Agony of the Leaves: Tea Shop Mystery #13 (17 page)

“Theo,” Haley burbled on, “I want you to meet Helen and Andrea. These two ladies are planning to open a tea shop in Florence.” Florence was amedium-sized town some two hundred miles north of Charleston.

“Nice to meet you,” said Theodosia. “And best of luck to you.”

“Thank you,” said Helen, who looked at her expectantly. “Haley was just pitching us on the idea of buying some of your tea blends in bulk.”

“For brewing in our tea shop,” added Andrea. “And, I guess, retailing, too.”

Haley jumped in again. “Like I mentioned before, our tea master, Drayton Conneley, really knows his tea. He worked for a tea wholesaler in London and has even attended several of the tea auctions in Amsterdam.”

“Tea auctions?” said Andrea. This was news to her.

“Oh yeah,” said Haley. “Amsterdam is pretty much where all the world’s tea is bought and sold. That’s where the best tea leaves are bought by the pickiest tea companies. Then what’s left over, the dust and dregs and things, is snapped up by the tea bag companies.”

“That’s how it works?” said Helen. “I had no idea.”

“Tell you what,” said Haley, “take one of our brochures and think about it.”

“And if you’re interested in retailing your own brand of tea, we can help you with private labeling,” said Theodosia.

“Sounds good,” said Helen.

“And call if you have questions,” Theodosia added. “We’re always happy to help out fellow tea shop owners.”

“Hey,” Haley said to Theodosia, as the two women wandered off, “what do you think of our booth?”

“Looks great,” said Theodosia. “And it would appear you’ve been fairly busy.”

“Aw, not so much,” said Haley, “it’s only the first day. I think tomorrow will be the biggie.” She pushed herstick-straight hair behind her ears. “I didn’t think you’d show up quite this early.”

“I thought you might be anxious to head back to the Indigo Tea Shop,” said Theodosia.

“I am,” said Haley, “since we’ve got the Broad Street Garden Club coming in at noon.”

Theodosia glanced at her watch. “What time is Jenny supposed to take over?” Jenny Hartley was a friend of Haley’s who was going to man the tea booth until Haley could come back in midafternoon.

“She should be here around ten, ten thirty,” said Haley. “Think you can hold out until then?”

“I’ll do my best,” said Theodosia.

“Oh, hey,” said Haley, “I already wrote up a couple of orders for our Vanilla Honey Blend.” Vanilla Honey Blend was one of Drayton’s house blends that combined white tea from China’s Fujian province with hints of vanilla and honey. “Isn’t it neat,” Haley continued, “how giving out free samples really helps?”

“Yes, it does help,” said Theodosia, who’d logged several years as a marketing executive before she’d left thathurly-burly 24/7 world to run a tea shop.

Theodosia slipped behind the table then and took over the booth. She handed out samples, greeted a few tea vendors she knew, and tried to look friendly and approachable as retailers streamed past. She wasn’t sure how beneficial this booth would prove to be, but she was anxious to test the results. After all, tea drinking was still growing by leaps and bounds and she had almost two dozen house blends she could retail. To say nothing of her T-Bath products. In this tight economy, every little bit helped when it came to fluffing up the bottom line.

“Well, Theo-
do
-sia,” brayed Peaches Pafford. She sidled
up to the booth and gazed around. “I didn’t expect to find
you
here. And manning your own little booth at that.” Peaches’s laugh was almost a snicker. “Aren’t you just the eager beaver little entrepreneur.”

Theodosia, who’d been explaining the difference betweenfirst-flush andsecond-flush Darjeeling to a potential customer, stopped what she was doing and took a long, hard look at Peaches.
What is she doing here? Besides interrupting me?

Peaches, meanwhile, jabbed an index finger at a tin of Indian spice tea. “Indian spice,” she said loudly, “does that mean it’s genuinely spicy or just fruity?”

“Excuse me,” Theodosia said to her customer, then turned to deal with the disruptive Peaches. “Peaches? Is there something I can help you with?” Her tone was cool and the subtext of her question was,
Why are you being so rude?

As if Peaches knew what Theodosia was really asking, she said, “And do you have chocolate tea also?”

