat and she hung her head.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I’m proud of you. You’re doing what you need to do to take care of yourself.”
“I’m not exactly embarrassed. More like ashamed. I had no business working in a bar for so long.”
“Did you drink the profits?”
“Of course not!”
“Then you have nothing to be ashamed of. Anthony wouldn’t have trusted you with his business if you weren’t doing your job. And now he’s trusting you again.”
“That’s just it. Somehow I managed to work sober, but when I got home I’d drink the rest of the night away.”
“And now you have something better to do with your evenings.”
Claudia gave Sadie a grateful smile. “Yes, I do.”
“I still worry about you.”
Claudia’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know whether to be insulted or just accept that people would be concerned for a while. Maybe Sadie was just honest enough to say it out loud.
“But not for the reason you think,” Sadie added. “I knew you and Anthony were fighting a growing attraction to each other. I figured it would only be a matter of time before Ruxandra discovered it.”
Claudia groaned and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what to do about her.”
Sadie reached across the table and took Claudia’s hand. “Let Anthony handle her. It’s the only way.”
The little bells over the front door tinkled, letting the women know they had a customer.
Before Sadie let go of Claudia’s hand, she whispered, “Good luck, dear. I’m here if you need me for anything.”
Trepidation that Claudia hadn’t felt earlier suddenly enveloped her…until she looked over to see who had come through the door.
“Brandee! Angie!” She rushed over to her first customers. They had been her employees at the old bar, and now she thought of them as dear friends.
Things might work out okay after all.
Chapter 6
Claudia hugged Angie and Brandee in turn, then invited them to sit anywhere. She took two square menus over to them and grinned like an idiot. Realizing they needed a minute to look at the offerings, she flitted off to the cash register.
The little bells tinkled over the door again and a woman she didn’t recognize entered. She was dressed like a Victorian lady in a long dress full of lace and ruffles. A huge, foppish hat covered in flowers and vines partially hid her face.
“Um… Welcome to the Boston Uncommon Tea Room. Sit anywhere you like,” Claudia said brightly.
The hat nodded.
As the woman found a table, Claudia grabbed a menu and followed her.
Brandee looked up and caught sight of the woman, and her eyes rounded, as if she were ducking school and about to get caught. She tried to hide her face behind the nine-by-nine-inch card.
Hmmm…I wonder what that’s about.
Just as Claudia was about to hand the woman her menu, the bells over the door tinkled again. In came more familiar faces. She grinned and waved to Kurt and Tory.
“I’ll be right back to take your order,” she said to the stranger.
The woman held up one finger. “No need to rush off and come back. I know what I want.”
“Oh. Of course. What’ll it be?” Claudia said as if still in the bar, but then gave herself a little mental slap upside the head. Reach back to your refined upbringing, dumbass. Her casual manner must have come from seeing the old bar’s regulars walk in.
“I’d like the raspberry and chocolate scone with Devonshire cream and a small pot of Darjeeling tea.”
“Wonderful choice,” Claudia said. As she jotted down the order and strode toward the kitchen, she wondered how the woman had managed to order something on the menu without even reading it. That’s weird. Maybe every tea house offers those items. She made a mental note to ask Chris to come up with some signature offerings.
“Sit anywhere you like, guys,” she tossed over her shoulder. Kurt and Tory headed right over to Angie and Brandee, taking the table beside them.
It seemed like old home week when Claudia returned. The guys were chatting with the girls, and Sadie stood between the tables with her hands on Tory’s and Angie’s shoulders. Claudia hated to break up the animated conversation, but she didn’t want to ignore customers, either.