5. Tea
Chapter 5
Tea
To: Undisclosed recipients
From: The Silver Falls Lake Association
Silver Falls residents!
We hope this email finds you all in good health during these trying times, and that you’re enjoying the fresh air, blue skies, and north winds.
We see all of those sailboats out there!
We have very exciting news to share.
As you know, our lakes have been the residence of many loons over the years, both on Silver Lake and Silverstone Lagoon.
But this year our mates have decided to nest and make a little family of their own.
Say hello to Pebble!
(Picture attached.) He’s our new resident baby loon.
We spotted him riding on his mother’s back in the creek between the lake and lagoon.
We assume it’s close to where the family’s nest is, but we haven’t spotted it yet, so we can’t be sure.
Please keep in mind that baby loons are unable to fly for the first couple of weeks, and they stay close to their parents until about three months after birth.
We ask that you please be mindful of Pebble and keep a watchful eye as you take your boats or jet skis out this summer.
The Silver Falls Lake Association is a proud member of the Ten Thousand Lake Loon Committee, dedicated to protecting and preserving our natural wildlife.
We would love if a member of each resort would join our efforts this summer.
If you are interested, feel free to email us at [email protected].
Just like our resorts, we want Silver Lake and Silverstone Lagoon to be a safe haven for many loon families in the future.
Stay safe out there, and keep an eye out for Pebble!
SFLA
She was sitting by the lake in her dream, a steaming cup of her favorite tea by her side in the Adirondack chair, looking out at the lake, the water still.
Her father popped into her vision and began pulling on her feet, telling her to get changed so they could get out for one last water ski before dinner.
“We don’t get nights like these often, Tea bear.”
She ran to the cabin and got changed into her suit, but when she returned her father was gone.
The lake was still smooth as glass, but Dad was nowhere to be found.
Her mug of tea was replaced with a glass of white wine.
Revved-up boat engines and slapping screen doors startled her awake.
Nan was downstairs using her “whispering” voice, but it was still loud enough to rouse Tea from her dream.
She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, wishing for a way to see her father again, while simultaneously regretting dreaming him up in the first place.
In the months following his death, Tea saw him every night: Dad telling her to get in the boat for a water ski or a sail, but always disappearing before she could join him.
She knew these dreams technically should be labeled nightmares, because they haunted her every morning when she opened her eyes, but calling it so didn’t feel right, especially when it gave her the opportunity to see her father again.
He always looked his healthiest in her mind, no sagging gray skin or thinned-out hair.
His cheeks were pink and full, red curls sticking up in every direction, and his laugh rambunctious as ever when he snuck up on her in that chair.
It was how she wanted to remember her father, even if the dreams had left her feeling confused and angry and alone when she woke up.
She hadn’t had felt that way in years.
Yet being back in this place brought on a tsunami of memories, and a resurgence of that very same dream.
She thought of how Archer had watched her from afar last night, her skin burning hot knowing that his eyes finally landed on her, knowing that he couldn’t ignore her any longer.
She wondered if he was still mad at her.
A confrontation was unavoidable if they would both be spending the entire summer in Silver Falls, but it didn’t have to happen quite yet.
So she’d picked up her glass and escaped inside before he finished talking to his mom.
The screen door slapped downstairs again, followed by another angry whisper from Nan.
This time Tea could make out what she was saying.
“Wayne, for pete’s sake, stop slapping that door,” Nan hissed.
“You’re gonna wake our girl.”
“Oh she’s probably already up,” Pop responded in his usual deep timbre, unashamed of how loud he was being.
“It’s only eight o’clock.”
A cabinet door opened and shut, followed by a ting as someone pressed down the toaster.
“Eight o’clock? It’s practically midday. I’ve already had my coffee and listened to MPR.” The fridge opened, then closed.
“Would be nice if I could go fishing without so many damn boats out there.”
“ Wayne .”
They went back and forth like that, but Tea tuned it out as she slipped out of her bed and tucked herself into her robe.
She tied her hair up into a ponytail as she made her way downstairs.
Pop smiled at her, his teeth smudged with a slathering of butter and jam, a half-eaten piece of toast on a plate in front of him.
Crumbs lined his beard, some escaping onto the counter.
