Farewell to Cedar Key

by Terri DuLong

  Chloe laughed and squeezed my arm. “Come on,” she said. “Time to lock up and go home.”

  17

  Two days later I had unlocked the yarn shop at ten and was just taking my first sip of coffee when the door opened and two women walked in.

  “Good morning,” I said. “Can I help you with anything in particular?”

  “Hi,” the taller one said. “Are you Josie?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but I’m not the owner. Eudora and Chloe are the owners, and Dora will be here around noon.”

  She waved a hand in the air while the other woman began fingering the yarns on the front display table.

  “Oh, well . . . we wanted to meet you. I’m Eva. Eva Franklin, and this is my sister, Gloria Tucci. We’re Simon’s sisters.”

  “Oh,” I said, and felt my hand go to my hair as I wished I’d taken a bit more time with my makeup that morning. I walked toward them, extending my hand. “How nice to meet you. Simon said that you were a knitter.”

  “Oh, I dabble a bit, but Gloria here is the advanced and addicted knitter.”

  “Hi,” the other woman said and shook my hand after she replaced two skeins on the table. “As you can see, I get a little carried away in a yarn shop.”

  I laughed. “Is there any other way to be?”

  Gloria glanced around and nodded. “This is a lovely shop. I can’t believe I’ve never taken the time to come here.”

  “Thanks. We have the carriage house out back too. We keep the luxury yarns in there, so feel free to browse around.”

  “Great,” Gloria said. “I love working with cashmere. Simon told us you’re going to be his new nurse but that you’re helping out in here for a while. We wanted to come and see his new office and thought we’d check out the yarn shop while we’re here.”

  “Well, that’s great,” I said. “How’s Simon doing?”

  “Busy,” Eva said. “He’s really got his hands full at the moment, as you know. Between getting the new practice up and taking Lily around for her college tours. But he’s great. He’ll be back on the island on Monday.”

  “Terrific,” I said, and hoped I didn’t sound too excited by that thought.

  Both women wandered toward the cubbyholes containing yarn, and I realized that while Eva was tall and slim and Gloria shorter and a bit pudgy, they both resembled Simon, especially around the eyes. Once again I wondered what it would be like to have a sister. I would see Grace and Chloe together and even Sydney and Marin, although they were cousins and not sisters, and a sense of emptiness would come over me. Glancing at Gloria and Eva, I once again felt that childhood ache that I had no family member close to my age. Somehow with just my parents and me forming a threesome, I never seemed to have that sense of family that so many other women had. And unfortunately, my daughter was also destined to be an only child.

  “Oh, this is gorgeous,” I heard Gloria say. “You have a wonderful selection of baby alpaca.”

  “Thank you,” I said, even though I had nothing to do with the stock or the ordering.

  “Lily would love this. I think I’ll get it for her.” She placed the skeins into the basket she was now carrying. “It’s okay if I browse in back?” she asked.

  “Certainly. Go right through the screened area out back to the carriage house. It’s open, so just walk on in.”

  Both women headed out back, and I began opening a new shipment of yarn. I looked up to see Mallory walk in.

  “Well, good morning, girlfriend. You’re early for a yarn stop.”

  “Oh, I know. I found a pattern last night when I was going through a new issue of one of my knitting magazines. Those magazines’ sole intent is to get you to buy more yarn.”

  I laughed. “No! You think?”

  “Right. Silly me, huh?”

  “So let me see what you’ve got there. Oh,” I said, and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Simon’s sisters are out back in the carriage house.”

  “Simon’s sisters? What’re they doing here?”

  “One is an avid knitter and he told her I worked here and am going to be his new nurse, so when they drove over to see his office, they stopped in.”

  “Aha,” she said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Mallory laughed. “Checking out their bro’s future romantic interest, I’d say.”

  “Don’t be silly,” I said, and recalled Chloe saying the same thing to me a few nights before. “Let me see the pattern.”

