Olivia put her hand on Elise’s arm.
“Sorry.” Elise looked at Kathy, her eyes pleading. “I don’t care if all I do is fall asleep and dream. I’d rather have hope than just wait for them to come and get me.”
Olivia got up and went to the few books tha
t were in the many feet of empty shelves. There were some on growing herbs and a dozen about serving tea. How to run a tearoom, what to serve, recipe books. She turned to the two women. “I’m going to find out more about this.” She went into the big foyer and looked at the closed doors. The lady or the tiger? she thought. Which door should she choose?
The clatter of silverware being dropped made her go to the door on the right. It opened into a beautiful kitchen. “Hello.” As soft as Olivia’s voice was, Arrieta was still so startled that she nearly dropped a teacup. “Here, let me do that. You sit down.” She nodded at the table in the adjoining breakfast nook.
“I think I’m supposed to serve you,” Arrieta said, but she sat down anyway.
“How many times have you done this?” Olivia asked.
Arrieta’s expression answered her.
“Oh, I see. Your first time.” Olivia put loose tea in the flowered pot. “Tell me about yourself.”
“I’m also supposed to ask the questions.”
“I’m sure that’s right, but there are extenuating circumstances, aren’t there?”
“I guess.” Arrieta still looked like she wanted to run away.
“Did your aunt dump this job on you?”
“Yes!” Arrieta said. “I hate destiny! It sounds romantic, but it’s not. It means I have no free choice but that I have to do something. But that’s not fair, is it? A person could have a great singing voice, but she doesn’t have to sing, does she?”
“And you don’t want to charge people for hope, then give them nothing,” Olivia said.
“Oh no, that’s not it at all. I can sing. I mean I can send people back in time, but I’m not very good with people socially.”
“Then why do you want to open a tea shop?” Olivia said quickly.
For a second Arrieta’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Aunt Primrose told me you were good at figuring out people. I have to earn a living and I like to bake and garden. With a couple of good employees, I think I can make it work.”
“And meeting people will help with your destiny,” Olivia said. “I can’t imagine that what you say you can do is possible.”
“It is. We just have to be careful who we tell about it. Dr. Hightower has referred a lot of people to my aunts—and now me.”
“I’m curious. Was Ray or Kathy the original target for this...opportunity?”
“Kathy,” Arrieta said. “It was never Ray. Dr. Hightower thought you should hear him tell how he treats his wife because Kathy might not say anything. She’s good at keeping things to herself. But Ray is fine—thanks to his wife taking such good care of him. She’s the one who has the problems.”
“How did you get her here?”
Arrieta shrugged. “My aunts know lots of people so some calls were made and voilà! Ray leaves the country and Kathy goes to Dr. Hightower’s house. It all worked out.” Olivia didn’t have to ask about Elise.
“Dr. Hightower wants to retire.” Arrieta said this with an intense look at Olivia. “Rescuing Elise was Jeanne’s final straw. She can’t take any more and we need someone to fill her role—someone who will send the right people our way.”
“I think you’ll need a very special person who believes in... What do you call this? Time travel?” Olivia’s tone told how ridiculous she thought it all was.
Arrieta looked at her nails. “If you returned to 1970, you could go back to school while Mr. Montgomery was in the Middle East. By now you’d be a qualified therapist.”
Olivia was too stunned by that statement to speak.
“I told Aunt Primrose that you’d never agree to this.”
“You’re making it sound like you planned for me to come into the kitchen so I could hear about this.”