The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “I had an hour in between picking the boys up from school,” Brooke said. “It’s nice to just play around in the water like a ten-year-old sometimes. Do you come here often?”

  “Hopefully, I’ll soon be a regular.” Nora smiled. “I’ve been trying to create an exercise routine for a while. But I've just been too lazy.”

  “Oh, believe me, I know the feeling.” Brooke agreed. “It’s so hard to find time to work out.”

  Somehow, Nora didn’t believe her. Brooke was one of those people who looked like they spent hours on the treadmill each day. She was wiry-thin, with the glowing skin of someone who regularly works up a sweat. As a matter of fact, Brooke was the last person Nora would have pictured as a knitter. A rock-climber or a marathon runner, maybe. But the kind of calm, gentle person who loved to knit? No. It just showed - you couldn’t judge a book by the cover. After all, according to Natalie, Brooke had been the one to start the club.

  Remembering her promise to Natalie, Nora prodded Brooke gently. “No knitting meetup today?”

  “Oh, that. We rescheduled for next week. Jess had some chores and Natalie was busy with a client, apparently.” Brooke shrugged.

  “Is that the only reason?” Nora asked. “I heard some disagreements have cropped up between you four.”

  Brooke immediately grew defensive. “Who told you that? Maybelle? She’s so full of drama sometimes.”

  “Errr…no. Just something I overheard.” Nora shifted a bit. “About her and Jess having different ideas on what to knit this year.”

  Brooke rolled her eyes. “I love Maybelle, she’s creative and fun. But she’s a little stubborn sometimes. If she thinks something’s right, then it’s her way or the highway. Jess has a great idea, but Maybelle can’t stand ideas that aren’t her own. We’re sort of at a standstill, but I’m sure she’ll come around eventually. She has to.”

  “Or else a mutiny is in order?” Nora dropped the words carefully, paying particular attention to Brooke’s face.

  Brooke looked shocked for a second but quickly composed herself. “Did Tina overhear me and Jess? We suspected she did, you know.”

  Nora shrugged, giving nothing away.

  “Ah, I might as well tell you. You might talk some sense into May.” Brooke said. “She’s always insisted on leading our club, you know, although all four of us should be equals. Most of the time, we just let her have her way because she’s so passionate and she’s genuinely creative. But this time, I think she’s being ridiculous. She won’t even entertain Jessie’s idea. She threatened to leave our club. Can you believe it?”

  “Why not just back down, then?” Nora asked.

  Brooke shook her head. “If raising toddlers has taught me one thing, it’s that you never give in to a tantrum.”

  Nora laughed. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

  “Exactly! May has to realize that, just because she’s convinced of something, it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for everyone!” Brooke exclaimed. “Some of us have our own ways of doing things!” There was such heat in her voice that, for a second, Nora was taken aback. As if she knew she’d crossed some invisible line, Brooke hastily added. “I mean, it’s not her fault, really. May’s great. I guess she just has her own problems.”

  “What problems?”

  Brooke smiled. “May’s an excellent photographer, but things aren't going so well. I know she was planning to expand her career in some way, but it’s not always easy to figure out how. She’s had all sorts of wild ideas. She’s talked about opening her own Etsy knitting store. She’s been taking videos of herself doing yoga and adding them to her Instabook account hoping to get more followers. She nearly even got sucked into a multi-level marketing scheme, till I told her it was a fraud. But, basically, she’s frustrated. So, since her career’s at a standstill, she’s become extra attached to the knitting club. It’s the one thing that’s hers. But it’s ours, too, and she can’t just bully us around.”

  “Well, if she’s having a hard time, maybe part of being a good friend is supporting her,” Nora said gently.

  Brooke flushed a little. “I do support her. I just don’t support bad behavior. If you ask me, Natalie’s the one you should talk to. If she backed me and Jess, May would quiet down. But Nat’s never going to do that. She’s too afraid of May.”

  “Afraid?” Nora raised her eyebrow.

