The Tea Shop Read online

  Abigail let her shoulders drop. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any right to cast my judgment on you.”

  “Sure you do. We’re sleeping together.”

  “We slept together.”

  “And I have all intentions to keep doing so,” he continued as he opened the containers, and handed her a pair of chopsticks. “This isn’t a fling. It’s not something laid out like a roadmap either. I know what you say you saw, but every day we make decisions that change the course we are on. So that’s how I choose to see all of this.”

  Abigail picked up a container and stirred the noodles around with the chopsticks. “Mrs. Winters said because she saw her husband and the path before them, that’s why she married him so quickly.”

  Carson slurped up a noodle from his container as he watched her from over the top of it. “You think we should get married?”

  “No. I just want you to know you’re not locked into anything. Just because I say I saw it, and Mrs. Winters saw it too, doesn’t mean you have to believe it or rush it.”

  “Then we’ll take our time.”

  Abigail set the container down and crossed her arms in front of her. “She was talking to Jeffery the other night when we were taking her out of her house.”

  That had him stopping his acquisition of the perfect bite and setting his container on the table. “She was talking to him? She didn’t just think I was him?”

  She shook her head. “She said he’s coming for her, and when she’s ready, she’ll go with him. Admittedly, she knows it sounds crazy, and that’s probably why she only told me about it. Carson, she’s not afraid.”

  “I am.”

  “Me too.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand. “Do you see anything when I hold your hand?”

  Abigail shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “And you think this is all some curse?”

  “Wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course I would. I don’t want to know everything. Okay, maybe lottery numbers.”

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Go with me tomorrow to see Mrs. Winters. She seems to embrace her gift. I want to understand it from that side.”

  Tears welled in Abigail’s eyes. “You’re willing to accept all of this? I’m living it, and I think I sound crazy.”

  “You already know I love you. Even if I didn’t say the words, you already knew. Love means I take time to understand what’s going on in your life. What has always gone on. It’s more than just the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when you sense a spider, Abi. It’s like a horrific gift. I want to understand it.”

  Abigail sniffed back the tears. “Oh, Carson, I think you already do.”

  Chapter 24

  Carson knew better than to go to the hospital to see Mrs. Winters without taking her a bouquet of roses, so he'd stopped on their way there. Her son had called and said she was in high spirits and ready to leave. They were holding her for one more day, just until they were sure she could go to the new facility where she'd live.

  Hearing that made Carson's heart ache. He knew that the health of some seniors declined when they were put into housing facilities, and it worried him that Mrs. Winters would give up on life. Though, he couldn't imagine her doing so. He'd never known anyone who embraced every part of life—the good and the bad.

  But, Abigail had said her time was almost up. She'd even said Mrs. Winters knew that too. Why wasn't he ready for it?

  Abigail reached for his hand as they sat in the car out in front of the hospital. He realized when she reached for his hand that he'd sat there too long thinking about what waited for them when they went in, and what waited for Mrs. Winters when she got out.

  "Are you going to be okay?" Abigail asked as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

  "When Jeffery died, his grandmother was my strength. She had her own kids to worry about, and the grief over her grandson. But she made sure I was okay. Over the past few years, we've grown very close. It's hard to know she won't be going home."

  Silence returned between them. Carson wondered if there would be calm for him when he saw Mrs. Winters. Would Jeffery be there? It was true, right? He believed Abigail and in her ability. Still sounded crazy in his head.

  Carson finally opened the car door, and Abigail followed suit. Hand in hand they walked into the hospital. They remained silent as they rode the elevator to the third floor, and walked to Mrs. Winters room.

  Glenn Winters, Jeffery's father, sat next to his mother's bed. They both had their attention directed toward the television. The movie they were watching was in black-and-white, a favorite pastime of Mrs. Winters.

  Glenn saw them at the door first and stood.

