Page 55 of An Overdue Match
Evangeline sucked in a breath. “Are those Grampie and Granny’s love letters?”
Penelope handed over the storage bag, and Evangeline cradled the aged envelopes with the care a newborn baby would receive.
Penelope pulled out a folded sheet of paper and handed that over as well. “And this is the guest list. I thought I’d bring them both by and drop them off so you can get started on the invitations and decorations.” She turned to Tai. “We’re planning a big party to celebrate our grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary.”
Evangeline looked up from the list of names. “You didn’t have to drive out here. I was planning on coming to visit this weekend.”
Penelope shifted her weight. “I was going to be in the area anyway.”
“Really? You? In Little Creek?”
Tai got why Evangeline was incredulous. Her sister had on a pair of expensive-looking stilettos, a pantsuit that was probably tailor-made for her, and the oversized purse hanging from her shoulder was definitely designer. The residents of Little Creek usually shopped for their clothes at the nearest Walmart.
“I have an appointment later today, if you must know. And before you ask, no, I’m not going to tell you where. I don’t want a preemptive lecture.”
“You aren’t going to one of your and Grampie’s murder sites, are you?
Tai choked on his spit. Murder? He looked at Penelope again, trying to picture her with some sort of weapon in her hands.
“No, and you’re scaring your friend,” Penelope chided her sister.
“Good.” Evangeline grinned unrepentantly.
Penelope rolled her eyes and turned to Tai. “Don’t worry, neither my grandfather nor I are hardened criminals. We just have an unusual hobby.”
Evangeline snorted as she pulled out her phone, unlocked it, then opened her camera app and scrolled. She tapped the screen, then turned the device so Tai could look at a picture. “They re-create real crime scenes in miniature.”
So many thoughts crowded Tai’s mind, but what he managed to squeak out was “Impressive.”
“Thank you.” Penelope clasped her hands in front of her. “I’m not going to tell you where the appointment is beforehand, Evangeline, but I am going to ask you to go with me. I might need some support while I’m there.”
“Way to make me die of curiosity.”
“Sorry.” Penelope smiled before rotating on her heels to face Tai. “It was nice to meet you. Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime.”
“Maybe we will.”
24
Tai wasn’t one to consult Dr. Google about health conditions or treatments. Probably because his mother had spent years sending him articles from various medical sites. Some reputable while others ... well, not so much.
His cell phone vibrated in his hands, a text coming in. He looked at the top of the screen to the drop-down notification and grunted. Case in point.
Mom
Read this article on ASHMI, an anti-asthma herbal medicine intervention. It’s an herbal combination from Chinese medicine to help improve asthma.
If he scrolled up, he would see similar links from her touting the effectiveness of acupuncture, essential oils, anti-inflammatory diets, and a whole host of other remedies she thought he should try. It wasn’t that he was against alternative medicine, but there did seem to be a problem when the average Joe who hadn’t even graduated high school thought he knew more than a licensed pulmonologist who had studied, specialized, and devoted their entire professional life to lung health.
He swiped out of the messenger app without clicking on the link, opening instead the previous webpage he’d been looking at.
Alopecia, he read. An autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacked hair follicles. Some people experienced balding in spots. Others, a total loss of hair on their scalp. And for some, he read on, a complete loss of hair across the entirety of their bodies. Alopecia universalis was a rare condition, and less than ten percent of people who experienced the disorder ever had their hair grow back.
Tai glanced up from his phone as a few of the questions he’d pondered about Angel fell into place. The reason she wore a wig. Why her skin was smoother and softer than a newborn babe’s, not a hair in sight.
She had an autoimmune disease.
He read on, wanting to know if alopecia caused any other symptoms autoimmune disorders were known for. Did she experience pain, fatigue, or recurring fevers?