Theodosia sighed inwardly as she stared at Peaches. Today Peaches was wearing a pink pantsuit with her slightly pinkish hair lacquered into a lazy swirl. Somewhere, in the back of Theodosia’s brain, was a fuzzy memory of a character named Strawberry Shortcake.

“Chocolate tea?” Peaches said again.

“Um, you’re planning to serve chocolate tea at one of yourfour-star restaurants?” It was all Theodosia could come up with at the moment.

Peaches let loose a throaty laugh. “No, silly. I’m thinking seriously about expanding my company and opening a patisserie.” She hesitated. “Among other things.”

“Really,” said Theodosia.
Now what does she have up her proverbial sleeve?

Peaches assumed a pussycat grin. “I was thinking of calling my patisserie Bittersweet.” She tapped a tin of tea with a manicured forefinger. “You like that name?”

“Sure,” said Theodosia, with just enough enthusiasm to remain polite. “It’s a great name.”

Peaches rattled on. “Like I said, it would be a strictlyParisian-style patisserie. And with a name like Bittersweet, we’d no doubt serve indulgences like chocolate walnut bread, chocolate velvet brownies, chocolate latte scones, and even chocolate biscotti.” She paused. “Who knows? If I get Bittersweet off the ground we might even have to enter the chocolatier contest.”

“Which Haley recently won,” said Theodosia.

“Oh, did she?” said Peaches, making a big show of not knowing. But, of course, she really did know.

“Anything I can do to help,” said Theodosia, moving away from Peaches, “be sure to let me know.”

Peaches waggled her fingers. “Oh, I will, dear. I will.”

Thirty minutes later
, Jenny showed up and Theodosia was quite happy to relinquish her apron as well as her booth duties.

“You’ll be okay?” Theodosia asked Jenny. “Haley briefed you?”

“She did,” said Jenny. “But I’m pretty much an old hand at this. I worked the exotic food show at Johnson and Wales last year.”

“Then you know your stuff,” said Theodosia.

“To be honest,” said Jenny, “I was the one who kind of coached Haley on how to handle this booth.”

“Blessings on your head, then,” said Theodosia, happy to be free, “because you know what you’re doing.” She ducked down another row of booths, hoping for a final quick look before she headed back to the tea shop.

But rounding the corner by the India Tea Producers booth, she hit a wall of people who seemed to be going nowhere fast. And from the steamy, malty aroma permeating
the air, Theodosia figured they were lined up for a taste of Assam. So Theodosia jigged left and, as if things weren’t weird enough in her life, ransmack-dab into Lyle Manship.

“You!” she cried, rearing back. Manship was pretty much the last person she expected to see here.

It took Manship a few seconds to recognize her. Then he said, “And you. Tea lady. We meet again.”

“I didn’t know you were a coffee and tea aficionado,” she said.

“I’m not,” he told her. “Truth be told, I’d rather hoist a good glass of Bordeaux or a tumbler of Jameson. But my café, Violet’s, has definitely moved in the direction of gourmet coffees and teas, so I have to stay on top of things.” He shrugged. “It’s what the market is asking for.”

“Yes,” said Theodosia. “The market.”

Manship squinted at her, as if he were sizing her up for something, then said, “You know a lot about tea, huh?”

“A fair amount,” she said. “Although there are endless varieties and blends, so it seems I’m constantly learning something new.”

“Then I might have an interesting proposition for you,” said Manship.

Theodosia looked askance. “What’s that?”

“Would you ever consider leading a tea cruise?” Manship asked. He held up his hand and said, “Before you answer that, let me explain a little bit.”

“Okay.”

“I have a friend who runs a small cruise ship line out of Miami. Insignia Cruises? Maybe you’ve heard of them?”

“Not really,” said Theodosia. The only time she ever paid attention to cruise ships was when one of them made national news. When all the passengers came down with some weird influenza or when someone, often a newlywed for some odd reason, took a dive over the railing never to be heard from again.

“Insignia Cruises,” Manship explained, “hassmaller-capacity ships and actually
themes
its various voyages. You know, shopping cruises, bridge tournament cruises…”

“And tea cruises,” said Theodosia.

