Tight Knit

by Shaya Crabtree

  “No,” Lara said. “I don’t really read it either.” Her cappuccino turned lukewarm in her hands. “My ex-girlfriend is in charge of the paper, so I tend to avoid it.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Genie said, looking at Lara instead of her cup for once. “The lady you were with the day Sanchez got in your face, right?”

  Lara was trying to block out that day. Or at least that moment from that day. She nodded.

  “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. This Genie granted your wish.” Genie nodded toward her with raised eyebrows, expecting something that Lara didn’t think she had to offer.

  “Uh, what?”

  “The wicked witch is dead, Spellmeyer. She got you fired by reporting your unprofessional behavior, and I got her fired by reporting hers. It was about time. She was starting to get on my nerves.”

  Lara had to put her cup down to ensure that she didn’t drop it. Did Genie say what Lara thought she’d said? Sanchez got fired?

  “Are you telling me some kind of joke to cheer me up? Because it’s working.”

  Genie smirked. “I’m a librarian, not a comedian.”

  “How?” Lara asked. “It’s your word against hers. The board loves Sanchez.”

  “Loved. Your friend recorded the whole blowout. She sent me the video, and it was her idea to show the disciplinary committee. Sanchez was out of line, and even they couldn’t deny it once they had the physical evidence.”

  “Holy shit.” Paige had done that? It was one of the nicest things anyone had done for Lara, and Paige hadn’t even mentioned it.

  “If you ever want your job back,” Genie said. “I’m pretty sure the new manager will give you a second chance.”

  “The new manager?” The library was always understaffed to say the least. There was Genie, the woman who’d replaced Lara, a couple of pages, the guy who oversaw the DVD collection, and a rotating group of high school volunteers looking for a gig to put on their college resume.

  “You’re looking at her!” Genie smiled and leaned back in her chair like she owned the place. “It’s more work than I set out for, but worse things have happened to better people. Now I can take ten-minute bathroom breaks, and no one can yell at me for it.”

  Lara didn’t need the job. Festive Feline Fashion was still hanging on, if only by a thread. But if things kept going as they were, maybe the library wouldn’t be such a crappy place to go back to work to pay the bills. Not that Lara would entertain staying in Perry for a job anyway. Who was she, Paige?

  “That’s awesome, Genie. I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks. I’d drink to the good news, but…” Genie pointed to her empty cup.

  “Have mine.” Lara’s cappuccino was that awful state of not yet cold but not hot anymore either. She didn’t want it. She certainly didn’t need the caffeine to boost her mood anymore.

  “You know me well, Spellmeyer. Bribery like this will get you far if you decide you want to interview for your old job again.” Genie reached across the table, and the cup exchanged hands. Genie took one short sip and grimaced. “Jesus, kid, are you trying to give me diabetes? There’s an entire bag of sugar in there.”

  “Sorry.” Lara packed up her laptop and slid her chair away from the table to stand. “Thanks for telling me about Sanchez.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Genie waved dismissively. “Don’t think I’m going to be this nice to you all the time. You got lucky I was feeling generous.”

  Lara was lucky, and she knew just the person she wanted to share that luck with.

  When Lara stepped into her grandmother’s room, she was surprised to find herself interrupting someone else’s visiting session.

  “Paige? You’re here again?”

  Paige was sitting in the chair beside her grandmother’s bed. Lara’s chair. She had pulled up a TV tray as a makeshift desk, and she balanced her pen against the notebook on top of it. A tripod was set up on the other side of the bed. Paige’s camera flashed red in Betty’s direction.

  “Paige is interviewing me,” Betty said.

  “Your grandmother’s also a finalist for the Hometown Heroes contest. I think she’s winning.”

  Betty placed an appreciative hand on Paige’s arm, enjoying the hammed up compliments; and Lara couldn’t even be mad to see Paige. Betty deserved this. Hell, Lara had written in her name, too.

