“Don’t be so hard on yourself. This isn’t her first lesson, and I’ve been giving her homework. She’s had practice cutting precisely and sewing a straight line.” Harriet picked up Sharon’s lopsided block. The two women looked at each other and laughed.
“It’ll get easier with practice,” Harriet told her when they could speak again. “No one who hasn’t sewn before just sits down and starts making perfect quilt blocks. Don’t pressure yourself. You can practice while you’re here. We spent most of this lesson on cutting. It will be better when you can just sew for an hour or two at a time.”
Sharon raised her eyebrows. “If you say so.” She looked at Harriet and blew air out of pursed lips. “Since my modeling career ended, I’ve been mostly a bust at everything I’ve tried. I designed our kitchen and the refrigerator spot was too small for a normal-sized unit. I got that corrected and took up gourmet cooking. That lasted until I blew up the pressure cooker in the kitchen.
“Rick banned me from the golf course when I over-swung and hit him in the eye with my club.” She smiled. “I was hoping this would be a success. Your quilts were always so beautiful. I knew I couldn’t do anything like that, but I’d hoped I could create something.”
“I don’t know about all that other stuff, but I do know you can do this. You told me before you learn quickly, and I believe it. Your work shows promise. You’ve a good eye for color, and crazy quilting allows for a lot of irregularity. Lainie is learning the basics, but much of that doesn’t apply to crazy quilts.”
“Are you going to be working with Lainie again tomorrow?”
“I’ll have to check with Michelle. We’re only scheduled to meet weekly, but I was hoping to have her over after class tomorrow before our group dinner.”
“I’d like to try my corner technique again tomorrow, if that’s okay.” Sharon tilted her head and looked past Harriet’s shoulder. “I think your friend is waiting outside for you.”
Harriet turned around and looked out the front window of her studio. Aiden was leaning against his Bronco in her driveway.
“I better go out.”
Sharon smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Harriet waited until Sharon was out of the studio and the connecting door was shut. She opened the outside door.
“Are you coming in, or do I have to come outside and freeze with you?” It was springtime in Foggy Point, but evenings were still cold.
“I didn’t want to interrupt you and your roommate. I figured you’d take Scooter out eventually.”
She stepped aside and held the door open.
“Sharon is upstairs for the night. How long have you been waiting out here?”
“I just got here. I had nothing better to do, since I can’t go to my real home, so I volunteered to do the evening hours at the clinic tonight.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t have to ask twice.”
“Yeah, Ron was glad to go see his kid’s soccer game.”
She looked at his face. He wasn’t smiling.
“What’s wrong?”
He was silent for a moment.
“I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression about me and Marine.”
Harriet shut the door behind him and sat in one of the two wingback chairs in her client reception area. She pointed to the other one, and he sat down.
“I didn’t have any impression, right, wrong or indifferent.”
“Even when Michelle said Marine was the ‘love of my life’?”
“I would have been more surprised if a guy as good-looking as you still are didn’t break a few hearts in his youth. Besides, I’ve learned not to believe most of what your sister says, even this reborn version. Having said that, she does seem to be trying. I get the impression she didn’t really want to invite Marine to stay at your house.”
Aiden leaned his head back against his chair.
“So, I’ve been worrying for nothing?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but you don’t have to worry what I think. Even the kids can see Marine’s a troubled soul.”
He let out a big breath.
“She always has been. Contrary to my sister’s romantic notions, Marine wasn’t the love of my life. I’d always brought home stray kittens and puppies. She was my first stray human. I realized later what was wrong with her would take more than a few normal dates and some of my mom’s home cooking. She wasn’t that easy to get rid of once I’d figured things out.”
Harriet stood up and went over to his chair. He opened his arms, and she sat down in his lap. She stroked a lock of silky black hair back off his face.
“How so?”
“You name it, she tried it. She threatened suicide. She scratched my car door with a key. She left long rambling messages on our phone machine. One time, she called all my friends and said she and her fictitious baby couldn’t live without me and then hid and wouldn’t answer her phone. The whole town was searching for her. I looked like a schmuck for ditching her in her hour of need.”
“But you did take her to the prom?”
“Only after she bought a dress and told everyone she was going with me. Half the town still believed I’d made her get rid of the pretend baby at that point. I hadn’t asked anyone else—I’d been planning on going to a program at the University of Washington with Julio that weekend. Jorge was taking us. It was a pre-college thing. Julio and I were big science nerds back then.”
“What did Jorge say about it?”
“To no surprise, he thought I was making a big mistake giving in to her demands. Peer pressure was intense, and I caved in. He was right. It only got worse.”
“How did things end?”
“I went off to college. After she’d spent some time trying to get acting jobs in California with no training, she came back to Foggy Point and tried to trap me into marrying her. Remember, she’s a couple of years older than me—I was in high school when she went to LA.
