Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
My pulse ticked fast. “Nana, Gloria thinks you’re competing with her.”
Nana reared back. “Well, I’m not. She doesn’t sell tea.”
My ears heated so fast they throbbed. “I’m going to kill Brooke.” I blanched. Shouldn’t have said that out loud. “I assume you have her number.”
“I do.”
“Call her. Please.”
Nana waved her hands. “Oh, no. I really don’t want to drag her into this.”
I fought the real urge to yank my hair out. “Nana, she’s already in it. Call her.”
“Oh, all right.” She sighed again and reached beneath the counter for her phone. Her fingers shook a little as she dialed. “Hi, Brooke. Hi, honey. Yes, it’s true. I know, can you believe it? Oh, no, you’re not in any trouble. Would you come by the shop? Anna wants to speak with you. No, no, honey, you don’t need a lawyer. I promise. If you do, Anna will represent you too.”
I shook my head hard enough to rattle my brain. “I most certainly will not.”
Nana ignored me. “Okay, honey, see you soon.” She ended the call. “Brooke will be here in a second. She’s just down the street.”
I stepped back because there was a very good chance my head might actually spin and launch off my neck. “Nana.”
“Anna,” she said in that patient voice that usually followed disaster. “Brooke’s a nice girl. Yes, she dates around, but she’s young. She’s still finding her path. She’s been kind to me.”
“Except for selling you psychedelic mushrooms disguised as tea,” I croaked out.
“No, she didn’t.” Nana’s chin lifted. “She had no idea.”
I doubted that. Strongly.
We sifted through another pile of paperwork. My stomach kept twisting tighter with each passing minute. Aiden lay in a hospital bed, maybe still half hooked to monitors, and here I stood chasing tea labels and bad decisions. I’d thought he couldn’t break, couldn’t fall, and yet I’d watched him crash. The memory dug in deep, reminding me how fast everything could shift.
The bell over the door jingled, and Brooke finally stepped inside. I hadn’t realized I’d left it unlocked. She carried the kind of confidence that came easy to people who hadn’t yet learned how fragile the world could turn.
She wore black leather pants and an orange-and-red blazer buttoned high. Her dark hair sat twisted tight, the tawny tone of her skin catching the weak light from the window. The scent of fresh rain drifted in with her, mixing with Nana’s lavender oil.
She hesitated on the threshold, glancing toward the street like she expected cameras. “Oh my gosh, Fiona, I can’t believe it.”
I crossed my arms, my pulse steady and cold now. “Yeah, I can.”
Brooke rushed straight to my grandmother and caught both her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, honey, it’s not your fault,” Nana said.
“The hell it isn’t.” I stepped forward. “What did you do?”
Brooke jolted, her dark eyes flicking to me. “I swear to God, I had no idea. It couldn’t be me. That tea sells all over the Pacific Northwest.” She still clung to Nana’s hands like they might save her. “Honestly, Fiona, I don’t know what happened.”
“Okay, take a breath,” Nana said, her voice steadying them both. “We’re going to figure this out.”
I glanced at her and then at Brooke. “Look at me.”
Brooke turned, chin lifting as if bracing for impact.
“Did you purposely sabotage my grandmother to help Gloria?” I asked.
Brooke’s brows slashed down. “How would this help Gloria?”
“Gloria thinks she and Nana compete for the same customers.”
Brooke shook her head, her shoulders visibly tightening. “Everyone competes for customers, but we sell different things. That’s why I felt fine connecting Fiona to the distributor. Gloria doesn’t even deal in tea.”
I crossed my arms. “You’re serious? You had no clue?”
“None.” Brooke dug into her blazer pocket and pulled out two long cylinders. “This is the tea. We could drink it right now and nothing would happen. I’ve been drinking it all week.”
Maybe she’d been high all week. I bit that thought back.
Nana leaned closer. “Yes, yes, that’s the tea.”
I tried to remember. “Wait a second.” My mind tracked back to opening day. “I sold a lot of that tea, but the packaging looked different. No blue stripe around the bottom.” I took one of the cylinders, turning it in my hand. The Blue Moon Tea logo wrapped around the label with a thin blue band at the base. “That wasn’t on the ones we sold.”
Nana reached for her glasses and squinted. “Honestly, I don’t remember. We were in such a rush. I’m positive the labels looked right.”
Brooke lifted her chin. “That’s the brand you should’ve had.”
“So what happened to the batch you delivered to her?” I asked.
Brooke blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, did it come from your guy directly or from a third-party shipment? Because if anything got swapped, we need to trace it.”
Brooke glanced at the cylinders. “I brought them over myself after they were shipped to me. They all looked exactly like this one.”