  "Carson," he said as he walked across the room shook his hand. "I was hoping I’d get to see you soon. I wanted to thank you for getting Mom out of that house. I'm eternally grateful to you."

  Carson felt the sting of his words in his chest. He wished they could have said the same thing to him years ago when Jeffery died. Though they never blamed him, Carson always felt guilty.

  "Glenn, this is Abigail Weston."

  Glenn didn't reach his hand out to shake hers. Instead, he pulled her in and hugged her tightly. "Mom has told me all about you. Thank you for going to her."

  He watched as the tears filled Abigail's eyes when he stepped back.

  Abigail wiped her cheeks. "I'm glad we got there in time."

  Glenn turned back to his mother. "I'm going to go get something to eat. I'll bring you back something," he promised.

  As he walked out of the room, he patted Carson on the shoulder.

  Carson moved to the bedside, and leaned in and kissed Mrs. Winters on the cheek. "How are you feeling?"

  "Cooped up. I'm ready to fly."

  Carson chuckled. "I'll bet you are. Can Abigail and I sit with you for a bit?"

  "Of course you can. Abigail, I'm very happy to see you."

  Abigail moved to her, kissed her on the cheek just as Carson had before. "I'm glad you're doing so well."

  He noticed that the kiss was quick, and she didn't touch her. Was she afraid of what she might see?

  Abigail sat in the chair next to the bed, and Carson took the chair on the other side. He wasn't even sure where to begin, but he needed a few answers for himself.

  He reached for Mrs. Winters' hand, and she smiled sweetly at him. "Ask your questions, sweetheart. You want to. You're confused."

  Carson noticed the smile that crept across Abigail's lips. He took a deep breath and thought about what he wanted to know.

  "I'm not sure where to begin," he said. "This is quite new to me. I've never given much thought to abilities like this. And I didn't know you had them."

  Mrs. Winters laughed. "Most people are close-minded. It's not something you talk about a lot."

  "So that day we met Abigail," he began as he shifted a glance towards her, "you knew everything about her. Didn't you?"

  "Oh, sweetheart, why do you think I wanted to go there?"

  Carson sat back and chuckled. "You've always amazed me."

  "And you me," Mrs. Winters replied. "It's not easy, Carson. I'm sure Abigail has shared that with you." She gave Abigail a kind smile, before turning her attention back to him. "Her gift is not getting a reading from you. My poor husband, he couldn't take a potato chip without me knowing. It was probably a curse for him as well."

  "It saved your life. All that matters," he admitted.

  Mrs. Winters shrugged as folding her hands over her stomach. "I'm glad you kids were there. I've never seen my demise in a fire. Just so you know, I'll just continue sleeping."

  Carson fisted his hands to keep them from shaking. He didn't want to know how she would die, or when.

  "Abigail told me you talk to Jeffery."

  The smile returned to Mrs. Winters dry lips. "Oh, yes, honey. He's comforted me for years. Of course, I would rather have had him here with
me all this time, but he has been waiting on the other side."

  "And that's why you don't talk about it, right? It does sound crazy."

  Mrs. Winters shrugged. "I'm much too old to care who thinks I'm crazy, Carson. But yes, that's why no one talks about it. And I knew his death traumatized you. You've never quite recovered. Abigail is here now, explore the future."

  Carson glanced toward Abigail, who sat very quietly in the chair. "I'm sorry I walked out. You need my support, emotionally. I'm sorry I ever even considered you had anything to do with Katie Meadows' death. Obviously, I'm not open-minded enough."

  He watched as Abigail brushed another tear from her cheek. "I'm not sure I am either," she admitted. "Until I met Mrs. Winters, I'd never known anyone else with such a gift. I don't want to see what will happen. I want to experience it."

  He reached his hand across the bed to take hers. "We'll experience it together," he promised.

  Mrs. Winters began to laugh. "Oh children, you make me very happy. Remember that the name Ellie is a great name for a little girl."

