by Tara Randel
“And,” Gwendolyn added, “the tourist rush is in the summer, so we all stay close to home.”
“Will you be here all summer?” Mary Beth asked Annie.
“I’m planning on it. Grey Gables needs some work, and I’d like to spend time getting the place in order.”
“You picked a wonderful time of the year to visit,” Gwendolyn said. “Fourth of July is right around the corner. Then there’s berry picking and going to the beach.”
Alice chuckled as she pulled out a large piece of aida cloth and her cross-stitch. “You sound like a sound bite for a tourist commercial.”
“We all have to do our part.” Gwendolyn eyed the other woman in all seriousness. “Well, we do.”
“Gwendolyn’s husband, John, is the president of the Stony Point Savings Bank,” Mary Beth explained. “A more civic-minded couple you have yet to meet.”
“And promoting activities in the town is part of our duty. We take it very seriously.”
“Which works for me,” Mary Beth chimed in. “The more tourists that walk through that front door, the better my bottom line.”
Annie twined the pastel pink yarn around the hook to add another stitch, enjoying the women’s small talk. She’d been so out of things back home. Maybe this was a place she could relax, enjoy herself and, with new friendships, figure out what to do with her life.
When Mary Beth belted out a laugh, Annie viewed the faces of the other women. Every one was smiling, enjoying herself, with the exception of Stella. She hadn’t said one word since Annie arrived, and Annie wondered if the woman was always so silent. As Annie’s eyes met the older woman’s, she felt the wariness radiating from across the circle. Their gaze held momentarily. Stella pointedly looked away. Confused, Annie wondered what she’d done to garner such a guarded stare, then she remembered that she was the lone outsider in the group.
The conversation turned to Betsy and her Originals.
“I had Betsy come to the shop many times to teach a beginner class or talk about her work,” said Mary Beth. “Everyone loved her.”
“Really,” Kate added, her words hitched. “We packed out the store on those days.”
Gwendolyn nodded. “She was certainly talented.”
“But she’s no longer with us,” said Stella, her stilted voice silencing everyone. “I’ve never understood why people insist on dwelling on those who have passed. We certainly have our memories, but it’s time to move on. Betsy would want it that way.”
All eyes zeroed in on Annie. Why would Stella say that? Annie didn’t want to tread into uncharted water here, but this was her grandmother they were talking about.
“I think it’s good to talk about family. There’s so much joy in sharing memories, and my grandmother left so many good ones.”
“I’ll say,” Mary Beth chimed in. “After news of her passing got out, I had so many calls from stitching enthusiasts asking about her. The interest in her has skyrocketed. Many collectors are already on the hunt for any of her projects out there. Unfortunately, there aren’t many circulating.”
Annie immediately thought of the cross-stitch at home and looked over at Alice. As evidenced by her secret smile, it seemed she was thinking the same.
“She never mentioned that she had anything new in the works,” Kate said. “I asked her when she was in the store last, and she changed the subject. I wasn’t surprised. She was always hush-hush about her projects.”
“Maybe she was working on something new and didn’t want to spill the beans,” Gwendolyn commented as she wound yarn around her knitting needle. “I can’t tell you how many times through the years I tried to get Betsy to tell me what she was working on. She’d always give me that sly smile of hers, and I knew I’d have to wait for her newest masterpiece, like the rest of the world. About drove me crazy.”
“Or maybe she’d stopped working. I know I hardly ever saw her,” Peggy said with a twinge of resentment in her voice. She cast a quick glance at Kate, before looking away. “She slowed down a lot as she got older.”
“Trust me,” Gwendolyn laughed. “It happens.”
Although it was true her grandmother was always working on something, Annie remained reticent on the subject. For now.
Stella addressed Alice. “You lived next door. Was she busy?”
“As far as I could tell, but she always made time to talk to me.”
“You had to talk to someone. You never come to town anymore,” Peggy groused.
“I’ve been busy.” A shadow crossed over Alice’s eyes.
“So busy that you ignore your friends?”
