For a while, they were all worried that Riki might get in trouble over the scalping bot. But Tilbert assured them that there are very few laws in place when it comes to NFTs. It’s a case of the law not quite catching up with the ever-changing world of tech, and since there’s no actual signed contract between Riki and Marshall, it would be a real challenge for anyone to press charges against Riki for making a bot. Currently, he and Sana are working through Marshall’s stash, contacting the other artists and returning their stolen art.
The rest of the money was put toward the mortgage, and without the weight of mortgage payments bearing down on Julia’s shoulders, she’s been able to blossom with her photography, taking more artistic risks and quickly creating a reputation for herself as the next photographer to watch.
Meanwhile, Alex’s trial is still ongoing. Tilbert has managed to get one of the associates at his firm to represent Alex pro bono, and all Tilbert will say about it is that it’s going “about as well as these things can go.” Vera has visited Alex twice already, and each time, she brings food for the guards so they will be nicer to Alex. They keep telling her that they’re not allowed to accept food from visitors, but Vera knows she will wear them down soon enough.
They make their way to the teahouse at a relaxed pace, chatting as they wait for the tram, taking in the beautiful, lazy sight of San Francisco as it slowly wakes up. When they turn the corner of Vera’s teahouse, Vera frowns to see a small crowd. Ugh, they must be Winifred’s customers.
But as they get closer, she sees that, in fact, the handful of people are waiting outside her shop. When they spot her, one of them nudges the others.
“It’s Vera!”
“No soliciting,” Vera says sternly.
“No,” one of them, a young woman with purple hair, says. “We’re customers.”
Vera gapes at them. For once, words fail her.
“Surpriiise!” Julia says. “Oliver wrote this beautiful article about you and your teahouse and the rich history behind it, and the Bay Area Times actually bought it. They ran the story yesterday.”
“Oh, I’m actually here because of your TikToks,” the purple-haired woman says.
Julia blushes, smiling. “I told you, Vera, they got good engagement.”
“I’m an art student,” the woman next to her says. “I wanted to see the painting inside. Our art teacher showed it in our class.”
Now it’s Vera’s turn to smile. She is so proud of what Sana has done with the space, how she’s poured her incredible art out everywhere, even incorporating things like the light sockets. Every time Vera steps inside her shop, she is immediately transported to an otherworldly place, a space between real Shanghai and one that only exists in dreams, where she and Jinlong sit in a little boat and sip tea while letting the tips of their fingers trail in the cool, calm water. She is so pleased to hear that Sana’s work is getting the recognition it deserves. Sana has been so busy; Winifred took one look at Vera’s shop and immediately hired Sana to paint her bakery, that copycat. And before that’s even done, Sana has already been hired to paint two more places—a dumpling shop down the street and a swanky restaurant opening at the Embarcadero. The latter has agreed to pay her mid-five figures, which pleased even Sana’s mother.
“Well, I’m actually here for the tea,” a bearded guy says. “Yeah, CassieRed was raving about it. She says your teas are W.”
“My teas are . . . W?”
“It’s short for ‘win,’ ” Julia says.
“Why not just say ‘win’? Is longer to say ‘W.’ ”
“Just go with it, Vera.” Julia sighs, gently turning Vera around to face her store. “Now, come on and unlock the place so we can all have some tea. The others will join us soon.”
Even as she says this, Vera spots Tilly’s fancy car parking up across the street. Oliver is riding shotgun, and Riki and Sana are waving at them from the back window. Happiness floods Vera’s chest. She looks at the crowd—well, it is technically only three strangers, but as they say, three is a crowd—then at Julia and Emma, and Oliver, Sana, Riki, and of course, Tilly. She looks up at the sign that says: VERA WANG’S WORLD-FAMOUS TEAHOUSE. How funny that she used to long for her shop to be world-famous, when what she needed all along was a family like the one she now has. She slides the key into the lock and opens the door.
She turns to the crowd behind her and smiles. “Come in! What you all waiting for?”
Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse is open for business.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Folks, when I say this book had the most incredible journey, I am not kidding. I got a vague, blobby idea for Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers one night. It was truly blobby. It was literally: A little old lady who owns a teahouse finds a dead body and decides to investigate. I told a friend, who encouraged me to expand it into a pitch, and so I did, crouched in the dark while my two little kids slept (yes, I sleep with my kids, please don’t judge me). That pitch became what is now the back cover blurb.
I sent the pitch to Katelyn Detweiler, my agent, and asked her when we might be able to send it to Berkley. Due to my packed publishing schedule and contract clauses, we thought maybe the earliest that I could start writing Vera would be sometime in late 2023. Katelyn said we should share it with Cindy, my editor, anyway, just to give her an idea of what I might work on next. So we sent it to Cindy, and before Katelyn and I knew what was happening, Cindy said she and the entire team loved it, and could we push everything else back and publish Vera next?
The term “lolsob” has never been so appropriate. On one hand, I was exhilarated to know that they loved my little idea. On the other hand, I did not have a plot. Who’s the dead guy? Why is he dead inside some random teahouse? I don’t know! I told Cindy I was unfortunately lacking that little thing called a plot, and I think she said she had faith in me—my memory of those days is hazy due to the fact that my brain cells were imploding and screaming, “WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
The next few days I spent in a panic, trying to cobble together a coherent plot. I went to a café, which serves suspiciously strong coffee, and after my latte jumpstarted my heart with the strength of a lightning strike, a plot began to appear. I grabbed at the ghost of the plot with my sweaty hands and choked it into submission. (I mentioned how strong the latte was, right?)
A week later, I told Cindy that yes, I can do this. Let’s push Dial A for Aunties 3 and my upcoming adult suspense back one whole season so we can get Vera out ASAP. I mourned Dial A for Aunties 3 and the suspense, which I love dearly and can’t wait to share with the world. Cindy got to work, and I did too. While I wrote Vera, Cindy paved its way. She took it to a sales meeting (and by “it” I mean the tiny pitch because *nervous laugh* there was no book then!) and arranged for cover art to be made. My friends joked that at the rate this was going, I was going to have a cover before I even wrote the book. This did end up happening, and once again, I lolsobbed because what a perfect cover it was, and also oh my god, now my book was not only going to have to be done on time, but it also had to live up to this beautiful cover.