Sisterchicks Go Brit! (25 page)

A
week after we returned home
and had our lives back to something that resembled normalcy, Kellie and I met at our usual time at Brew-La-La. The cranberry red chairs were vacant, waiting for us. Nothing else about our lives felt the same.

We stood staring at the familiar menu board, trying to decide what to order. The barista recognized us and asked, “Should I start the usual for you both?”

“No,” I said. “I’m not sure what I want, but I know I want to try something different.”

“Do you have any tea?” Kellie asked.

The barista looked offended.

“I’ll just have—”

“A Valencia mocha.” I selected the first item on the house specialty list.

“Make that two of those,” Kellie said.

For years I had skimmed the six specialty drinks, wondering what they tasted like, but I never had been willing to risk trying one in case I didn’t care for it. But that was before I stepped into a hot-air balloon and went soaring over the Cotswolds.

“Did I ever tell you what Rose said to me the day we left?” I asked as Kellie and I settled into our conversation corner.

“I don’t think so.”

“She said the nicest gift a woman can give herself is to take risks. Something like that. She said it more eloquently.”

“So that’s why you’re taking risks with the Valencia mocha?”

I told Kellie I now planned to work my way down the list.

“Well, I’ll tell you how I’m planning to take a risk,” Kellie said with a victorious grin. “I filed for a business license yesterday. K & L Interiors has moved out of the dream stage and is about to become reality.”

I swallowed and leaned back in the chair. “K & L Interiors,” I repeated. We hadn’t had a final conversation about my involvement yet. I still was debating whether this was a risk I wanted to take.

“Kellie, I have to tell you something. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I don’t want anything—especially business or money—to ever come into our friendship and separate us the way …”

“The way we got off track for those two years?”

I nodded. “I hated being in that awkward place. Absolutely hated it.”

“That was a long time ago. We’re not there now. We haven’t been for decades.”

Our coffees were ready. Kellie went to retrieve them, and I thought of how a small misunderstanding had placed the wedge between us. My husband and Kellie’s husband had bumped heads over a business investment when both of us had been married only a few years. We lost a small amount of money in the deal, but at the time it represented a lot to us. Martin and Roger didn’t want to socialize during the upheaval, so Kellie and I felt we couldn’t pursue our budding friendship since our husbands weren’t “bonding” as well.

Life went on. Kellie and I had babies, our paths as two families crossed frequently, and one day everything changed. The misunderstanding burned up in a heap of charcoal during a church picnic while Martin and Roger spent an hour flipping hamburgers next to each other, making amends over a flaming grill. From that day on we were friends again. All of us. Even our five children.

I learned then that men do friendship differently than women do. I also discovered that neither Roger nor Martin would have tried to deter us if Kellie and I had chosen to spend more time together. I gained many insights in the spring years, including that friendships can be fragile.

Now that we were entering our autumn years and Rose was telling me to take risks, I still didn’t feel at peace about going into business with Kellie.

Kellie returned with the Valencia mochas. I thought I saw one of those I’ve-got-a-secret looks in her eyes. As she sat down across from me, she asked, “Do you feel as if we’ve thoroughly resolved our friendship disconnection from the past? I mean, the misunderstanding between Martin and Roger and the way that spilled over onto you and me?”

“Yes, definitely. I don’t think we have anything to hash out, and I’m not saying I’m harboring any unresolved feelings. I’m just trying to say that I have strong hesitations about taking the risk of partnering in this new business because—”

“It’s not your dream,” she said softly.

I nodded. “It’s your dream.”

Kellie’s eyes warmed. “And do you know what your dream is?”

I shook my head. I had been content to experience all the delights of my wish come true for the past few weeks. I didn’t think I had a dream. “Do you think a dream is different than a wish?”

“I do,” Kellie said. “I could be all wrong, but I think a wish is something whimsical you hope for when you blow out birthday candles or blow a dandelion in the breeze.”

“As opposed to feeling a breeze and then sitting in a field of dandelions,” I added with a wry grin.