“That’s it,” said Manship. “Their ports of call tend to be places like George Town in Grand Cayman or Nassau in the Bahamas. Major shopping ports especially geared toward the ladies, who tend to go a little gaga over all thatduty-free shopping.”

“Isn’t Grand Cayman big with offshore banking?” Theodosia asked him.

Manship shrugged. “There’s that, too.” He rocked back on his heels and studied her. “So. Are you interested?”

Theodosia shook her head.
Work for this sleazeball? Not on your life.
“No,” she said. “No, I’m really not.”

Haley and Miss
Dimple were working toe to toe in the kitchen when Theodosia returned.

“Hey,” said Haley, looking up from the pan of sweet potato butter she was stirring. “I take it Jenny showed up as promised?”

“She sure did,” said Theodosia. “Precisely when she said she would.”

“Don’t you love people who keep their promises?” asked Haley. “Don’t you wish more people would honor their word about things?”

“It would certainly make life easier,” said Theodosia. She grabbed a clean spoon, dipped it into a bowl filled with lemon curd, and took a taste. Delicious!

“We’re talking about reliable folks like you, Miss Dimple,” said Haley, sidling over and giving her diminutive assistant a shoulder nudge. “We know we can always count on you.”

“Like yesterday,” said Theodosia. “We can’t thank you enough. Your brother, too.”

“Oh, I think he had fun,” said Miss Dimple. “Gave him a chance to mix with people and be pedantic.”

“You guys were real troopers,” Haley told Miss Dimple.

Miss Dimple grinned from ear to ear and ducked her head. “You’re all such loves,” she cooed. “Which is why it’s always so much fun to work here.”

“You hear that?” Haley chortled, “she thinks it’s
fun
. It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.”

“Excuse me,” said Drayton, as he pushed his way into the kitchen to join them. “Is someone all gung ho and planning to enlist? Looking for adventure, et al.?”

“That’s right, Drayton,” said Haley, as she pulled a baking sheet of biscuits from the oven. “I’ve developed a sudden hankering to tap my inner machismo and jump out of helicopters. Or helos, as the guys call them nowadays.”

“Then you should join the National Guard,” said Miss Dimple. “I have a friend whose granddaughter joined the Guard and she’s just crazy about driving Humvees all over the place.”

“Humvees?” said Haley, her eyes lighting up. “Now that’s what I call fun!”

“You need help in the tea room?” Theodosia asked Drayton.

“Not quite yet,” said Drayton. “Miss Dimple’s been running orders in and out and doing a superb job.”

“Oh, Drayton,” Miss Dimple said, turning a primrose pink. “How you do go on.”

“But in twenty minutes or so when our garden club guests arrive,” said Drayton, “then I shall need you, my dear Theo, to play genial hostess and chat everyone up.”

“Chatting’s my thing,” said Theodosia.

“So how was the expo?” asked Drayton.

“Very impressive,” said Theodosia. “And much larger than I thought it would be. Lots of vendors.”

“That’s good,” said Drayton. “How about attendance? Haley seemed to think it was busy enough.”

“It seems to be drawing a good crowd,” said Theodosia.

“Are you worried about your lecture this afternoon?” Haley asked. “Not enough people in the audience?”

“That’s really the last thing on my mind,” said Drayton. He shifted his attention back to Theodosia. “Did you see the enormous bouquet of flowers that arrived?”

“Pink roses and peach hydrangeas,” said Miss Dimple. “A spectacular arrangement with an aroma to die for. It practically overpowers all of Drayton’s teas.”

“Let me guess,” said Theodosia. “The garden club sent the bouquet over? To grace their luncheon table?”

“Exactly,” said Drayton. “Which Miss Dimple and I have set with Jason English bone china and Reed and Barton flatware.”

“Huh,” said Haley. “The fancy stuff.”

“That’s because they’re fancy ladies,” said Miss Dimple. “They all have big homes and big gardens.”

“And big money,” Haley added.

“Wait until you see what’s on the other tables,” Drayton said to Theodosia.

“What?” she said.

Drayton smiled. “Our dear Miss Dimple took all those plants Aunt Libby sent home with you yesterday and planted them in those chipped teacups you were going to toss.”