  “I guess I can come back later when you guys are done.”

  “No, no, sit,” Betty said, motioning to a chair on the other side of the room. A chair that was most certainly not Lara’s favorite chair.

  “I don’t want to intrude.”

  “You can stay,” Paige said, as if Lara needed her permission. “I won’t be too much longer.”

  How could Lara say no to that? It would be nice to observe and make sure Paige was giving Betty the interview she deserved. And if Betty was happy to be doing this, then Lara wanted to watch her eyes light up as she told her stories. She sat down.

  Lara spent her time working on a knitting project she kept in her purse while Paige asked questions and took occasional notes. Lara had never seen Paige so focused, and it was nice to see Betty get the recognition she deserved.

  It was some time later before Paige shut off her camera and began packing up her gear. With Paige distracted, Lara figured now was her best chance to squeeze in a few words with Betty before visiting hours were over. “Gam Gam, do you remember my old boss?”

  “The awful one?”

  “Yep. She got fired.”

  Paige continued packing, but a small smirk lifted the corner of her mouth.

  “They offered me my old job back,” Lara continued. “I’m not going to take it, but it’s still nice to see her gone.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “I have more good news too.”

  “Oh?” Betty quirked an eyebrow.

  “I’m going to be in the Harvest Festival parade this weekend. We pass by the nursing home, so you might be able to see us. Tight Knit has its own float.”

  Betty grumbled. “I hate parades, but, for you, I’ll watch.”

  “Why do you hate parades?” Paige asked.

  “They remind me of motorcades. I was in D.C. when JFK was shot. It was a horrible time. Everyone was in a panic.”

  “You lived in D.C.?” Paige asked.

  Lara couldn’t tell if this was part of the interview or not.

  “I’m from Virginia, right outside McLean, where all the rich people who want to live in D.C. but don’t want to deal with city life live. I went to a women’s college in the capital, and I met everyone there. Young artists, politicians, musicians. It was lovely for the most part. That’s where I met my husband. He was visiting on a business trip and we happened to be in the same bar. That’s when I should have known he’d turn out to be a drinker. But we were young, and it really didn’t become a problem until later.”

  “What did you study in school?” Paige asked.

  “A bit of everything. Once I graduated, I went to law school. I was the only girl in my class, and I thought that was hard, but finding a job once I graduated was harder. No one took me seriously. I had to move to Roanoke just to find a firm that wanted me. Eventually I got to run my own practice in McClean for a couple years. I hired all women. I was the first in town to have an all-female staff. Dan followed me everywhere. No complaints. That’s when I knew I was going to marry him. And that I’d travel anywhere for him too.”

  The two of them had led such an exciting life together in the beginning. Lara’s own parents were so square and uninteresting, and Lara blamed that on the fact that they were forced to grow up in Perry. How her accountant father was directly related to someone as exciting as Betty, Lara didn’t know. The older Lara got, the more she vowed to end up more like her grandparents than her parents. Minus the alcoholism part. But Lara blamed that on her grandfather getting stuck in Perry.

  “Don’t you miss Virginia or D.C.?” Lara asked. “You were practically forced to settle down here
. Why didn’t you ever go back?”

  “No one forced me to stay in Perry. I loved my husband very much, and I wanted to move here with him. He’s from here. He liked it here. Hank liked it. I raised my family here. It was home for me as much as McClean was. Home is where you make it, Lara.”

  “But you’re from D.C.! How do you come from a place with so much excitement and not crave that when it’s gone?”

  “Everywhere is exotic at first. Even Perry was exciting and different when I first moved here. I still love to travel, of course. You don’t lose your sense of adventure just because you start a family. Dan and I had plenty of fun traveling after Hank was born and after he went out on his own. We flew to Panama to see the canal. We walked on the Great Wall. I still take a cruise every year. Well.” Betty coughed. “I did until this year anyway.”

