“Well, guilty or not, I don’t think you’re sticking by Aiden to punish yourself. Anyone can see the way you light up when he’s around. That’s not guilt-driven.” She rubbed her chin with her free hand. “I have to admit, though, you and Tom looked pretty happy when you were driving around in the storm delivering food last winter.”
“So you could see me with either one of them?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t be of any help on this one. I can tell you one thing, though. Aiden may be endlessly unavailable while he deals with his family issues, but I wouldn’t bet on a guy like Tom waiting around forever to find out. He’s no one’s second fiddle.”
“You’re no help at all.”
Lauren shrugged. “I never said I was Dear Abby.”
They finished their drinks in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.
Harriet stood up.
“Now I really do need to go stitch on that customer quilt.”
Lauren pulled her tablet computer from her bag.
“I’m going to do some work before I go home. I was stuck and thought a change of venue might help.”
“Shall we meet tomorrow to work on the mixer?”
Lauren agreed, and Harriet left, her stomach still tied in knots.
Chapter 5
Harriet held out a small red fleece jacket for Etienne.
“Mr. Renfro is a very friendly fellow, and I think you’re going to have a lot of fun helping him build toys.”
The boy slipped his arms into his jacket and turned to face her.
“Do I need to pack a lunch?”
Harriet smiled at him.
“Every time I’ve been to the Renfro house, Mrs. R has made enough food to feed a small army. She bakes a lot of cookies, too.”
Etienne’s eyes opened wider, and he started to smile.
“Only one cookie for you,” Madame deCloutier, the nanny, said in a stern voice. “We can’t be spoiling our dinner.”
The smile left his face, and Harriet bit her tongue to avoid telling Madame what she thought about taking the joy out of everything the kids did. She settled for squeezing Etienne’s hand in a way she hoped conveyed her intention to give him as many cookies as he wanted.
Lainie skipped down the servant’s stairs and into the kitchen.
“I found my bag,” she told Harriet.
“Mademoiselle, you must use the front stairs,” the nanny scolded.
“But your stairs are closer.”
Harriet handed the girl her coat before Madame could launch into a lecture on stairway etiquette.
“Let’s get your brother to the Renfros’ so we can quilt. I’ll bring them back in about…” She looked at her phone screen. “Two and a half…”
She trailed off when Aiden strode into the kitchen from the dining room. He clearly understood which stairs the lord of the manor was to use, she noticed; he would have used the sweeping front staircase to reach the dining room. A blue backpack was slung over one shoulder, and he held the handles of a large duffel bag in his opposite hand.
“Are you going on a trip?” she asked.
Michelle came in from behind him.
“He’s escaping the estrogen. My friend arrives tonight, and he’s feeling badly outnumbered.”
Aiden looked at Etienne and shrugged.
“Sorry, buddy. I’d take you with me, if I could, but I’ll be working.” He turned and looked at Harriet. “I’m not going far. I’ll be staying in my old apartment over the clinic. They never re-rented it, and it’ll actually be convenient this week. We ran a coupon special for discounts on spaying or neutering feral cats, and we have a full schedule.”
The children moved to Harriet, standing one on each side, and she put her hands on their shoulders.
“That sounds like a worthy cause.”
Aiden’s jaw tensed. “It is. We’re making headway with the feral cats, but people have this romantic idea that when they’re tired of their animals or when they have kittens they can’t give away, they can turn them loose in the park and it will be like they’re in a fairy tale forest. Unfortunately, the result is more Grimm than Disney.” He smiled. “Like my sister said, I’m badly outnumbered here, so I’m getting out of Dodge.”
“Aiden doesn’t want to be here when Marine arrives,” Michelle said. “They used to be an item.”
“That is completely untrue,” Aiden protested. “I had a crush on her when I was twelve and she came home from school with Michelle for spring break. It lasted all of a week, and she didn’t even know I was alive.”
“Oh, she knew you were alive, all right. All my friends did. Besides, we couldn’t miss you sneaking around and snooping on us. And then Mom told them to stop drooling over you or she was going to send them away.”
“No, she didn’t,” he countered.
“You can ask Marine. She’ll tell you. Your hair was long that summer, and they took one look at your black hair and crazy white-blue eyes and were goners. It was actually a little creepy.”
Harriet grinned. “He still has that effect on older women.”
Aiden turned to her.
“That’s a total lie. They didn’t know I was alive. They all were hot for some guy named Colt Parker. He was the quarterback of their football team.”
Michelle stepped in front of him and glared at him.
“You little sneak. You were listening in when we were talking in my bedroom.”
Aiden laughed. “You gotta love the vent system in these old houses. The closet in mom’s office was right over your room, and all I had to do was make sure the vents were open in both places and I could hear it all.”
Michelle swung at her brother, but he danced out of her reach.
“I think it’s time for me to leave,” he said. “You kids have fun.” With that, he opened the back door and left.
“We better go, too,” Harriet told Michelle.