“Eventually, she got a scholarship to a drama program at a junior college. I guess she got involved in that and forgot me. There were rumors she got into drugs at that school, but I don’t really know. I didn’t want to know anything about what she was doing or where she was doing it.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I should go,” he said. “I just wanted to be sure my sister hadn’t caused us any more trouble.”
“We’re fine. I really do think the time your sister spent in the mental hospital has done her some good. She’s still no fun to be around, but it seems like she’s beginning to understand that and is trying to change her behavior.”
“I’m tired of talking about my sister.” He kissed her forehead then worked his way down to her mouth, ending all possibility of further discussion.
Chapter 10
A light rain was falling the next morning as Harriet guided her car into a visitor parking spot near the covered entrance to the Methodist church.
“You can get out here, and I’ll park down below in the workshop parking area. There’s no sense in both of us getting wet,” she told Sharon.
Sharon gathered her quilting bag and purse.
“Thanks. It’s silly of me not to have brought an umbrella.”
“It makes you look like a local. Only visitors carry umbrellas. Besides, I can use the exercise.”
Sharon opened the door and got out.
“Thanks again,” she said before turning and heading for the entrance.
“Aren’t we the good hostess,” Lauren said as Harriet got out of her car and locked the door.
Lauren was locking her own car door, but her roommate, Jessica, was with her. Jessica waved a hand at Harriet and joined her.
“Don’t let her fool you—she tried to drop me by the covered entrance, but I refused to get out. I need every bit of activity I can get. I’m not used to sitting all day.”
Lauren walked over to them.
“I hope your guest isn�
��t as surly as this one.”
Jessica poked her arm.
“You love it, and you know it. I bet you don’t get sparring partners as skilled with zingers as I am every day.”
Harriet laughed. “You’re right. I’m more of the straight-man type.”
Lauren slid her messenger bag crosswise over her chest after positioning her quilting bag on her left shoulder.
“I hope we get to sew something today. History is all good, but a full day of it was a little much.”
“Weren’t you listening? The morning was quilt history, and the afternoon was design.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. My design lady spent half the time reviewing the history again.”
Harriet looked at Jessica with raised eyebrows. Jessica shrugged.
“I have to agree with the blonde. Our teacher seemed to have one lecture, and it included history, whether you needed it or not.”
“That’s too bad,” Harriet said. “My teacher taught us a lot about color values and appropriate fabric choices.”
Jessica led the way through the rows of cars.
“Let’s hope for a day of sewing,” she said over her shoulder.
“Get away from me!” they heard Sharon yell before they reached the top of the stairs that led up from the lower parking lot. Harriet took the remaining steps two at a time, followed by Lauren and Jessica.
“What’s going on?”
Sharon turned to her.
“This woman is harassing me.”
Marine stood close to Sharon, staggering slightly as she twisted her body in Harriet’s direction.
“She won’t help me. They told me she could help me, and now she’s being all high and mighty and pretending like she doesn’t know me.”
Sharon threw her hands in the air and backed up.
“That’s because I don’t know her. I have no idea who ‘they’ are, and I never saw her before the meet-and-greet the other night.”
Marine swayed as she attempted to close the distance between herself and Sharon. Jessica stepped in and grabbed her by both arms. She looked back at Harriet.
“I got this. You guys go ahead in, I’ll catch up.”
She led Marine into the building before anyone could protest.
Sharon dropped her hands to her sides and then settled her quilt bag on her shoulder.
“That was weird.”
“And you’ve never met her before?” Lauren asked.
Sharon rearranged the front of her hair.
“Not that I know of. I mean, that would be awfully random. Isn’t she from around here?”
“She is, but Michelle said she was an actress in a soap opera in LA for a while,” Harriet explained.
Sharon was thoughtful for a moment.
“I modeled in a couple of commercials in LA. I sure don’t remember her, though—and I’m usually good with faces.”
“Jessica thinks she’s a drug user who’s had her supply dry up,” Lauren said.
Harriet started toward the door.
“Let’s go have some quilting fun and try to forget this little episode. Jessica says she has experience with this sort of thing.”
Sharon straightened her blouse.
“I guess we’re lucky she was here, then.”
Aunt Beth opened the church door.
“There’s coffee, tea and breakfast pastries set up in the cafeteria. You all look like you could use a little caffeine.”
Harriet hung back with her aunt when everyone had finished their coffee and left to find the restroom before going to their individual classes.
“We had a bit of a scene in the parking lot.”
Beth set her empty cup on the table.
“I figured something had happened. Your roommate seemed rattled, and Lauren’s gal seemed unusually subdued when she finally joined us.”
“Marine accosted Sharon when we arrived. She claimed she knew Sharon and wanted something from her we’re all assuming is drugs.”
Beth’s brows drew together.
“That doesn’t sound good. Are you sure Sharon doesn’t know her?”
“She says she doesn’t. She says it’s possible they were at the same party sometime when they were both in LA. Jessica has experience with troubled people, so she took Marine into the church office. I assume she called Michelle to come get her.”
“I’m not sure what Marine is doing here anyway. Your cat is more interested in crazy quilts than that girl is.”