He was already dressed for fishing; long-sleeve compression shirt, jeans, and the same ratty Silver Falls hat he wore all year round, bleached from a decade or two out on the water.
“See, there’s our girl,” he said.
He wiped his beard as made his way around the counter.
“I told you she was awake.”
Nan rolled her eyes.
“Does she look like she’s been awake?”
Pop ignored her as he wrapped his arms around Tea, planting a kiss on her cheek and leaving behind a dollop of jam.
He laughed and wiped it off with his shirtsleeve.
Tea smiled. “Morning, Pop. Still got some coffee, or is it too late?”
“Of course we have coffee, it’s still the morning,” he responded.
Nan pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Kelly, Wayne, Tea! What are you doing? You gotta get out there!”
The three of them turned in unison to find Rhonda on their deck, peering through the screen door.
Pop frowned. “Now why would I do that? The lake is covered in boats right now.”
“Of course they are,” Rhonda replied.
“They’re all looking for Pebble.”
Nan scrunched her nose.
“Pebble?”
“The baby loon? Did you guys not read the email?”
“On my computer? Oh, I don’t touch that thing,” Nan responded.
“They’re looking for a rock?” Pop added.
Tea opened the cabinet and grabbed the mug with a giant painted squirrel, then reached for the coffee pot.
“Nan, Pop, do one of you have your email on your phone?”
“On our phones?” Nan squeaked.
Pop snapped his fingers.
“Yes. Archer installed it for me last summer.”
Of course he did.
“Can you grab it, please?”
Tea kept her attention on her grandfather as he walked to the coffee table to retrieve his phone, ignoring the way Rhonda was pointedly looking at her after Pop’s casual mention of Archer.
Pop swiped it open and handed it to her.
His home screen was a mess, littered with colorful games and news apps.
Yet it wasn’t hard to find his Mail app after a few swipes.
It was the only one that had a red bubble showing over nineteen thousand notifications.
“Christ,” she mumbled to herself, tapping it open.
Thankfully the one from Silver Falls was the third email from the top, followed by senior exercise tips from the American Heart Association and a 70 percent off sale on drill bit sets from Tractor Supply.
She cleared her throat, then read the entire thing out loud to them, everything from the new loon baby to the boat warnings.
Nan’s face glowed brighter and brighter with every word.
By the end of it, she was slathering her arms with sunscreen.
Rhonda was already gone, jogging over to her boat where Steph and the twins waited for her, suited up and ready to go.
“Wayne, grab the cooler and pack some water,” Nan started.
“Tea, go get changed.”
Tea frowned.
“Don’t you think going out there with the boats will scare them away? Isn’t this exactly what the association warned you not to do?”
Pop returned from the back with a cooler and began stuffing it with cans of seltzer and Coca-Cola, followed by sticks of string cheese and beef jerky.
“The email said to be mindful ,” Nan said.
“One of us is bound to find the family nest out there.”
“Has anyone found a loon nest on the lake before?” Tea countered.
Pop swung the door open, holding it as Nan adjusted the strings on her sun hat.
She turned to Tea. “You coming?”
Tea pointed at the mug in her hand, then at her robe.
She then watched her grandparents take off in a giddy canter, headed for Pop’s fishing boat.
She stepped out of the cabin and onto the damp grass barefoot, sipped her coffee, and smiled as they disappeared down the lake.
She padded across the lawn and eyed the countless boats zipping around, frantic residents hoping they would be the first to find Pebble and the family of loons.
She slowed when she glimpsed Sandy Vanderberg sitting in a beach chair by the water’s edge, a scowl fixed on her face.
Tea stepped up to her, the sand sticking to her wet feet.
There was a second chair beside her, but at enough of a distance that Tea felt comfortable enough to ask if she could join her.
Sandy perked up. “Of course, my dear. Sit, sit.”
She dipped her chin and took a seat.
The sun was already beaming down on them, making her sweat in her bathrobe, which she forgot was still wrapped around her body.
She went to take it off then stopped, remembering that she only wore underwear.
She never slept with pajamas, especially in the cabin that didn’t have any air conditioning.
She tightened her robe.
“Your grandmother must be so happy that you’re here,” Sandy started.
“She wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks after your mother called.”
Tea swallowed the lump in her throat.
She didn’t want to sound ungrateful that her grandmother was taking her in for the summer, but she was still feeling unsettled about leaving Mom alone in New Jersey.