  “It’s this,” she said, pointing to a loose, boxy sweater in a luscious shade of coral.

  “Gorgeous.” I began reading the instructions. “So you need some Ella Rae yarn, and I think we just happen to have that particular color.”

  “Great,” she said, and followed me to the cubbyholes.

  “Here ya go.” I pointed to the yarn. “You’ll need eight skeins.”

  “Thanks. So when are you seeing Simon again?”

  “Shh! Geez, we don’t need his sisters hearing you, and I have no clue. He said he’d call when he got back here on the island.”

  “And when’s that?” she asked, filling her arms with the yarn.

  “Monday, according to his sister. Here.” I passed her one of the shop baskets.

  “Well, as you can see, I couldn’t resist your cashmere.”

  I turned around to see Gloria with her basket nearly full, and laughed. “Yeah, there’s something about cashmere, isn’t there? Mallory, this is Gloria and Eva, Si . . . Dr. Mancini’s sisters. This is my best friend, Mallory Wilson.”

  “Nice to meet you,” they both said.

  Mallory nodded toward Gloria’s basket. “Same here. I see you’re another addicted knitter.”

  Gloria laughed. “Ever meet a serious knitter who wasn’t?”

  “I hear ya,” Mallory said.

  “Oh, what have you got there?” Gloria walked over and touched the yarn in Mallory’s basket.

  I held up the photo in the magazine. “Mallory found this last night and of course had to rush over this morning to purchase the yarn.”

  “Oh, that’s beautiful,” Eva said. “I love it. Making it for yourself?”

  “Yeah. I couldn’t resist.”

  Gloria passed me her basket. “Well, before I do any more damage here, you can ring me up.”

  I went over to the desk and began totaling her purchase. “This is a gorgeous shade of blue in the baby alpaca. You said it was for your niece? Isn’t it great that she also knits, and she learned at such a young age?”

  Gloria nodded and passed me her credit card. “I know. I have two boys, and they’re into sports, not knitting, so yeah, it’s nice to have a knitting partner in the family. But what really impresses me is the fact that she’s blind. You’d certainly never know it though if you could see some of her finished knitting projects. Lily is quite the inspiration.”

  Blind? Simon’s daughter is blind? I fumbled with the credit card twice before I finally managed to swipe it correctly. “Oh, I know,” was all I could say and was grateful when I heard Eva holler to her sister.

  “Now, look at this sweater,” she said, pointing to a finished piece hanging on the door of the armoire. “Christmas is coming, sis, so keep that in mind.”

  Gloria laughed. “Sure. Well, Josie, it was so nice to meet you after hearing all about you from Simon. I just love your shop, so I’ll definitely be back, and who knows; maybe we’ll get to see you again over one of the family’s big Italian dinners.”

  “Thanks,” I said, and watched them both walk out of the shop.

  “What the hell? Did I hear her right? Simon’s daughter is blind? Did you know this? Did he tell you?” Mallory’s bewildered expression mirrored exactly what I felt.

  I shook my head. “No. He never once mentioned that fact. I had no idea. But you know . . . I can’t put my finger on it, but whenever he mentioned her . . . I just had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. But I sure had no idea that she was blind.”

  “Gosh, I wonder
if she’s been blind since birth. But can you imagine? She knits, and knits pretty damn good according to her aunt. That’s amazing.”

  It was amazing. “Geez, I’m beginning to think my mother is so right. She’s always said that everybody has a story. We never know what some people have endured. They go along, day to day, living their life, and we just never know what sadness they might have encountered.”

  Mallory nodded. “That’s for sure. I wonder if it was Gloria who taught her how to knit.”

  I recalled what Simon had told me. “No, he said she learned from a teacher at school. I thought that was a bit odd because they don’t offer sewing or knitting classes anymore, so I figured the teacher probably taught her after school. But now I’m wondering if maybe she attended a special school for the blind and that’s where she learned.”