“The week is young, so we have plenty of time to find out.”
Beth put her arm around Harriet’s shoulder.
“Let’s not borrow trouble. I’m looking forward to starting my first quilt block today.”
Sharon was waiting in the hallway when they came out.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to go home. I’ve got a migraine coming on. If I take my medicine and lie down, I can nip it in the bud.”
“Okay, I’ll go get the car.”
Sharon put her hand on Harriet’s arm.
“You don’t need to do that. I went to the office to find out about getting a cab, and your pastor said he was going near your place to visit an elderly woman. He volunteered to drop me on his way.”
“Let me know if I can do anything. If you feel better by lunchtime, I can bring you back.”
“Thanks. I better go back to the office so I don’t hold Pastor Hafer up.”
Chapter 11
The private dining room at Tico’s Tacos was full of quilters. Each of the Loose Threads had brought her roommate with her for the buffet lunch Jorge had prepared.
He entered the room, raising a pitcher of tea in one hand and lemonade in the other.
“Welcome to the Loose Threads clubhouse. I hope you are enjoying your visit to our town.” He began filling glasses and passing them to Aunt Beth, who distributed them around the table.
Jessica raised hers to Jorge.
“We thank you for all the wonderful food you’ve prepared for us. I, for one, will come back to Foggy Point again just to have your guacamole.”
Jorge smiled.
“I’ve trained her well,” Lauren told the group. “I had Jorge’s guacamole and chips waiting for her when she arrived.”
Connie’s Colorado roommate Pam took a glass of tea from Aunt Beth.
“Bobbi and I already decided we’re bringing our husband here at the end of summer to salmon fish. Rod said he’d take them.”
“You have a wonderful town here,” Bobbi agreed.
Lauren dipped a chip into the bowl of guacamole in front of her.
“Bring your quilts with you, and we can do a show-and-tell.”
Pam looked at Bobbi.
“Oh, dear. They think we’re going to finish these things this year.”
Bobbi laughed. “I hope we don’t have to wait until they’re done to come back.”
“Of course not,” Mavis assured them. “At least half of us won’t have ours done, either.”
Two servers brought in large bowls of warm queso dip to go with the chips, and conversation stopped while people sampled the warm spicy cheese.
Jorge delivered another meal the group wouldn’t soon forget. Camarones al mojo de ajo—white prawns in garlic—and chiles with plantains and refried black beans were served with a grilled cactus salad. When the quilters were convinced they couldn’t eat another bite, he proved them wrong by serving his signature flan.
Bobbi leaned back in her chair.
“I am in love,” she declared.
Lauren set her napkin beside her plate.
“It’s going to be hard to sew this afternoon after all this. I need a nap.”
Sharon appeared in the doorway.
“Am I too late?”
Connie stood and pulled a chair to the end of her table.
“Sit down. We’re just getting finished. Jorge!” she called out, mindful of the intercom system in the big room. “We have a late arrival.”
Sharon set her purse bes
ide the chair and sat down.
“I took my medication and then slept for a hour. When I woke, my migraine was gone, so I thought I’d come here and see how things went in this morning’s class.”
“Well, honey, we’re glad you came back,” Aunt Beth said with a warm smile.
Harriet was impressed. Her aunt had told her she thought Sharon was faking a headache to get out of quilting. The Threads had all agreed to be good ambassadors of Foggy Point, though, and she knew her aunt wasn’t going to be the one to let the group down.
Lauren leaned toward her.
“Anyone else notice that Marine never came back?”
Carla leaned in from Harriet’s opposite side.
“I hope she went back to wherever she came from.” Her cheeks turned pink, and she cast her gaze down.
“I doubt you’ll be that lucky,” Harriet said in a quiet tone. “If we’re lucky, Jessica handed her off to professionals. Hopefully, she’s in a detox somewhere.”
Mavis stood up. “Would anyone like to go for a walk in the park along the Muckleshoot River?”
Jorge handed Sharon a paper bag as the group stood and gathered their coats and purses.
“I packed you some taquitos and a little container of the nopales salad. I’m thinking after a migraine you don’t want a lot of food. I can give you more if I’m wrong.”
“No, thank you. You’re right. This is perfect.”
Harriet pulled her car keys from her pocket.
“I’ll bring my car up to the door for anyone who doesn’t want to walk to the start of the river trail.”
Several of the less mobile visitors indicated they’d appreciate the ride.
She was a few feet from her car when Michelle pulled into the parking lot. She stopped and rolled her window down.
“Have you seen Marine?”
“Last I saw of her, she was with Jessica at the church. Jessica was going to try to find her some help. Marine had a little confrontation with my friend Sharon.”
“I know, Jessica called me. The detox center couldn’t take her for a few hours. They had to discharge some people or something. I had her in the car, and we were going through town. I stopped at a red light, and she jumped out. I’ve been looking for her ever since.”
Crazy as a Quilt (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 8) Page 7