“I still come to the Hook and Needle Club.”
“Which is a good thing, because we love having you.” Mary Beth patted Alice’s arm, but Alice didn’t look any less unsettled.
The store phone rang, and Kate set aside the prepackaged cross-stitch inventory she was pricing as she rose and crossed the aisle to answer it.
“She’s been moody,” Peggy observed.
“It’s Harry,” Gwendolyn whispered.
The women nodded, practically in unison. Must be some kind of insider knowledge. Knowledge Annie hoped to have after she’d been here for a while.
She scanned the room again. For the most part the women had been welcoming.
And then there was Stella. Everything she’d said so far had been … pleasant, but there was an undercurrent of tension that Annie couldn’t put her finger on. Maybe she never would, outsider that she was. Then again, Alice had warned her about Stella.
So much for fitting in.
“I suppose your grandmother was working on some new cross-stitch?” Stella asked grudgingly, if only to be nice.
She flashed an almost honest smile for the woman. “Always. I see you’re knitting, but have you ever done cross-stitch?”
Stella turned her nose up. “I only work with good old-fashioned yarn and needles. Your grandmother may have made a name for herself with cross-stitch, but really, most women I know like to create useful things, like this sweater for Jason. Practical, as far as I’m concerned.”
“My grandmother’s work was art,” Annie assured her as pleasantly as possible. She tamped down her exasperation with the older woman, making nice on this first visit with the club.
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Mary Beth said, obviously the peacemaker. “That’s what makes this group so interesting. Still, we will miss Betsy.”
“It’s not healthy to live in the past,” Stella replied. “I haven’t, and I’m not going to start now.”
“That’s a shame,” Annie remarked deciding to change the subject. Obviously Stella had issues. Maybe her late husband’s passing had really been a trial for the older woman. Annie could relate. “I had hoped to find out more about Stony Point, and you ladies seem like the best source.”
That statement brought complete silence to the group. Great, she’d put her foot in her mouth. Tough crowd.
“We don’t pry into each other’s affairs,” Stella warned.
“Oh, I wasn’t trying to gossip. I’m interested in the history of the town, the people that settled here. I’m not interested in what’s going on now. Well, I am, in that I want to be a good neighbor, but not to gossip--”
“Better quit while you’re ahead,” Alice cut in with a nervous laugh. “What Annie is trying to say is that she wants to learn more about our community. Become a part of it.”
“So you’re planning on staying?” Stella asked, her back becoming ever more rigid as she sat straight up in her chair.
“I haven’t decided yet. Probably through the summer, at least to get things straightened out at Grey Gables.”
“That remains to be seen. Grey Gables has seen better days.”
“Stella meant that there’s a lot of work to be done,” Peggy explained, glancing nervously between Annie and Stella.
“I can speak for myself, thank you.” Stella eyed Annie. “The house was once grand. Now it just looks … sorry. I don’t kn
ow what Betsy was thinking, living there when she could barely take care of it.”
“It was my grandmother’s home. I think she didn’t want to live anywhere else.”
Stella shrugged. “Selling the place would probably be your best bet. We always get vacationers looking to purchase a summer home.”
Annie couldn’t imagine selling Gram’s beloved home to strangers who would live there only during the summer. “I’ll make that decision when the time comes.” Annie’s voice was casual yet firm. These people might not like outsiders, but they sure didn’t have a hard time telling them what to do. Or maybe that was just Stella.
An awkward silence fell over the group. That’s when Annie realized the women were waiting for the outcome in this volley of words. Not wanting to make matters worse than they already seemed, Annie clamped her mouth shut.
“On that note,” Mary Beth chirped, breaking the unsettling moment, “I think we should talk about our summer project.”
“Do you think now is the best time?” Stella asked, her tone as stiff as her bearing.
Everyone glanced at Annie.
Right. The outsider. Let’s not talk in front of her.
She glanced at her watch, working hard to cover the unexpected ache the words brought. “Alice, look at the time. Remember I promised LeeAnn I’d call her this morning.”