  “Why not stay in any of these places? Why did you guys come back?” Lara hated vacations. Her own parents never took her anywhere too exiting—the Grand Canyon, Nashville—but all the trips ever did was get Lara’s hopes up. Look at this wonderful place full of excitement and opportunity—too bad we can’t live here. Vacations just made her feel even more stuck in Perry. If Lara were Betty, she would have gone to China and never come back.

  “Because this is home. No one wants to die amongst strangers. Why have a grave if there’s no one around to visit it?”

  “God, that’s a great line.” Paige dug her notebook out of her bag and scribbled frantically. Lara couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.

  “Did you get everything you need for your interview, dear?” Betty asked.

  “I think so,” Paige said. She chewed on the end of her pencil like Rocket chewed on the end of Lara’s phone charger.

  A soft rap rocked the wood of the door. A nurse stood in the doorway, smiling. “Visiting hours are over soon.”

  That was their cue to leave. Paige repacked her notebook and Lara stuffed her knitting supplies back into her bag. “I’ll be back soon, Gam Gam.”

  “You better.”

  “Me too, Betty,” Paige added.

  “You better too.”

  As Lara and Paige stepped out into the hallway, Betty’s voice boomed out louder. “Oh, Lara! I have one more thing to say!”

  Lara peeked her head back into the room. Paige remained by her side. “Yeah?”

  “I’m getting out of here.”

  Lara’s heart skipped a beat. She’d thought Betty was going to say she’d forgotten one of her knitting needles, not tell her the most important news she’d had in two months. “What? When?”

  “Two weeks.”

  Two weeks. That was so soon. She needed to talk to Glenda. She needed to get Betty’s house ready. Lara had never had such a happy reason to pile a million things on her plate.

  “Gam Gam, that’s great! I’m so happy for you.”

  “Believe me, nobody is happier than I am.”

  The nurse strolled by, “We’re just going,” Lara said without further ado. “Bye again, Gam Gam.” Betty waved, and off Lara and Paige went, for real this time.

  It wasn’t a long walk to the parking lot, but it was long enough that if Lara didn’t say something, their side-by-side stroll would turn awkward. “That was really nice interview, Paige.”

  “Thanks. Just doing my job.”

  Lara bumped her side playfully. “No, really. Gam Gam’s going to love it when it comes out. You were good today. Although I guess you did lie about how long the interview was going to take.”

  “Betty’s a great subject. I couldn’t help myself.” Paige tucked her hands into her pockets and stared sheepishly down at her shoes as they turned the corner into another hallway. “So, uh, did you see the video we made yet?”

  “I read the comments,” Lara said, choosing to be honest rather than lie about watching it.

  “People seem to like it so far,” Paige said. “And you. Think of it as my apology for running that article on the Roger Feldman scandal in the first place. I know you’re still unhappy with me about that.”

  “I was pretty mad, but most of the buzz from it has died down by now, at least. Thank you for apologizing.”

  “Thanks for accepting my apology. It means a lot.” Paige held open the front door for her. Lara thought this was where they’d go their separate ways, but Paige lingered. “Hey, I was wondering something.”

  “I’m not getting ice cream with you, Paige. I have plans tonight.”

  “Another date?”

  “No, I’m helping plan a welcome home party for Gam Gam.”

  “Oh.” The news seemed to make Paige as happy as it did Lara. “That’s great! Also, I wasn’t going to ask about ice cream.”

  “What, then?”

  “I heard you say you were going to be in the Harvest Festival. I’m going too, to cover it. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to carpool with me?”

  Lara wasn’t sure she heard that correctly. “Why would we carpool?”

  “My car’s been acting up lately. It’d help me out a lot. Maybe I can give you a sneak peek at Betty’s article during the car ride or something.”

  Paige was trying to sweeten the deal, but Lara didn’t understand why she wanted the deal in the first place. “But why would you want to go with me?”

