When Jake arrived at the tea shop the next morning, his tool bag in hand, he was amazed at all the merchandise that had been delivered and was stacked against the wall. Thankfully, he still had room to maneuver the planks of wood where they needed to be, but here and there, it was a tight fit.
Regina had made him a sketch of how many shelves she thought she’d need, and while her lines weren’t very straight and her scale was off, it was fairly simple to follow. He did all the sawing outside, trying to keep the mess inside to a minimum, and after an hour, he had most of the brackets ready for the shelves. He had the shelves actually up and on the walls by early afternoon, and by nightfall, he’d constructed a basic counter.
It hadn’t been the easiest day of work, however. Regina and Ariadne seemed to be taking turns checking in on him and asking him how it was going, as though they’d suddenly been struck blind and couldn’t see his progress for themselves. He understood their excitement and impatience, but this wasn’t something he could do any faster than he was, and he was already going as fast as he could. That wasn’t something they had any experience with, however, so he couldn’t expect them to know that naturally.
The other thing making his work day difficult was Regina herself. Something about admitting his growing fascination for her had triggered even more feelings, and now, when she came near him, he felt lightning bolts race up his arms and his tongue felt thick and he couldn’t think. He wasn’t sure if this was being in love or the early warning signs of some sort of plague. If he broke out in a rash, he was heading off to find JT or Hannah, no doubt about it.
At the end of the day, he stepped back and wiped his brow. It wasn’t his finest creation as far as scrollwork or other decoration went, but everything was solid, sturdy, and functional. The sisters could unpack their crates now and move forward with their plans, and if they wanted something prettier later, he could certainly do that. Regina didn’t seem to think his work was too plain, though.
“Oh, Jake,” she said, and he liked how his name sounded with her accent. “You did a wonderful job. It’s exactly what I wanted. We’ll put the packages of tea here and the teacups there, and it will be lovely.” She turned to him with her eyes aglow. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “There’s a bit of sawdust—you’ll want to dust and mop before you serve food.”
“Yes, absolutely.” She looked around again, a delighted smile on her face.
“I can just picture how the whole thing is going to look,” Ariadne added, her hands clutched under her chin. “It’s beautiful.”
Jake cleared his throat. He wasn’t used to quite so much praise being heaped on him all at once. “It was my pleasure. I’ll come back Monday and see how you’re getting along.”
Before he knew what was happening, Regina had thrown her arms around him and given him a quick hug. “Thank you,” she said again as she stepped back, obviously as startled by her impulsiveness as he’d been.
He touched the brim of his hat, grabbed up his tool bag, and went out front to find Butternut. He tied his tool bag to the saddle horn, but something kept him from mounting the horse. He turned around, strode up the steps and back into the tea shop, took Regina by the shoulders, and kissed her soundly square on the mouth. Then before she could react, he left again, grinning as he rode away.
Let her stew on that for a while.
***
Reverend Eugene Theodore was not the sort of preacher the Stoker sisters were used to. In fact, he made the idea of going to heaven sound downright unpleasant, which Regina was fairly certain wasn’t how it should be. They had missed church the previous week because of travel fatigue, and now, sitting in the congregation, Regina wished they’d been fatigued again.
“I wish Reverend Bing preached in Creede,” Ariadne whispered when it was time for the closing hymn. “I know we’ve never heard him preach, but he can’t be as bad as this.”
The reverend and his wife both shook their hands as they exited the church, and they were met outside by several ladies eager to introduce themselves.
“I’m Vivian Morgan,” one lady said, and Regina’s eyes flew wide.
“You’re British!” she said, and Vivian laughed.
“Yes, I am, and I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re here. I’ll be at your shop at least once a week to drink tea and talk about London.”
“I can’t wait,” Regina told her.
By the time they made it home, they’d met so many new people and received so many dinner invitations, they were worn clean through with all the chatter. “They all seemed interested in the shop,” Ariadne said as she took off her hat. “Do you think they’ll really come, or were they just being polite?”
“I have no way of knowing.” Regina flopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “If everyone we just spoke to came into the shop just once to see what we’re about, and they tasted the tea and liked it, and half of those people became regular customers, we’d be a success. But I don’t know how to ensure that they all come, or that half of them continue to buy.” Her stomach roiled at the thoughts that were now pounding through her brain. They’d spent so much money on all the things crated up against the wall downstairs—things that would be difficult, if not impossible, to return if the business failed. They could probably resell the furniture, but she didn’t know if the mercantile could take the foodstuffs off their hands. If this investment didn’t pay off, they would truly be lost.
“I think I’ll take a nap,” she said, rolling onto her side. “What time did the Crowthers want us over for dinner?”
“They said six.”
“Will you wake me at five?”
Ariadne looked at her curiously. “That’s six hours away. Are you all right?”
No, she wasn’t—her stomach wasn’t just nervous. It felt sick. But a long nap should help, and then they’d have a nice dinner with one of the more prominent families in town and hopefully encourage them to visit the shop as well. Everything would be fine.