  Abigail pulled her hand back quickly as if Mrs. Winters had given her some deep information. Carson knew to laugh. The old woman's sense of humor was something you had to get used to.

  When Glenn reappeared at the door, he looked at his mother with a smile. "Good news, they’re coming to spring you."

  Mrs. Winters let out an exasperated sigh. "It's about damn time." She turned her head toward Abigail. "I'll be at your shop for our birthday. Carson said you'll join us, and I'm going to hold you to that."

  Abigail had tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "I look forward to that."

  She turned to leave the room as Carson gave Mrs. Winters another kiss on the cheek. But she raised her hand to his cheek and held him near. She studied him closely. "Your plans for the church are perfect. She will understand. There's no need to change."

  Carson processed the information for a moment. "Okay," he said, not truly understanding her comment. He had thought about redesigning it, but there had been no plans to go forward with it.

  He shook Glenn's hand and promised Mrs. Winters he would be there to pick her up for their birthday tea.

  Abigail waited just outside the room for him. He moved to her, placing his hands on her cheeks, and kissed her softly. "Thank you for coming. That woman is very special to me, and you are very special to her. I'm glad she saw us together."

  Abigail rested her hands on his shoulders. "I'm glad too."

  Chapter 25

  Carson sat at his desk, as he had most of the week, looking at the blueprints for the Ford Street church project. He couldn't get Mrs. Winters' words out of his head. What had she meant to go ahead, and Abigail would understand?

  They'd been living together for the past week, though not formally. They hadn't moved into one location, but they'd eaten dinner together and slept in the same bed each night. In the course of talking about work, they'd talked about his projects, but Abigail hadn't forced her opinion on him about the building at all. She listened, then steered the conversation to something else, but she didn't fight him or suggest anything to him.

  Was Mrs. Winters trying to tell him that he should just keep working on the project, that Abigail had stopped caring?

  He didn't believe that either.

  But he'd wanted to change it, just a bit. Carson had been working on keeping the footprint of the church intact. He'd even had the architect working on it, but it was going to cost more, since the building was in bad shape.

  He was concentrating so hard that he didn't notice anyone in his doorway until he heard them clear their throat.

  Carson lifted his head to see Abigail standing there with her hip against the doorjamb and a bottle of wine in her hand.

  "What are you doing?" Carson smiled as he leaned back in his chair.

  "I came to see if you could leave early for the day. I just received this gift from my parents, along with a very nice picnic basket."

  "What's the occasion?" He asked as she sauntered to his desk, and skirted around it to stand in front of him.

  "Six month anniversary of the tea shop."

  She stood in front of him, and he raised his hands to her hips. "Six months, huh? Amazing how successful you can be in half a year."

  Abigail smiled. "I didn't know all of this would happen when I moved here. I guess deep down inside I knew that the store would be a success, but I had no idea it would bring me you."

  Carson stood so that he could look her in the eye. "I'm so glad you came here with your dreams. Mrs. Winters would say it was fate."

  "I think it was," she said as she lifted to her toes and kissed him gently. "Can you leave?"

  Carson looked at the plans on his desk and thought about the proposal he needed to write up. "Sure. You don't celebrate successes like this every day. Let me clear off my desk."

  Abigail turned around and looked down at the blueprints. "The church?"

  "Yes."

  He watched as she studied it. Did she know what she was looking at? Did it all make sense?

  "There's a lot of planning that goes into this," she noted.

  He waited for a comment, but she didn't say a word. "Where should we go to celebrate?" he asked, which had her turning back to him.

  "My house has a living room and a couch where we could kick up our feet. We could even build a fire since it's a bit chilly out."

  "That sounds nice," he agreed as he brushed his fingers through her hair. "Right now, just time with you would be perfect."

  Carson pulled his hand from her hair and pressed it to her cheek, but as he moved in to kiss her, she gasped for air and jumped from his touch.