  “Well, they’ve been friends forever, and there’s nothing about Nat that May doesn’t know,” Brooke said. With a laugh, she added, “They’re more loyal to each other than husbands and wives are nowadays. Stupidly so sometimes.”

  “It’s good to have friends like that,” Nora said, thinking of Tina.

  “Yeah, I know. I really do love May, you know,” Brooke said. “To be honest, even I’m surprised at how serious this feud has gotten.”

  “It’s not just about the knitting, is it?” Nora asked. “It can’t be. There’s more to it.”

  Brooke bit her lip. “Yeah. I guess there is. I think I know what it is, too.”

  “There you are!” A voice called out from the doorway and both Nora and Brooke turned around. Maybelle strode to the edge of the pool, her face tight. She was wearing a maroon dress with grey heels and tights, and was holding a backpack across her chest. “We need to talk, Brooke. Right now.”

  “May?” Brooke looked at Nora and back again at her friend. “Not now, alright? Some other time.”

  “Just get out of the pool, will you?” Maybelle rolled out her words, giving Nora a sideways glance.

  “I-” Brooke looked uncertainly at Nora one more time. “I really don’t want to talk right now, okay?”

  “You never want to talk to me these days,” May said. “It’s about time you faced me, Brooke.”

  “May, just stop it!” Brooke’s face was red. “We’re in a public space, don’t make a scene!”

  “Actually, I’m just leaving,” Nora said, trying to defuse the awkwardness of the situation. “You two can have the place to yourselves.”

  “Thanks.” Maybelle tossed her curly black hair and rolled her shoulders like a boxer getting warmed up. She was so focused on Brooke that she barely looked at Nora.

  “Bye, Nora,” Brooke said in a small voice. Nora gave her a last glance as she wrapped a towel around herself. Strangely, she remembered what Natalie had said - "I thought we grew out of this in middle school.” Brooke had been the picture of a confident young woman just two minutes earlier, yet thirty seconds in the same room as Maybelle and she seemed to regress into a thirteen-year-old who was about to get reprimanded by the head cheerleader. Yet, in the tilt of Brooke’s chin, Nora could see that she was determined not to bow down to Maybelle.

  Good for her, Nora thought as she walked away.

  *****

  She’d finished showering and was brushing her hair in the locker room when Brooke walked in fifteen minutes later, her eyes downcast. Maybelle was nowhere to be seen.

  “Brooke?” Nora smiled. “Everything okay?”

  Brooke sat down on a wooden bench and toweled herself off. She bit her lip hard. “I hate her,” she said. “She can be so mean sometimes. I just hate her.” Her voice was small and shrill, and Nora felt a chill up her spine. It was the malicious voice of a teenager that’s been denied something they took for granted.

  “Brooke?”

  Brooke blinked, recovering herself. “Sorry. I…I’m sorry. I’ll just leave now.”

  “Hey, hang on a second.” Nora patted her on the shoulder. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I can’t.” Brooke looked more miserable than ever. “Never mind. I’m just being silly.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re clearly upset because of something May said. What was it?”

  But Brooke only shook her head. “She’s just…too much to handle sometimes. You know, Natalie once told me a story about May’s behavior back in high school.”

  “What was it?”

  “May was the head of the cheerleading squad. She w
anted to win so badly that she pushed everyone, even a girl named Cynthia who complained that she couldn’t do a certain move.”

  “Okay?”

  “Well, May and the squad ended up winning the championship cup, but Cynthia developed an injury that eventually forced her to drop out of sports altogether.” Brooke’s eyes were gleaming.

  “That’s horrible,” Nora said quietly. “Poor girl.”

  “Yeah. May might have felt bad herself, but she couldn’t change what she’d done,” Brooke said. “But she hasn’t learned from it, either. She’s still the same. If she thinks something is right, she’ll go at it full speed ahead. Ugh! I hate her!”

  The venom in Brooke’s voice had Nora wincing.

  “She needs to learn that everyone has their own way of doing things,” Nora said. “Even if they don’t seem right to her. Part of growing up is adopting a 'live and let live' policy.”