And the return of her dreams certainly wasn’t helping.
“I’m excited to be here with them,” she replied.
“It’s been a long time.”
“How long has it been now?” Sandy asked.
“Eight years,” she answered, so low she wondered if the other woman heard her.
Sandy hummed. “That is a long time, dear. I’m so sorry for your loss. Gareth was such a light to all of us. Always knew how to make us laugh.”
Tea white-knuckled the handle of her mug.
“Yeah. He was good at that.”
A figure in the distance caught Sandy’s attention.
She raised her arm. “Yoo-hoo, Archer!”
Tea’s stomach curled.
She took a sip of her coffee, which tasted far too acidic now that her throat threatened to puke up bile.
Plus, sipping on a hot coffee was not pleasant as she baked inside her bathrobe, even with the light breeze off the lake.
She pulled the robe even tighter, keeping her eyes out on Pop’s boat as Archer’s tall frame entered her periphery.
“Good morning, Sandy,” Archer said.
She could feel his gaze on her.
She sipped her coffee.
“Archer, dearest, what is the meaning of all of this?” Sandy asked him, throwing her arm out wide.
He scratched his head.
Tea couldn’t help but eye the tattoos on his right arm as his bicep flexed.
A black bear, a pine tree, a coiled snake .
There were so many of them.
He must have noticed her staring, because he dropped his arm and tucked them both behind him.
“Apparently there’s a baby loon on the lake.”
“A baby loon ?”
“Yes, didn’t you read the email?”
Sandy scrunched her nose.
“I hate my computer.”
Tea furrowed her brow.
“Why does no one ever touch a computer around here?”
“Because apparently they are the work of Satan,” Archer quipped.
Tea lifted her cup in front of her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Archer raised a brow at her in what could have been comprehended as a teasing manner.
But his expression shifted right back into something cool, calm, and closed off.
Sandy rolled her eyes, not taking Archer’s shit.
“If there’s really a baby loon out there, then how could you allow all of those boats out there? It’s creating a disturbance.”
He flashed Sandy a gleaming, charming smile, and though it had been eight years since Tea had seen Archer Vincent, she knew him enough to know that smile was his fake one.
His “Minnesota Nice” one.
“Sandy, you know we’re within the window that people are allowed to take their boats out on the lake. It is their right to do so. I don’t oversee that.”
Sandy harrumphed.
“We’re going to scare them away.”
“Will they leave the lake?” Tea asked.
Sandy and Archer both looked at her like she’d grown a third head.
She sunk deeper into her chair.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Of course they’ll—”
“They won’t leave,” Archer cut in, his chocolate-brown eyes finally acknowledging her for more than a second.
Her face flushed and sweat trickled down her back.
She was boiling inside her robe, and Archer was actually looking at her like she did, in fact, exist.
This was not how she’d envisioned her morning going.
“What do you mean they won’t leave? Look at these boats!” Sandy exclaimed, clearly distraught.
Archer crossed his arms in front of him, forgetting that he was trying to hide them from Tea.
“Once loons claim territory on a lake, they won’t leave. It’s not in their nature.”
He was staring at her again.
He was no longer smiling; his gaze was fierce, like she was simply another problem at the resort that he needed to handle.
She wiped the sweat on her brow and averted her eyes, hoping he would walk away first so she could escape into the cabin.
“Oh, well, that’s good then,” Sandy replied, oblivious to the tension.
“Did you find out how to bear-proof the dumpsters?”
Tea’s brows shot skyward.
“ Bears ?”
Archer’s gaze lingered on Tea for longer than a beat.
“Don’t worry, I’m handling it.”
She squirmed in her chair, her mind beginning to spiral.
No masks? Bears? Archer ?
Was Silver Falls really the place she should be all summer?
New Jersey had its risks, sure, but it sounded safer to Tea than being by the lake.
Archer coughed, then flashed Sandy one last Minnesota Nice smile.
“Excuse me, I have things to do.”
They watched him walk away and Tea counted to five in her head before she exhaled and leaned back against the chair.
“How are you not baking in that robe?” Sandy asked.
“It’s a million degrees out here.”
“No kidding,” Tea grumbled.
She stood up on wobbly legs.
“I’m going to put on my suit.”