Alice cocked her head. “Call LeeAnn?”
Annie addressed the group in general. “My daughter. She’s been curious about Grey Gables.” She packed up her crochet, not letting them see her distress. The meeting hadn’t gone exactly as she’d hoped, and right now she wanted to go home and lick her wounds.
“Right. LeeAnn.” Alice followed Annie’s lead and neatly stowed her project away, as Kate returned to the edge of the circle.
Annie stood, trying to make the false smile she mustered seem real. “It was great to meet y’all. I look forward to working with you ladies again.”
“Next Tuesday,” Mary Beth reminded her, forcing a cheerful note to her words.
“Right,” Annie repeated as she caught Stella’s frown amid the guarded faces of the other women. “Next Tuesday.”
* * *
With a heavy heart, Mary Beth watched the two women leave the store.
“Well, that was awkward,” Peggy said as soon as the door closed.
“It didn’t have to be.” Mary Beth stared pointedly at the other women before crossing the room to the window. She really liked Annie, wanted her to be part of the club. She thought she’d be a welcome addition. Unfortunately, having lived here so long now, she’d forgotten the small-town wariness of strangers.
“I’m just saying …” Peggy shrugged.
“She just lost her grandmother,” Kate pointed out in a stronger tone than necessary.
“And we should consider that.” Mary Beth turned to face the ladies. “We’ve all been there at some point in our lives.”
Stella huffed and dropped her knitting in her lap. “As a newcomer, she can’t come into our group and cause dissension.” She scanned the group. “Where are your loyalties?”
Mary Beth wasn’t surprised by Stella’s stance. They’d had plenty of arguments on just this subject. Mary Beth welcomed and encouraged new friends. Stella didn’t trust anyone, new or old.
“Our loyalties,” Mary Beth said, “are the fact that we all enjoy needlecrafts. Do we need anything else?”
“I’m not taking sides,” Kate clarified as she forcefully stuck a price sticker on another package. “But since Betsy just passed away, it’s no surprise that Annie would want to remember her. Where else would anyone want to talk about her but here in the very place Betsy endorsed needlecraft products? She loved A Stitch in Time.”
“She loved spending time here with certain people,” Peggy muttered.
Stella bristled “My point, ladies, is that we must be careful. Remember when that woman, what was her name, Sandy something, tried to join the group just to get the dirt on our town?”
“That was Sunny Campbell,” Gwendolyn corrected. “She wanted to write an exposé on small-town drama. I read her column whenever John and I are in Bangor. She likes controversy. The more dirty laundry aired, the better.”
“And we don’t,” Stella added calmly. “We protect Stony Point just the way it is.”
“That’s right,” Peggy agreed. “We’re a small town and we have our standards. And one of them is not letting an outsider privy to our lives.”
Mary Beth couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She loved these women, but she didn’t love how close-minded they could be sometimes. “Annie isn’t a reporter,” she reminded the group. “She’s a new friend trying to fit in by discussing Betsy. Her grandmother. Her family.”
Peggy set down the swatch of gingham fabric she was stitching into her quilt design. “Betsy was one of us. Annie isn’t.”
“Yet.” Kate’s cheeks grew red.
Peggy angled toward Kate. “So now you finally weigh in on this?”
She glanced at her boss, Mary Beth, her jaw working.
“Tell us how you really feel,” Peggy goaded.
“Ladies.” Stella interrupted the squabble, a slight trace of a smile forming. “I think today was just an off day. We got off on the wrong foot. I’m sure Annie didn’t mean anything.”
Annie didn’t mean anything by talking about her grandmother? Mary Beth thought it should be the other way around. Stella had created the tension, not Annie. Over the years that Mary Beth had known Stella, she’d picked up on Stella’s distrust, for lack of a better word, of outsiders. The disdain in her tone or an unflattering frown sent toward an unsuspecting visitor showed Stella’s thoughts plainly. Which was odd, since she’d lived more years in New York than she had growing up in Stony Point.