  “Exactly!” Brooke said, breathing harder. Then, she added, “I love May but sometimes she gets in a temper, and then she’s not the sweet, nice Maybelle anymore. She just…changes into this wild beast charging at its prey.”

  “What did she say to you?” Nora asked again, feeling concerned. “Did she threaten you?”

  Brooke shook her head again, vehemently. “Not exactly.”

  “You can tell me, you know. Maybe I could help.”

  “Never mind. Just…I need to go home and think.”

  “Brooke, don’t let her bully you, okay?” Nora said. “Not for something as stupid as the knitting club.”

  “Knitting cl…” For a moment Brooke looked confused, then her eyes cleared. “Oh, yes, the knitting club.” She barked out a laugh and put a hand over her eyes. “Forget it, Nora. You’ll never understand. Thank you anyway. Goodbye.”

  *****

  Chapter 4

  The Genius

  Nora found that the conversation with Brooke lingered in her mind, even as she did other things. She had a productive afternoon, finishing off some paperwork at the bank and shopping for shelves. But the look on Brooke’s face had stayed with her. The abject misery in Brooke’s voice as she professed to hating Maybelle stayed with her, too. Nora wondered why she even cared about the bickering of a group she hardly knew, wondered why her gut was warning of some impending storm. But, as she drove back home that evening, Nora found herself thinking of all four of the “Stitchin’ Witches”.

  “Hey, Mom.” Hazel swung open the door while Nora stood on the porch, key in hand.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Nora’s smile widened. Hazel had moved out of the house some time ago when she'd decided to start her own landscape-design company. The business was doing well, and Hazel now had a very nice condo of her own near Main Street. She still dropped by quite often, and Nora always felt much happier when she did. With both daughters having flown the nest, it often felt a little too empty, and days like this would help to fill up her heart a little.

  “Austin and I are making cookies, wanna help?” Hazel asked.

  “Cookies? What’s the occasion?”

  “We thought we’d go for a hike this weekend, and you know hiking is always better with cookies,” Hazel said. “You know how anti-social Austin is, and he has to deal with my party this Sunday. So this is how I make him happy.”

  Austin’s blonde head popped out through the kitchen doorway, a few strands of silky hair covering his eyes. “Hey, don’t badmouth me to your mom, woman. I’m perfectly social.”

  “Just not well-socialized,” Hazel teased. “Admit it, you’re dreading being surrounded by loud, happy people.”

  “That’s not true...” Austin muttered, but he bit back a smile. “I just prefer being surrounded by quiet trees and the gentle babbling of a brook.”

  “So, what kind of cookies are we making?” Nora asked, washing her hands and rolling up her sleeves. She saw mixing bowls and flour out on the counter, along with cinnamon and honey.

  “Gingersnaps,” Hazel said. “Austin can’t get enough of yours, Mom. I’m a poor second, but he’ll have to live with it.”

  They’d already mixed together the ginger, flour and other ingredients to form the dough, and were now working together, pinching off small balls from it. Nora joined in, muscle memory taking over as she rolled the dough between her hands. Austin had connected his phone to the bluetooth speakers in the hallway and was now blasting a song by Pearl Jam. All of them were soon singing along and laughing away as they created the cookies.

  “Thanks, you know,” Austin said, as he placed a flat disc of dough on the baking tray. “My boss has been on my case real hard all week, and I needed a break.”

  “Thanks for what?” Hazel smiled.

  “Just…letting me hang out with no pressures,” Austin said. “I’m so looking forward to the whole weekend - the hike, the party…everything.”

  “Poor Austin.” Hazel leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Don’t let your boss be too mean to you, okay?”

  “Tyler’s okay. I think he’s just stressed,” Austin said.

  “Tyler Abelard? Maybelle’s husband?” Nora raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. I told you he’s my new boss, right?” Austin asked. “He owns the Abelard factory and I’m his executive assistant.”

  “I’ve heard of the company.” Nora nodded. “I don’t know Tyler too well. It’s a family-run business, right?”

  “Right.” Austin nodded. “Tyler’s taken over now, and he’s doing things differently. That’s why he hired me. Said he needed to inject some new blood.”