She laughed. “Exactly. It seems that when a wish comes true, it’s sweet and satisfying. And when it’s over, that’s it. But a dream is something that starts in the part of your heart where your passions lie. It doesn’t go away.”

“Do you think I have a dream and don’t know it?”

Kellie’s eyes did all the answering in the affirmative, but her lips stayed pressed to the edge of her to-go cup.

“What? What do you see that I don’t?”

“First star on the right and the second cloud in the morning.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s ‘second star to the right and straight on ’til morning.’ ”

“Exactly. Don’t you see it? Liz, you have a passion for British literature. You need to do something with that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Read to children at the library. Teach a class at the community college on literature appreciation. Lead literary tours to London and visit all the homes of your favorite authors. Start a blog about Mary Poppins or something. I don’t know. It’s your dream. Go ahead and dream!”

I sat back, stunned and at the same time filled with a rising sense of adventure. “You’re right. This is my passion, my dream. I’ve never done anything with it.”

Kellie smiled and took a small sip of her coffee. “This is pretty good. The orange flavor is a little strong, but it’s nice.”

I wasn’t interested in the coffee. I was interested in the topic. “Why didn’t I ever see this before?”

“Maybe you had to go to England before you could see it. I certainly never saw it before in you. Then the minute we hit British soil, this wealth of information came popping out of you.”

“So, wait. If this is my dream and I should figure out how to pursue doing something with this passion, what about you and
the business? You said you got the license already. For K & L Interiors.”

Kellie nodded. “L is for LeeAnne.”

“Your daughter-in-law?”

It all made sense. The combination was brilliant, actually. LeeAnne and Kellie got along great. They lived four miles from each other. LeeAnne had majored in marketing and had spent the past three years working for a company that remodeled vacation rental homes.

“Kellie …”

“I know. It’s perfect, isn’t it?”

“You can still count on me to do some hunting and gathering, you know.”

“I was hoping you would say that.” Kellie looked down at her cell phone that was vibrating in the corner pocket of her purse. She read the incoming phone number. “It’s Opal.”

“Ask her if we can stop by this morning. I bought some gingersnaps yesterday and was thinking of checking on her.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Kellie answered her phone. A moment later her eyebrows were pressing inward with concern.

“Everything okay?”

Kellie closed her phone. “Opal sounded frustrated. She hasn’t been able to make her television work, and the staff at the manor has been no help in getting it fixed. I told her we would come over.”

I was prepared to call the cable company once we arrived at Opal’s apartment. The problem, however, was resolved once we showed her which buttons on her remote she needed to push to realign her television on the right cable channel.

“I brought you some biscuits.” I pulled out the bag of gingersnaps.

“That was kind of you. Thank you.”

We stood awkwardly waiting for what to do next. Opal didn’t invite us to tea as she had in the past. Although, we always had arrived later in the afternoon, so perhaps it was too early for one of our little tea parties. I also noticed Opal seemed sad, less twinkle eyed than in the past.

“Is there anything else we can do for you while we’re here?” Kellie asked.

“No, you were most kind to come right away.”

“We were over at Brew-La-La,” I said.

Opal didn’t respond.

“The coffee café,” I said.

Still no response.

“Where we met,” Kellie added.

“Yes, of course.” Her expression lightened a bit.

“We’ll be on our way,” Kellie said. “But call me anytime you want.”

“We would be happy to come by for tea sometime,” I said.

Opal nodded and saw us to the door.

Kellie and I made our way to the parking lot, and I said, “I hope she’s okay. She doesn’t seem herself.”

“It could be the jet lag. It took me a few days to get back on track with sleeping and eating.”

“The time with her sister really seemed to change her,” I said. “Did you notice on the plane home she ordered chicken? On the flight to England she said she didn’t care for the ‘foul fowl.’ ”

“That’s right. And she wanted the aisle seat on the way home too, which was different.”

“I know. It’s almost as if we brought the wrong twin home.”

Kellie and I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and faced each other with stunned expressions. At the same moment we said, “We did! We brought home the wrong twin!”