“Thanks a lot for taking the kids. Lainie is enjoying her quilting, and Etienne has been talking nonstop about going to make toys. I really do appreciate you arranging that for him.”
“You’re welcome,” Harriet mumbled as she guided the kids to the door. This was possibly the first sincere thing Michelle had said to her, and it was a bit disconcerting.
Aiden was waiting outside by her car when she came out.
“Hey, can you two go get Randy from the kennel? Bring the black leash and collar, too, will you?” The children dropped their bags and ran off in the direction of the kennel, jostling each other in an effort to reach the dog first.
As soon as they turned their backs, Aiden pulled Harriet into his arms and kissed her soundly.
“What was that for?” she asked when the kiss ended and she could catch her breath.
“I wasn’t sure when the next opportunity would present itself, given the hordes of women descending on our town. I figured I’d better take my chance while I had it. I would like to point out that I’ll be alone all week in my lonely apartment should you find yourself available and willing to help save me from dying of boredom.”
“What about all that surgery? It sounded like a noble sacrifice you were making.”
“It is, but I can’t do surgery day and night. Our days are scheduled, but not much more than usual. Mostly, I didn’t want to be around with Marine coming. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the kids, but she was all too willing to initiate a young lad in the ways of women. And I was all too willing to let her.”
Harriet broke free and pushed him away.
“You didn’t!”
“No. No, I wasn’t that willing. She didn’t do anything she could get arrested for, but, boy, could she kiss. We took every opportunity.”
“Was she your first?”
He laughed. “No, that would have been Pammy-Lynn Bates in the third grade.”
“Third grade? Really? You little Lothario.”
“It wasn’t like that. Her girlfriend dared her to kiss me. I was unsuspecting, and after she kissed me, she punche
d me just to make sure I didn’t get any ideas.”
“I was in love with my horse in the third grade. I cried myself to sleep when I had to come to Foggy Point and stay with Aunt Beth for spring break and Henry had to stay in France.”
Aiden pulled her back into his arms.
“I’d have come and dried your tears, if I’d known.”
“You mean if you’d been born yet?” Harriet grimaced. “Now I sound like the creepy lecher.”
He kissed the top of her head.
“You aren’t a creepy lecher, and you know it. At our ages now, the difference is inconsequential and you know that, too.” He let her go as niece, nephew and dog came running toward them. “I thought I was going to have to send a search party to find you, you were gone so long,” he scolded them in a teasing tone.
“It’s Etienne’s fault. We tried to do rock-paper-scissors to decide who got to open the kennel and who got to put the leash on, and he kept messing up so then we had to do eenie-meenie-miney-moe, and we had to start over three times.”
Aiden put his hands into his pockets.
“Sounds like you need a better method for making decisions.” He pulled out two quarters and gave one to each child. “Carry these with you everywhere, and when you need to decide something, you can each choose a side and then flip the coin.” He demonstrated. “See? You’ll never have trouble with decisions again.”
Harriet looked at him as the kids tucked their quarters away and then climbed into the back seat of her car.
If only decisions really were that easy, she thought as she got in and drove away.
Chapter 6
Harriet unlocked the door to her studio and propped the kitchen door open before going upstairs to check the guest room Sharon would be using one more time. The day had finally arrived, and in a few short hours, quilters would begin descending on Foggy Point.
“Anybody home?” Lauren called a few minutes later.
“Be right there,” Harriet answered and, with one last survey, shut the bedroom door and returned to the kitchen.
Lauren pulled a stack of laminated crazy quilt pictures from a paper bag and set them on the counter. She scooped her long blonde hair in her two hands and into a ponytail in one practiced move, securing it with a scrunchie she pulled from her jeans pocket.
“I brought these over whole so we could make sure we were on the same page about how we’re cutting them.”
Harriet picked up the stack and leafed through the images.
“How were you thinking of cutting them?”
“I was thinking of doing the standard jigsaw puzzle innie and outie, but then I worried it might be too hard. Maybe we should just cut them in half and keep it simple.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure? Let’s go with your original plan. These people are quilters—they’re used to matching shapes.”
“If you say so.” Lauren pulled three white pages with black outlines on them from the paper bag. “I made templates in case you chose the puzzle piece option.” She handed one of the templates to Harriet and kept the other two for herself. “Got any coffee?”
Harriet finished cutting her final puzzle piece, placing the two halves in their respective stacks.
“Do you think it’s weird that I don’t have any pictures of Steve on display?”
“I think it would be weird if you had pictures of the rest of your family and excluded your dead husband, but, Harriet, you don’t have any family pictures anywhere in the house that I’ve ever seen.”
“If you had my family, would you? The only pictures I have of my parents are either publicity photos or formal portraits done by some important artist.”
Lauren set her last laminated piece on the table.
“If you’re asking me if I think your houseguest is going to think it’s weird, that’s a whole other thing.”
Harriet played with the edge of her template, curling and uncurling the corner.
“Will she?”
