Page 73 of The Summer Request
Finally, Michelle spotted her two charges: Lisa and Val, the last ones in line.
She stuck a hand in the air and waved. “Over here!”
Lisa’s face brightened into a smile and she almost stepped in front of a car trying to cross the street. Val’s face was mostly obstructed by her enormous hat, but she, too, was smiling.
“I didn’t know you’d be waiting for us,” Lisa said when she’d reached the sidewalk safely. “I thought we’d just stop by the café and surprise you.”
“Oh, come on!” Michelle pulled her in for a hug. “I had to prepare a welcome for my guests.”
Val nodded. “I was hoping to get a welcome from Tammy, actually. Where is she?”
Michelle laughed, giving her a hug too. “I invited her, but she said just to bring the leftover ashes for her mantel.”
“Aw.” Lisa’s face twisted into a frown. “It’s too much for her.”
“I know. But I will not be the one delivering them.” Michelle offered to take Val’s bag, but she declined. “The last time I stepped by to check on her, she yelled at me through the window for almost ten minutes. Said I stepped on her flowers.”
Val whipped her hat off and slipped on a pair of oversized sunglasses. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it. I’m not afraid of Tammy anymore. We understand each other now.”
Michelle nodded. There was no need to discuss what she meant. Tammy had finally received the coroner’s report and shared it exclusively with Val.
Justine’s cause of death was an intracranial hemorrhage – a brain bleed. She’d had high levels of various chemicals in her blood, suspected to be from the supplements the guru had instructed her to take. The supplements were unsafe on their own, but doubly unsafe for someone on a blood thinner with a history of a stroke. The theory was that the supplements interacted with Justine’s blood thinner and caused the catastrophic bleed.
Val had shared the results with them in an email, finally admitting that Lou wasn’t a murderer. Tammy had laid the theory to rest, too, but she and Val still kept in touch as though they were old pen pals.
After gathering their bags, Michelle led her friends down the street to the cafe’s upstairs apartment. She was excited to unveil the fancy brunch she’d put together for them. “Ta-da!”
“Well, isn’t this beautiful!” Lisa said as she walked in the room.
“Thank you.” Michelle took their bags and set them out of the way. “I have some old favorites and some new recipes I’ve been testing out. I got the ideas from our travels.”
Val took a seat. “I thought I was the one who’s supposed to get ideas from our travels.”
Lisa and Michelle chuckled and took their seats. Then something terrible happened.
They all fell silent.
Michelle’s heart rate picked up. Was it going to be awkward now? A bad day? After all they’d been through, was the magic gone?
Val cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll start. I want to apologize to both of you for how I behaved, and for the things I said.”
Lisa leaned forward, grabbing her by the arm. “Consider yourself forgiven.”
Michelle nodded. “Water under the bridge.”
“No, it really wasn’t okay. I was nasty, and you didn’t deserve it.” She let out a sigh. “It was my fault, and I take full responsibility. I’ve been spiraling for a while, but I couldn’t admit it to myself. I wanted to blame everyone else – the industry, Reggie, Lou, and when I ran out of targets, I turned on you two.”
Michelle shrugged. “At least you were efficient.”
They all laughed and the tension seemed to crack.
Val went on. “The truth is, I’ve been broken, and broke, for a long time. I’ve been cleaning houses and teaching singing lessons, barely getting by, clinging to a dream of the person I once was.”
“Broke?” Lisa gaped at her. “You flew into the memorial on a helicopter!”
Val paused, then let out a laugh. “Oh, that? The pilot is a friend of mine – he’s a stuntman, flies helicopters on the side. He owed me a favor.”
“You had me fooled,” Lisa said.