Hustling back through the front doors of Sunshine Manor, we impatiently pressed the elevator button as if it would take us to Opal’s floor sooner.

“Why would those two pixies do something like this?” Kellie asked.

“Virgil,” I said with an air of assurance. “I bet Opal wanted to stay because of Virgil. Rose, for some reason, agreed to switch with her sister, but she’s obviously not happy about it.”

“Maybe they only had one passport between them. If Rose has never been outside of England, it could be that she had to travel on Opal’s passport.”

“Why, those …”

“What was it you told me that Rose, or maybe it was Opal, said to you at the front door when we were leaving the cottage?”

I snapped my fingers. “You’re right! She said a woman should give herself permission to take risks. Then she winked at me. That’s because she was taking a huge risk right before our eyes.”

We arrived at the apartment front door, and Kellie whispered, “How can we be sure this is Rose?”

“We’ll ask her.”

“And hope she tells the truth.”

The door opened. The twin—Rose, we presumed—looked at us with surprise and a twinge of irritation.

“We wanted to ask you something,” Kellie said.

Remembering our debriefing session in the hallway of the fancy hotel in London after I returned from my escapade, I asked, “Would it be okay if we came in?” I didn’t want the neighbors to hear our conversation.

The twin closed the door behind us. I suddenly thought to check her hand.

Opal wears the opal ring
.

I saw only a thin gold band. No opal ring. The jig was up, whatever that meant. Sherlock Holmes himself would have been pleased with my powers of deduction.

Fortified with the evidence before me, I said, “Rose, why did you and Opal switch places?”

Kellie seemed stunned at my aggressive approach. Rose was stunned as well. She had to sit down. At first she wore a defiant look, as if she could bully her way out of the accusation. Then, just as instantly, the fight drained from her, and her confession tumbled forth as if it were Shrove Tuesday and the church bells had just rung.

“It wasn’t my idea. It was Opal’s. It seems my sister was determined to be with Virgil once she saw him again.” Shaking her white, fluffed-up hair, she looked at us sorrowfully. “And you might as well know the worst of it.”

“The worst of it?” Kellie repeated, eyebrows raised.

Rose sighed with forlorn exaggeration. “Opal means to marry the hooligan.”

“She does?”

“Virgil? Opal and Virgil are getting married?” I said.

Rose responded with a single solemn nod.

“That’s wonderful.” Kellie turned to me. “Don’t you think so?”

I smiled. “I think it’s very sweet.”

Rose took on a stern expression. “You wouldn’t think so if you knew the sort of tomfoolery Virgil got into in his younger days. My sister had a secret affection for him even back then. But Father always said Virgil wouldn’t amount to much. And he hasn’t.”

“Oh but, Rose, don’t you see?” I asked. “Opal still cares about him. And Virgil cares about her. Why not bless this small
wish of theirs to be together? Haven’t you ever had a small wish you always hoped might somehow come true?”

She lowered her chin. “Yes.”

“What was your wish?”

“It was my small wish that prompted me to agree to this exchange. I didn’t have a passport, but I always wanted to see Disney World. That was my small wish.”

Rose won my immediate empathy. I knew all about wishes. Especially ones that have hibernated for decades.

Rose straightened her shoulders. “All that aside, I know what my sister and I did was irresponsible and foolhardy. We intended to make things right soon enough. But that was before Opal phoned yesterday to say she’s making wedding plans.” Rose blinked. “I’m not quite sure what’s to be done next.”

Kellie and I sat for a moment, allowing the puzzle pieces to fall into their connecting places. The coziness of this mystery switched to lip-biting level as I realized we had assisted an illegal alien to enter the U.S. I had been questioned in London as a terrorist suspect. What would the government officials in my homeland have to say about this situation?

Before I could convey my concerns to Kellie, she turned to Rose and in Kellie’s professional manner she said, “I’ll tell you what’s to be done next. You need to go put on your hot pink trainers.”

Rose looked confused as well as disgruntled. “They are Opal’s shoes, as you now know. And they are too small for me. I rubbed some terrible blisters on my feet on the way here.”