“You’re the one who knows her, but if she and her husband were good friends of your husband, she probably will expect to see his picture.” Lauren gathered all the quilt pieces and put them back in the paper bag. “Don’t you have a simple wedding picture? Maybe a four-by-six, or a five-by-seven—nothing too flashy. You and him and a bunch of flowers. You could put it on the mantle in the living room with some of your aunt’s ceramic knickknacks. It wouldn’t stand out, but it would be there if she’s looking for it.”
“I think I have something like that. Thanks, I’ve been driving myself crazy preparing for this visit. I just don’t get why this woman wants to stay with me. It’s not like we were good friends or anything. And she and her cronies certainly didn’t have the time of day for me when Steve died. I really don’t need any more drama in my life.” She rubbed her hands through her hair. “I hope she doesn’t have an agenda apart from wanting to learn to crazy quilt.”
“It’s entirely possible—” Lauren started, but she was interrupted by Aunt Beth and Mavis coming through the door.
Beth set a drink holder with four paper coffee cups on the table and shrugged out of her tan hip-length coat.
“Mavis and I thought we’d come wait with you. Isn’t your guest supposed to be arriving this morning?”
Harriet shook her head and looked at the drink carrier.
“How did you know there’d be four of us?”
Mavis set a plate of brownies beside the coffee.
“That would be me,” she said as she took her coat off and set it and her purse on the wingback chair in Harriet’s customer reception area. “I ran into Lauren when I was at the store getting chocolate chips to add to the brownies. She was on her way here, and I figured it would take you guys a while to cut all those pieces.”
“If you don’t want company, we can leave,” Beth added.
Lauren grabbed the plate of brownies and clutched them to her chest.
“We’d love to have you stay.”
Mavis looked at Harriet.
Harriet laughed. “I wouldn’t want to see a grown woman cry.”
She looked at Lauren, who set the brownies back on the table.
“Don’t you all have people to wait for?” Harriet asked when they were all settled around the kitchen table, each with what turned out to be a vanilla latte in front of them.
Lauren took a sip of her drink, then set it down.
“My lady comes at three-thirty this afternoon.”
Mavis reached for a brownie.
“Mine is going straight to the reception and then following me home.”
Beth set her cell phone on the table beside her cup.
“My visitor is coming from Portland. She’s going to call me when she reaches Seattle.”
Harriet twirled the plastic travel plug she’d pulled from her drink.
“Sharon should be arriving in the next hour or so. But I guess you knew that, since you’re here waiting with me.”
“You said she was taking an eight o’clock flight to Seattle from Oakland,” Beth reminded her. “If you add a two-and-a-half-hour drive to that plus time to get her car and luggage when she arrived in Seattle…” She glanced at her wristwatch. “…she should get here in about a half-hour or so.”
“And you’re expecting her arrival to be a train wreck? You and Mavis are here for what? To pick up the pieces when I fall apart?”
Aunt Beth reached across the table and patted her hand.
“Now, honey, it’s nothing like that. I just never heard you talk about this woman. You mentioned Lindsay and Kelly, but I’ve never heard you talk about Sharon.”
“There’s a reason for that. Lindsay and Kelly are quilters who had nothing to do with Steve or his friends. I didn’t really know Sharon, so there couldn’t be much of a problem. She probably thought it would be weird if she came to a quilt retreat in my small town and didn’t stay with me.”
“Good point,” Lauren said.
Mavis chewed thoughtfully on her brownie.
“And if everything is fine, it won’t matter that your aunt is here with her friend,” Aunt Beth added.
The two women looked at each other and nodded then turned in unison to look at Harriet.
Lauren smirked. “Do you two practice that?”
Lauren crumpled her napkin and stood up.
“I think I hear a car coming up the driveway.” She looked at Beth and Mavis. “Since you two have the arrival covered, I’m going to drop our puzzle pieces by the church and go home and get some work done before my ex-nun arrives.”
Mavis pulled a second package of brownies from the bag she’d brought.
“What are those?” Harriet asked.
“I brought some store-bought brownies for your guest.”
Harriet raised her left eyebrow in question.
“Never you mind,” Mavis told her.
“I’m out of here,” Lauren announced and exited the kitchen. After a moment, Harriet heard her open the studio door.
“Incoming,” Lauren called out. “Nice car, too,” she said before the door closed.
Harriet got up and went out to greet her guest.
Sharon parked her rented BMW Sports Wagon and got out, stretching as she did so. She left her car in the middle of the circular drive, blocking Aunt Beth’s Beetle.
“You are out here in the middle of nowhere, aren’t you,” she said.
“I hope the drive wasn’t too taxing,” Harriet shot back, but if her words hit their mark, Sharon didn’t show it. “Can I help you with your bags?”
“Sure, they’re in the back. It’s open.” She went up the steps past Harriet and into the house.
“No problem,” Harriet said to her back then located the two large suitcases. She struggled first one and then the other into the studio. Sharon came out of the half-bath off the kitchen as she entered.
Crazy as a Quilt (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 8) Page 4