Mary Beth stopped struggling with her thoughts. She wasn’t going to change years of inherent attitudes in one afternoon. Nothing would change today. But there was always tomorrow.
“I have a suggestion,” Mary Beth said as she paced around the circle of chairs. “Let’s start over next week. I’m sure Annie would appreciate it if we gave this another try.”
Everyone in the group agreed. Lips pursed, Stella continued knitting without saying a word. Was that a yes or a no?
5
I blew it.” Annie moaned as she and Alice walked into Grey Gables.
“Don’t worry about them. Actually, for your first visit to the group, you did pretty well.”
“You mean they’ve done that before? Scared off potential club members?”
Alice belly laughed. “Oh, yes, they do it all the time. Look at it as a rite of initiation.”
“I don’t know if I’m cut out for that.”
“Look, I know you want to make friends. Give it time. It’ll take folks in Stony Point a while to get comfortable with you.”
“How long?”
Alice glanced at the clock on the wall as she passed it going into the living room. “From now? I’d say, oh, about five years.”
Annie sank down into a chair. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“By the end of the summer, they’ll forget where you came from. Look, Mary Beth likes you. Kate and Gwendolyn warmed up. Peggy can be a real hard sell. And Stella?” Alice rolled her eyes. “She’s tough on everybody.”
Annie lightly brushed the upholstery with her fingers, caught up in her own misery. “I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I thought if they knew I was interested in the town, and not gossip, it would make things easier.”
Alice took a seat on the couch, crossing one leg over the other. She snatched up a nearby pillow and held it close. Boots came sauntering into the room, stopping to give them a bored stare before jumping onto the couch and curling up in a ball.
“It will get easier. Besides, there are other ways to get the town history. I know you want to find out who the woman in the cross-stitch is, but you have to accept the way it is. There will be an opportunity to bring it up to the group.”
“Speaking
of opportunity, I meant it when I said I needed your help with this mystery.” Reaching over to the end table, Annie grabbed the pad she’d jotted her notes on and passed it to Alice. “Tell me what you think.”
Alice scanned the list. “Detailed.”
“Occupational hazard.”
“It’ll work. Keep remembering what your grandmother used to say. Patience is a virtue.”
Annie grinned. “And here I thought I’d mastered that. Apparently not.”
“Sometimes it takes time to feel a part of an established group. Even if you’re already part of it. I know from firsthand experience.”
Alice’s comment warmed Annie. She was glad to have Alice on her side, even if she spoke in riddles sometimes. “Okay, that’s the second time you’ve made some sort of cryptic comment about your problems here in town. What’s up?”
Alice’s lashes lowered as she gazed down at the needlepoint pillow in her lap. “Since the divorce I haven’t quite settled back into my life.”
Annie didn’t miss the regret in her friend’s tone. Obviously the breakup weighed heavily on her.
“I don’t think you ever go back to the way things were after a life-changing event.” She, too, had lost her husband, only in a different way. Her voice cracked when she spoke. “I understand the heartache, the longing for life to go back to the way it was.” The pain and hours of wishing your loved one would come back, knowing he never would. Her throat closed up and hot tears threatened.
“Maybe it’s just me,” Alice finally opened up, her voice shaky. “Maybe I’m overly sensitive to the remarks my friends make. All I know is that ever since the divorce, people are … weird around me and that makes me uncomfortable, which makes people think I’m distant. I guess the rumors flew, and I’m not ready to talk about what happened with anyone.” She paused, swiping at her eyes. “Really, I just don’t want to get hurt again. It’s one of the reasons I don’t do much in town anymore, except for the Hook and Needle Club. Sometimes being there is uncomfortable too.”
“I wish I could help.” Annie pushed out the words that had gotten clogged by emotion. “I’m still dealing with my own loss.”
Alice’s features softened as she regarded Annie. “I know and I’m sorry. And I thank you, because just listening goes a long way. I haven’t really had a friend I could be myself with. And I haven’t exactly been a delight to be around, either.”