Haley rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.” She’d called Theodosia and Drayton into the kitchen to go over the menu, even though Drayton remained, as Haley would say, “in a mood.” Charlie was out front, prowling the tables with teapots in hand.
“What have you got?” asked Theodosia. Now that Leah Shalimar seemed to be on the docket as a potential suspect, she, too, wished the woman wasn’t coming in today.
“We’ll start with chilled strawberry soup,” said Haley, “accompanied by sliced pear and Stilton cheese tea sandwiches. Then an entrée of pan-seared salmon with white asparagus and butter sauce.”
“What about dessert?” demanded an impatient Drayton. Whenever they had a larger group coming in Drayton seemed to get more than a little unnerved.
“Dessert scones,” said Haley. “Chocolate chip scones with Devonshire cream and black raspberry jam. Oh, and I’ll probably do a batch of lemon jumble cookies, too.”
“Lovely,” said Theodosia. “I’m sure all our guests will be delighted.”
“That’s right,” said Drayton. “The operative word here is all.”
The bell over the front door tinkled and Drayton pulled back the green curtain to take a peek. He turned back to Theodosia and Haley. “Expensive cobalt-blue suit, model thin, lots of clanking gold jewelry?”
“That’s her,” said Theodosia, hurriedly brushing past him to go greet Leah Shalimar.
“Looks awfully high maintenance,” murmured Drayton.
“But does she look dangerous?” whispered Haley.
“Welcome to the Indigo Tea Shop,” said Theodosia, putting a friendly smile on her face.
“Hell-oooo,” chirped Leah Shalimar. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m a tiny bit early. But I wanted to write out place cards and, of course, I brought along hostess gifts. Darling little Rigaud candles. Don’t you just adore them?”
Theodosia, who’d never purchased a seventy-dollar candle in her entire life, said, “I’m sure your guests will be thrilled.”
“My, this is a sweet little place,” said Leah, looking around as Theodosia led her to her table. “So cute and cozy.” Then her eyes caught sight of the gleaming china and floral centerpiece. “And I adore this table setting. So very elegant.”
“Due in no small part to the Valentina Chintz china by Royal Patrician and an ample bouquet of Anna roses and nerine lilies,” said Drayton.
“Leah,” said Theodosia, “this is Drayton Conneley, our master tea blender and catering manager.”
“Hello,” said Leah, extending a hand and suddenly turning all her intensity on him.
“Delighted to meet you,” said Drayton. He grasped her hand in both of his and flashed a warm smile. “Besides setting a lovely table for you and your guests, we also have a superb menu planned.”
“Oh, please don’t tell me!” begged Leah. “Let it be a surprise. I simply adore surprises.”
“As you wish,” said Drayton. He pulled out a chair for Leah, waited for her to be seated, then sat down next to her. “Now . . . we have an ample repertoire of marvelous teas, but I’ve taken the liberty of selecting a few extra special ones for you today.”
“I’m a complete neophyte when it comes to tea,” admitted Leah. “So I’m going to have to leave the choices in your most capable hands.”
“Then may I suggest we start with a Hyson tea,” said Drayton, “a light, fragrant Chinese green tea.”
Leah nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Moving on,” said Drayton, “perhaps a Taiwanese Keemun, which is always lovely with a food course. And to compliment dessert, may I recommend our Orchid Lights house blend. It’s a semi-fermented oolong with crushed orchid flowers. It’s actually a sort of sneak peak at what we’re serving this Saturday night at the Heritage Society.”
“Good heavens,” marveled Leah. “Three different teas?”
“For three different courses,” responded Drayton. “Of course, if any of your guests prefer to stick with just one tea, that’s certainly fine, too. Not too many rules when it comes to tea; one should always drink what one enjoys.”
“I love it,” declared Leah, seemingly entranced with Drayton. “You know,” she said, studying him. “You’d be very good in sales. Have you ever done any work in financial sales?”
“Dear lady,” said Drayton, giving her a baleful look, “I can barely manage a simple calculator.”
“No, no.” Leah laughed. “I already have a staff who do all the tedious number crunching. What’s most critical in today’s financial arena is building trust with potential clients.”
She peered at him speculatively. “You, Drayton, appear to possess that rather elusive quality.”
“I really don’t think so,” said Drayton. He was clearly flummoxed by her words.
“Loveday and Luxor has recently stepped up our caliber of financial products,” continued Leah. We are now branch-ing out into foreign currency futures contracts. You’ve heard of FOREX?”
“Not really,” said Drayton. “Sounds quite complicated.”
“Not in the least,” said Leah. “Foreign currency futures basically give clients a unique opportunity to speculate on the value of various world currencies.”
“Mm-hm,” said Drayton, his eyes beginning to drift away.
“And I was thinking,” continued Leah, “that you’d be the perfect front man to manage cold calls and set up meetings.”
That woke Drayton up. “But I work here.”
“I haven’t worked in this industry all that long, either,” confessed Leah. “In fact, I used to be in high-end auto sales. Lexus, Mercedes, Porsche.” Now she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “But I can assure you, Drayton, that Loveday and Luxor’s commission schedule is far more generous than anything you can earn serving tea.” Leah smiled brightly at Drayton. Then, as if to signal that the matter was a fait accompli, she pulled out a large black Montblanc pen and began scribbling names on her place cards.
As the lunch hour wore on, Leah Shalimar’s luncheon appeared to be a smashing success even though Drayton huffed and harrumphed in the background.
“She was rude to me,” Drayton complained to Theodosia. “Telling me I’d make a good front man for her silly financial product and insinuating that I could make a lot more money working for her.” Drayton snatched up a half dozen small glass plates of chocolate chip scones centered on white paper doilies, and dropped them onto his silver tray with a clatter. “Leah Shalimar assumes money is the most important thing in life.”
“I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you,” said Theodosia, as she garnished the chocolate chip scones with fresh mint leaves, “but an awful lot of people share that feeling.”
Some of her old coworkers had scoffed at her when she’d left her lucrative job in marketing to take a flier at running a tea shop. Of course, Theodosia’s little flier had pretty much turned into a home run.
“Hey,” said Haley, as she scooped dollops of Devonshire cream into fancy cut-glass dishes, “money can be a good thing. There’s a reason I’m studying business administration.”
“But money’s not the only thing,” said Drayton as he lurched out of the kitchen. “It shouldn’t rule your life.”
Haley glanced quickly at Theodosia. “Drayton’s really steamed.”
“I don’t blame him,” said Theodosia, arranging a tray of truffles. “Leah Shalimar basically tried to devalue what he does. What’s near and dear to Drayton’s heart. And that’s very disrespectful.”
But Leah Shalimar proved to be a master of diplomacy as well as sales. She managed to broadly compliment all her guests, elicit delighted peals of laughter, keep the conversation lively, and pitch her new futures contracts. All at the same time.