  Holding his hands up in surrender, he watched as she gasped for air, much like she did the night she woke when Mrs. Winters' house was on fire.

  "Abi. Honey, are you okay?"

  She bent, placing her hands flat on the desk until she caught her breath. He moved to help her back up, but she shook her head. "Don't touch me."

  "Okay," he agreed as he stepped back. "What did I do? What happened?"

  Abigail turned her head. Her eyes were glossy from tears that had pooled. "I don't know. You touched me, and I saw something, but I don't know what it was. It got dark. There was dust everywhere, and I couldn't breathe."

  "Is Mrs. Winters alright?" he asked, assuming she was still connected to her.

  "I think so. I don't think that had anything to do with her."

  "Maybe it has to do with my house. There's a lot of dust when I drywall or sand the floors."

  She took in a few more breaths before nodding in agreement. "Maybe. Make sure all your windows are open."

  "I will." He reached for her again, and she didn't react. "We're okay?"

  "Carson, I didn't like that. My chest hurts."

  "I'll take you to a hospital."

  She shook her head. "No. I'm not sick. I'm not hurt. But I've never seen anything from your touch, except that one time when someone wanted to go after you and hurt you."

  "You got me out of harm's way, remember?"

  "I know," she said pressing her hand to her chest. "But this time I couldn't see where you were or what was happening."

  "So you think that was me?"

  He watched as she searched for an answer. "I don't know. Will you drive me home? I don't think I can drive now."

  "Let me tell Emily and Mom that I'm leaving. There's nothing here that won't wait until Monday."

  Carson stood at the stove and waited for the water to boil in the teapot. Abigail had opted for a few minutes alone to take a hot bath while he started a fire and brewed some tea.

  He worried about what she'd seen when he touched her. No wonder she hated her sixth sense. Certainly, he didn't want anything to happen to him, but he didn't like what it did to her. That night when she woke up coughing as if she were in the fire with Mrs. Winters, that still played in his mind. How horrific. What did it do to her when she'd seen Katie Meadows dead in the ri
ver?

  The teapot whistled, stirring him from his thoughts as Abigail walked out of the bedroom, her thick, white robe wrapped around her. She sat down on the couch and pulled a quilt up over her. Whatever she'd seen when he touched her had shaken her, he saw it on her face as she stared at the fire.

  Carson poured each of them a cup of hot water and dropped in a tea bag. He wondered why she didn't have fancy tea at home, as she did at work. Perhaps the same reason he lived in a house that was in shambles. Work stayed at work for the most part.

  She looked up at him as he set the cups on the coffee table and then sat down next to her. "Did the bath help?"

  Abigail shrugged. "Did you call and check on Mrs. Winters? Nothing happened to her, right?"

  "She's fine. Her family is fine. She's adjusting to her new place very well, Glenn said."

  She nodded again. "I don't think we should see each other anymore," she said, and Carson had to take a moment to make sure he understood her correctly.

  "You what?"

  "It's too much. You're going to spend the rest of your life walking around on pins and needles with me. That's not fair to you. You deserve more than that. You need to go. You need to go now." Her voice rose as she spoke.

  "Abigail, I don't want to go. I want to stay here with you. I love you, and in case you forgot, you love me too."

  "It doesn't matter." She stood and moved away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. "You need to go on with your life. And I need to not be in it."

  "And from what I've heard, that's not the case," he offered as he stood.

  Abigail pushed her wet hair back from her face. "I'm making it how it is. If I can see the future, then I can change it. I got you out of the way once, and I can get you out again."

  He took a step toward her, but when she stepped back, he stopped. "So breaking up with me is going to make it all better? I don't see how."

  "It just is," she shouted as she turned her back to him. "Go. Go now."

  What was he supposed to do with this? There was no way in hell he was going to leave her like this. And he sure as hell wasn't ready to give up on her altogether. He loved her, damnit, and it wasn't going to end like this.