  “Mmm.” Hazel grinned. “I did the landscaping for their new offices last year. Tyler’s good, but he’s not an easy guy to deal with. Super moody.”

  “You said it,” Austin agreed. “If he’s in a good mood, you feel like royalty. If he’s not, you feel like scum. He’s a genius, though.”

  “Hmm.” Nora’s mouth curved sidewards.

  “What?” Austin asked her. “He really is. I think he’ll take the factory from a million dollar to a billion dollar business someday.”

  “Mmmm.” Nora bit her lip but didn’t say anything.

  “Spit it out, Mom.” Hazel laughed.

  “Yeah, go on, Mrs. Nathaniel. Don’t hold back,” Austin said.

  “It’s just that I’m not a big fan of men who consider themselves geniuses and decide that it’s a license to treat others badly,” Nora said. “I’ve known many extremely successful men, and a lot of them managed to be polite and humble at the same time. Others just…pretend that success makes them an exception to the rules.”

  “In all fairness, I don’t think he’s deliberately mean,” Austin said. “He’s just really, really smart and dynamic and has a hard time keeping his cool if you don’t catch up to his ideas, you know?”

  “Austin’s Tyler’s number one fan,” Hazel teased. “Do you collect his autographs, too?”

  Austin messed up Hazel’s hair. “You are a mean, mean girl.” He grinned. “I don’t have stars in my eyes. I’ve actually seen the man work sixteen hour days for weeks at a time. I admire him.”

  Nora shrugged. “Admiring a work ethic is one thing. Admiring a character is another. Just don’t mix them up.”

  “Your mom should have been a sage instead of a cook.” Austin grinned at Hazel.

  “What makes you think she isn’t?” Hazel grinned back.

  Nora swatted at them both and dusted her hands. “Looks like the tray’s ready to be popped into the oven.”

  “Yay cookies!” Hazel threw the tray into the preheated oven, then poured out lemonade for all three of them. They leaned against the counter, talking and laughing as they drank. When the cookies came out, Hazel grabbed one and tried to bite in, even though it was still steaming hot. She gave a little yelp as she sunk her teeth into the cookie, then jumped around the room comically waving a hand in front of her mouth.

  Nora laughed. Austin took the cookie out of her hand and replaced it with a glass of lemonade.

  “The first rule of co
okie-baking is not to eat it until it’s cool,” Austin said. “I learned that at five.”

  “Hazel never learns.” Nora smiled. “Even as a kid, she’d grab a cookie as soon as it was out of the oven and then complain she’d burned her mouth.”

  “Well, that’s when it tastes the best,” Hazel protested. “Besides, life’s too short to wait for deliciousness.”

  “A fine philosophy,” Austin said. He kissed Hazel on the nose and licked his lips. “Mmm. Delicious.”

  “Get away.” Laughing, Hazel swatted at him.

  The doorbell rang and Nora glanced at it. Hazel sighed and looked at Austin. “Your turn to get it.”

  “I’ll go,” Nora said, wiping her hands on her apron. “You two carry on.”

  Humming to herself, she opened the door with a bright smile, expecting to see Harvey back home. Instead, Tina stood on the porch, trembling a little, her eyes wide and teary.

  “Tina?” Nora blinked in shock, then recovered quickly. She tried to pull her friend inside. “What’s the matter?”

  Tina resisted, pulling back at Nora and holding the door open. “Can you come?” she asked, her voice hoarse. “It’s…you have to come. Please.”

  Nora felt her stomach sink. She’d seen Tina like this before and she knew it had to be bad. Really bad. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Just grab your coat. I’ll explain in the car,” Tina said. “It’s Maybelle Abelard. She’s…I think she’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Nora stared at Tina. Austin and Hazel had come up behind her and they both looked at each other in shock.

  “No. No way. I just saw her talking to Tyler today,” Austin said. “She can’t be dead. You’ve made a mistake, Tina.”

  Tina bit her lip. “Austin…you work with Tyler, right?”