***
Just as she’d thought, Regina felt much better when she woke up from her nap, and dinner at the Crowthers’ was nice. The daughters of the family seemed more than a little preoccupied with the topic of young men, which Regina found a little bit forward—or maybe refreshingly American. She wasn’t sure which.
“What did you think of today’s sermon?” Mrs. Crowther asked as she passed around the bowl of mashed potatoes.
“I thought it was rather unique,” Regina replied, not sure how she was expected to respond. Ariadne nodded vigorously.
“The preacher is our son-in-law,” Mrs. Crowther continued. “I must say, it’s been quite a feather in our cap to have such a well-respected man in the family.”
Regina painted on a smile. “I met his wife as we were leaving the church. I can see the family resemblance now.”
“I’m not going to marry a preacher,” Penny announced. “I’m going to be a cowboy’s wife.”
“Are you?” Ariadne turned to her. “Are you engaged?”
“No, but I plan to be by the end of summer. I’m going to be Mrs. Jake Honeycutt.”
Regina looked down at her plate. She didn’t imagine such a thing could be true—Jake would have told her if he had a previous interest in someone else, wouldn’t he?
“No, you’re not, Penny,” Lissy said. “I saw him first.”
“But I’m older—I should get married before you do.”
Regina’s lips twitched. So that’s how it was—two sisters fighting over the same man, a man who likely had no idea this battle was being fought for him.
“Why don’t you let the poor man choose for himself?” Mr. Crowther said with a chuckle.
“But Father, he might not know what he wants unless we tell him,” Penny explained.
Regina and Ariadne exchanged a look. Oh, it was so hard not to laugh at the girl’s earnestness.
They extracted a promise from the Crowthers that the whole family would visit the shop as soon as it was open, and then Mr. Crowther gave them a ride home in his buggy. “I don’t know if anyone’s spoken to you of this, but it’s best to stay off the streets at night,” he said. “We’ve had some unfortunate happenings as of late, young women being approached and at times taken, and you shouldn’t be too hasty about heading out alone.”
“Young women have been taken?” Regina and Ariadne exchanged another look, but this one wasn’t of amusement.
“Sadly, yes. The kidnappers were apprehended, but a few things have happened since that have made us think it’s not entirely over.” He pulled the buggy up in front of the tea shop. “Thank you again for being our dinner guests, ladies.” He waited until they were inside before driving away.
“Well, it’s a good thing our door has a double lock on it,” Regina said, keeping her voice bright for Ariadne’s sake. The last thing they needed was one more thing to worry them.
***
It was difficult to sleep Sunday night. All Regina wanted was to start putting together the shop. As soon as the sun was up high enough that they weren’t fumbling around in pitch-black darkness, the sisters got up, dressed, and went downstairs. They began by sweeping and mopping to be sure they had all the sawdust up, and then they began unpacking all the many crates.
Regina couldn’t help exclaiming in delight when she saw the teacups and matching saucers, and then the smaller cups for samples. They were all lovely. They would keep a washbasin under the counter to place the dirty dishes in, and they’d wash them up as needed if they ran out. It was hard to imagine that what they’d ordered wouldn’t see them through a whole day, though—they made row upon row of cups on the shelves.
Next they unpacked the varieties of tea and arranged them all in categories. The packages were quite visually attractive—the supplier had used nice paper and twine, and everything looked neat and tidy once it was in its place.
They moved the tables and chairs into position and wiped them all down, sure they had dust on them from the train. Then they brought out the tablecloths, napkins, and curtains, which were blue gingham.
Tablecloths and napkins were easy enough, but curtains . . . well, that was different. Regina had Ariadne hold a chair while she stood on it and drove nails into the wall to hold the curtain rods. She had to redo the first one three times to make it straight, but she got better, and by the time the rods were up on all four windows, she had figured out how to keep them level.
“Wait . . .” Ariadne said, looking over their progress with a furrow between her brows. “I think we should have put the fabric on the rods first.”
Regina looked at the curtains, then at the rods, and laughed. “Oh, dear. All right—let’s try again.”
When she stepped up onto the chair, her stomach clenched again and she felt a wave of nausea. She braced her hand on the wall so she wouldn’t fall, hoping Ariadne hadn’t seen what was happening. No need to worry her sister.
They took down the rods, slid the fabric on, and then rehung the rods. “That definitely looks better,” Ariadne said as they put the last rod into place.
The sisters sat down at one of the tables and looked around. It had been a long day of unpacking, carrying the crates out back, and deciding where everything should go. They were still missing a few of those final touches, wall pictures or other things to give the place a homey feel, but they could do that a little at a time.
“When do you think we should open?” Ariadne asked.
“When do you think you could have some tea cakes ready?”
Ariadne blinked. “I suppose if I baked all day tomorrow, we could open Wednesday.”
Regina grinned. “Then let’s open Wednesday. I’ll draw up a sign for the wall at the mercantile, and we’ll ask Toria to spread the word. Everyone who comes in to shop will hear the news.”
Ariadne clasped her hands under her chin. “Are we really doing this? Is this really happening?”
“It really is,” Regina told her. “We’re well and truly on our way.”