  “I want to be friends.” Lara definitely needed to get her ears cleaned. “Or, you know, just be civil with each other. It feels like we’re starting to patch things up, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Could Lara be civil with Paige? There was a time when she couldn’t, but now the idea didn’t seem so impossible.

  “You know your grandmother made me do the interview when she knew you were going to show up. She told me to talk to you and try to work things out. I told her I would, and I want to honor that.”

  Betty would. That wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was Paige honoring her promise for once. Lara couldn’t turn it down if this was what Betty wanted.

  “Alright. Yeah. I’ll pick you up the day of the Harvest Festival.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Paige’s entire house was the equivalent of Lara’s bedroom.

  Lara had never seen so much junk in one place, and she’d grown up down the street from both a flea market and an antique store. How had Paige managed to accumulate so much stuff? Where had she gotten it? It certainly hadn’t come from her parent’s place in Oklahoma City, and it also hadn’t been there when they were living together.

  Lara had to kick an umbrella off the doormat as soon as she stepped inside. In fact, she had to watch nearly every step. Trinkets and baubles were all over the place, and if Lara made one wrong move, she would certainly trip over something, which would only cause her to stumble over something else. The whole place was a war zone, and Lara wanted to avoid the domino effect of explosions that would come from tripping the first mine.

  “Jesus, Paige. You could have cleaned a little before I came over.”

  “I did, actually.” She kicked a pair of exercise weights beneath the couch after checking to see if Lara was watching her. She was.

  Paige seemed as preoccupied with the mess as Lara was. Her eyes roamed the sea of junk like an old lady at an antique store rummaging for a lost family heirloom.

  “What are you looking for?” Lara scoured the mess more analytically, looking for something particularly out of place that Paige might need. More than once while they were dating, Lara had been the one to heroically locate a pair of lost keys or a misplaced television remote.

  Paige ignored Lara’s question, stalking to another corner of the living room to finish her quest alone. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll find it.”

  “Jeez, just trying to help. No need to get snippy.” Lara’s toe banged against a tilted stack of magazines avalanching from the bottom shelf of the coffee table. “There’s also no reason to live like this.” Without thinking about it, Lara bent down to restack the magazines into a neat pile.

  “I’m enjoying the bachelor lifestyle.”
/>   Paige’s house looked like she had five kids, not like she was single and living it up.

  “Bachelorette,” Lara corrected.

  Paige rolled her eyes. “The point is, I don’t have a nagging wife to tell me to clean up.”

  Was that a jibe? If being nagging meant not living in filth, then Lara wouldn’t take it as an insult. “Maybe you should get one. Although I don’t know what girl would date you when you live like this.”

  “You dated me when my dorm room looked like this.” Paige raised an eyebrow.

  Fair point. “Young love is blind. And naïve. If I had been smarter and less distracted by that pretty face of yours, I never would have asked you to be my partner on that English project.”

  “Then how would you have gotten an A?” Her lips twisted. “You thought I was pretty, eh?”

  Lara remembered everything about that project: meeting with Paige after class; finally getting her phone number after staring at the back of her head all semester; being alone with Paige in her trashed dorm room; kissing her on that stupid old futon Paige had refused to throw away when they’d gotten their first apartment together. They’d worked for hours on that project, giving it more long nights than it actually deserved, mostly because they spent more time flirting and hanging out than doing actual work. She especially remembered falling asleep on Paige’s bed and waking up to her portion of the project already done. Back then, Paige’s ridiculous work ethic and her obsessive drive to complete tasks as expertly as possible had seemed admirable and romantic. And it hadn’t hurt her grade either. If only it hadn’t hurt their relationship later on.

  “I was naïve, not stupid. I would have managed.”

  “You weren’t stupid,” Paige agreed. “You weren’t blind either. Which is why you still think my face is pretty.”

  Lara stammered incoherently and struggled to find a rebuttal that wouldn’t immediately follow with Paige twisting her words again. Damn those shady journalism skills.