  “Oh, wait a minute.” Mallory held a finger in the air. “There is a school for the blind over on the east coast. Near St. Augustine, actually. I just recently read an article about it in some magazine.”

  “Hmm. So that could be the reason why he chose to live there even though his ex-wife lives nearby. Maybe he wanted to be close to his daughter and now . . . she’s graduated high school, so he doesn’t have to stay in that area anymore.”

  “Exactly,” Mallory said. “I’d bet anything that’s why he’s relocating to Cedar Key. You said his daughter will be off to college next year.”

  I nodded. “Right,” I said, and realized that much like Ben, I truly didn’t know Dr. Simon Mancini at all.

  18

  Sunday evening Orli was helping me wind some skeins of yarn when the phone rang. She draped the yarn across my knee and ran to answer.

  “Yes, she is. Could you hold, please?” I heard her say before she walked toward me and passed me the phone.

  I raised my eyebrows, asking a silent Who is it, but she just smiled.

  I said hello and heard Simon say, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  “No. Not at all. My daughter is just helping me wind some yarn.”

  “Well, I wanted to let you know I’m coming to Cedar Key in the morning. So I was wondering if maybe you’d like to get a pizza at the Blue Desert tomorrow evening.”

  “Sure. That sounds great. What time?”

  “Can you meet me there at six?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Great. Oh, my sisters told me they dropped by the yarn shop and met you the other day. They seemed to like you a lot, and I hear Gloria went overboard purchasing yarn as usual.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, she did. They were both very nice, and I enjoyed meeting them. Did they get to see your office?”

  “They did. I told the contractor they’d be stopping by. Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow evening. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Same here,” I said before hanging up.

  I looked up to see Orli staring at me. “Well?” she questioned, with a grin on her face. “Mom, don’t keep me in suspense. Who was that?”

  Sometimes I found it difficult to comprehend that this young lady joking with me was my grown-up daughter. Where had that little girl with braids and skinned knees gone to?

  “It was Dr. Mancini. His sisters stopped by the yarn shop the other day before going to see his office.”

  “Hmm,” was what my daughter said.

  I began winding more yarn. “What does that mean?”

  “They drove all the way over here to meet you?”

  “Of course not. They were coming to see his office and . . . well, one of them, Gloria, is a knitter so she wanted to purchase some yarn.”

  “So that was why he just called you?”

  “Not exactly. He’s coming back to the island tomorrow. So he called to see if I’d like to meet him for a pizza tomorrow evening. And I said yes.”

  “Well, good for you. I’ve been telling you for a while that you need to find somebody in your life, so yeah, good for you.”

  How is it that sometimes one’s own child can sound more like the parent?

  I laughed. “Well, thank you, Orli. I’m glad you approve.”

  “Oh, I do, but next time you should invite him here for dinner. I’d like to meet him. Uh-oh.”

  My head shot up. “What?”

  “We’re due at Nana’s for dinner tomorrow evening. This will be another one you have to cancel.”

  Shit. She was right.

  “Yeah, I’d forgotten. Well, not to worry. I’ll handle Nana.”

  I dreaded dealing with my mother, but the next morning I knew I had to bite the bullet and give her a call about skipping out on another dinner.

  “Josie, I was just going to call you. What’s up?”

  “Well, I wanted to apologize, but . . . well . . . I’m not going to be able to make dinner this evening. But Orli will be there,” I hastened to add.

  There was a slight pause before she said, “Again? What’s going on this time?”

  Same thing, I thought, dinner with Doctor McDreamy, but said, “Well . . . Dr. Mancini called last night and wanted to discuss some office stuff with me, so he asked if I could meet him for pizza at six.”

  Why on earth did I feel that I had to lie to my mother about this? I was a thirty-five-year-old woman, for heaven’s sake. Not some silly teenager. But somehow she always managed to make me feel like one.

  “Oh, I see,” she said, and I heard that frosty tone.

