Page 53 of A Spot of Tea
“I’m glad it’s over. I can’t laugh anymore,” Mackenzie said, rubbing her face.
“Do you want me to shoot your video next?” Russell asked.
There was nothing Mackenzie would like less. “No. Hollywood seems too much like everything I don’t like about my current job.”
Eliza frowned. “How is being a tech saleswoman the same as being an actress?”
“It’s just people, Eliza.” Mackenzie smiled. She sounded like Cora. “Sales lacks some of the glamour – the red carpets, the fawning interviews, the designer dresses – but not all the glamour. There are still big egos and big paychecks. People get crazy.”
“Like Steve,”Mom hissed, narrowing her eyes. “I’ve got a mind to give him a call. Did you remember he sent me flowers on my birthday?”
“Steve the snake,” Eliza said, shaking her head.
Mackenzie grabbed an oatmeal cookie and shoved it in her mouth. “I heard someone saw a snake on the tea shop patio.”
Granny gasped, looking down at the fluffy Golden Retriever at her feet. “Derby! You’re supposed to alert me to any new animal visitors!”
He looked up at her, his ears back, and panted a Golden smile.
She patted him on the head. “I know your hearing isn’t what it used to be. You’ll get the next one.”
That night, lying in her bunk bed, Mackenzie couldn’t stop thinking about it. Hollywood was no different than any other money-making industry. People would sell their souls and betray their friends to get a director position at a mid-level tech company; of course, they’d do the same in Hollywood, where there was even more money to be made.
It was sickening. Mackenzie good at sales – no,greatat sales. She hit her numbers every year and, for the last three years, she’d exceeded them. She was in the top two percent of reps at her company, slated to follow in Steve’s footsteps – if she wanted to.
Those things had mattered to her a few months ago, but now? All she wanted to do was brew tea and stare at the ocean. Maybe she was depressed. Or maybe she was grieving Steve and all the lies she’d believed about her future.
Or maybe she’d been chasing the wrong things all her life and confronting them at once put her into this state.
In any case, she had over a hundred unused days off, and Steve was so terrified she’d tell everyone about them that not only was she not getting fired, she hadn’t heard a single complaint about her going missing.
She rolled over and closed her eyes. There was a long week of learning about matcha and scanning the water for seals ahead of her.
Cora left the island for a job interview and didn’t make it back in time to help with the tea party. She was devastated, but she insisted on coming the day after in case “any stars are still hanging around.”
Russell had finally found the right team to build the sea pen, and he wanted to get everyone together to finalize plans for the last stretch.
He posted about the meetup on the Lottie section of his website and invited friends to stop by. He’d meant people who had donated or had some genuine interest, but it instead led to a slew of talentless hangers-on trying to elbow into the project for publicity.
With her new theory on workplaces, Mackenzie saw it coming a mile away. It was fascinating to watch in real time. Four musicians she’d vaguely heard of offered to come, but never showed up. One B-list movie star made a big show about flying out, took one picture on the island (nowhere near the tea shop), then left.
As they prepared the tea shop on Saturday morning, Granny buzzed around barking orders and trying to guess where everyone would want to sit.
“Do you think Idris Elba would prefer to be in the London or Japanese tearoom?”
Eliza had warned her about Granny’s celebrity crush, but it still caught her off guard. She’d never seen Granny so thrilled in her life.
“Granny,” Eliza said gently. “I don’t think he’s coming. He’s married, you know. Plus, you have Reggie. You’re not free to flirt with Idris.”
“This isn’t about flirting! Maybe I just want to meet him, Did you ever think of that? Maybe we’d get along!”
Reggie piped up from his seat, a half-folded napkin in his hand. “Hey! I’m not letting that guy in here!”
“Oh yes you are!” Granny said. “I will not let your petty jealousies get in the way of meeting one of the loveliest gentlemen of our time!”
Reggie laughed. “Ourtime, eh?”
She stopped, glaring at him, and he lowered his head.