  “I’m really sorry, but this new job is important to me and it’s part of my job to help him get settled in.”

  “So nothing seems to have changed over the years. Nurses are still the doctor’s handmaidens.”

  “Mom, for God’s sake. It isn’t like that at all. I said I’m sorry, and I promise I’ll make the next dinner.”

  I heard my mother give a nasty chuckle. “Hmm, so you say now.”

  I took a sip of coffee and wished it were wine. “So why were you going to call me?” I asked.

  “Oh . . . that. It’s about CC.”

  Here we go again, I thought. I wondered if CC knew that she was my mother’s new obsession. Poor CC.

  “Well, I spoke to her on the phone last night. She got back from Tuscany on Friday.”

  “So she did go?”

  “Yes, of course she went. With that boy toy. You know CC. Once she gets a thought in her head, there’s no turning back for her.”

  Strange that my mother couldn’t see that she had the same trait. “So did she have a good time, or did her companion abscond with all of her money as you predicted?”

  “Not funny, Josie. And yes, of course she says she had a good time. But who really knows.”

  I couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Mom, why the heck would she lie to you?”

  “Well, I’m sure she’d never admit that I was right.”

  “So she went. She says she had a good time, so now what?”

  “Well, she’s coming for Christmas like she always does, but this time she’s bringing him. And I guess she must think I’m not real fond of this arrangement.”

  Gee, I wonder where she ever got that idea.

  “So instead of staying here,” my mother continued, “they’re booking a room at the Island Hotel. I told her that was downright silly with two perfectly good guest rooms here, but she won’t listen.”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. Two guest rooms? Two grown adults who were obviously sleeping together and she expected to separate them? No wonder they were booking their own accommodations.

  “Well, Mom, just be happy she’s still coming. You know damn well you’d be pretty upset if she broke the tradition of coming for Christmas.”

  “Yes, yes, I know. Oh, and guess what? It’s not definite yet, but Mags thinks she might fly down this year for Christmas also.”

  Good old Maggie. She was such an eccentric, but I adored her. She was the aging hippie in their group and lived up to her title with honor. It was impossible to be in Maggie’s company and not just plain feel good.

  “Oh, that’s great! So, see, yo
ur Christmas will be just fine. Maggie will really perk things up, and hey, look on the bright side—at least one of your guest rooms will get put to use.”

  “Yes, I suppose,” I heard my mother say grudgingly.

  A few hours later my mother called back. “Listen, Josie,” she said. “I’m not feeling all that great, and I think I’ll have to cancel dinner with Orli this evening. I’m really sorry, but I think she’ll understand.”

  “Of course she will, but what’s going on? You’re never sick.”

  “And I’m not sick now. Just a little tummy twinge. I’ll be right as rain by tomorrow.”

  “Mom, this tummy twinge seems to be hanging on. Don’t you think you should get in to see the doctor?”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  It was times like this that I became more exasperated than usual with my mother. “I know you like controlling all situations, but Mom . . . when it comes to your health and not feeling well, you simply have no control over it. At least go get checked out.”

  “Right. If it doesn’t go away soon, I will. Have Orli call me later and tell her I’m sorry.”

  I hung up the phone and shook my head. If I lived to be a hundred, I’d never understand why my mother was such a control freak.

  Pizza at the Blue Desert called for jeans and a lightweight pullover sweater. I chose the cotton one that I’d finished a few months ago—the yarn was from Kollage and the fiber was 100 percent recycled from blue jeans. I had made it in a shade of terra cotta, and it did go perfectly with denim.

  When Orli found out that dinner at my mother’s had been canceled, she asked if she could join Laura at the Pickled Pelican for a burger; she had just left. I grabbed my car keys and headed out the door to meet Simon.

  On the drive over I’d made up my mind not to mention what I’d learned about his daughter. It was none of my business, and I felt that if he wanted me to know, he’d tell me.