Knit to Be Tied (13 page)

Cassie smiled at Jayleen as she went to her embrace. “I'm okay, Jayleen.” Jayleen clasped Cassie tightly.

“What did Tanya do when you guys showed up?” Kelly asked. Steve was draining a can of soda.

“She was shaking like a leaf,” Burt answered as he walked over to Mimi, slipping his arm over her shoulders. “I made it a point to remind Tanya that Pete has filed for custody of Cassie. And any judge would be taking Cassie's well-being into consideration. This past weekend will speak loudly as to Cassie's safety.”

Pete and Jennifer walked over to the counter, where everyone had gathered. “Marty, let's aim to get those papers filed in the next couple of weeks.”

Cassie approached Eric, who had tossed a dip-filled
potato chip into his mouth. Cassie scooped up several cheese cubes. “How was your game?” she asked Eric between munching the cheese.

“It was good,” Eric said with a nod.

“He did better than good,” Kelly said, grinning at Eric as she reached for some cheese cubes. “He caught the winning out for his team.”

“Awesome!” Cassie said, giving Eric a smile. “I wish I could have seen it.”

Eric swallowed his mouthful of chips and dip. “I'll catch another one.” Then he grinned at her.

“Did Tanya act upset when you told her you were taking Cassie back to Fort Connor?” Jennifer asked, her expression still anxious.

Pete shook his head as he popped open a soda can. “No. She looked scared, just like Burt said. I don't think she had any idea of what a scumbag her boyfriend really was.”

Kelly reached for a handful of potato chips. “And maybe she did. But was hoping he'd be okay.”

“I think that's more like it,” Steve added after he drained his soda.

“How's the little one?” Marty asked Megan.

“She went to sleep right away. The sitter said Molly was busy the whole time we were gone. She carried those big blocks around to different rooms and built things. Houses, I guess.”

“Good sign. Maybe she'll be an architect,” Steve said with a grin before tossing a cheese cube into his mouth.

“No way. She's gonna be an attorney,” Marty said, leaning over the tray and scooping dip onto his corn chip.

Kelly laughed softly. They could all use a laugh right now. “Wow, Molly's only nine months old and you're planning her future already.”

Megan leaned back into her favorite chair and grinned. “I have a feeling Molly will choose her own career.”

Marty glanced back to his wife. “Yeah, you're probably right. Molly's not one to take suggestions. Like it's time to go to bed, or it's time for a bath,” he said with a laugh.

Kelly and her friends joined Marty's laughter.

“Well,
I've gotta say I've seen you looking better,” Steve teased lightly as he and Kelly stood around Greg's hospital bed.

Kelly watched Greg's bruised face twist with a smile. “Yeah, I saw myself in a mirror as they were wheeling me in here. Scary.”

“He's actually starting to heal,” Lisa said, her hand on Greg's arm, the one that didn't have a cast. “The bruising on his face is not as blue. It's purple now.”

“Well, this is a really nice place to recuperate, I'll say that,” Kelly commented, glancing around the single bedroom. “They've got lots of nurses and nurses' aides scurrying around, and they must have all the newest equipment. This place is only a couple of years old.”

“Yes. All the doctors at the sports clinic sing its praises,”
Lisa said. “It's perfect for people to recuperate after orthopedic surgeries and before they go home. Greg needs more physical therapy before he can come home.”

Kelly looked at Greg's right leg, which was encased from above the knee to his toes in a cast. And it was elevated from an apparatus attached to the side of his bed. “How is he going to get around on crutches? He's got a broken arm, too.”

“He'll have to work his way up to crutches,” Lisa said with a wry smile.

“I want one of those electric chairs,” Greg said, voice still sounding a little hoarse. “You know. Stick my leg on it and ride around. Terrorize the nurses.”

“I can see that,” Steve said, chuckling.

Kelly had to laugh. “I'll make sure to warn the nurses before I leave.”

“Knock, knock,” Jennifer's voice came from the doorway. “We wanted to come in for a minute then let Cassie and Eric visit. Will that be too many people?”

“Steve and I will step out,” Kelly volunteered. “We want to let Greg see everybody.”

“We'll come by this weekend,” Steve said to Greg as he and Kelly headed toward the doorway. “Meanwhile, you just rest up and keep healing, okay?”

Greg held up the thumb on his uninjured arm.

“And leave those nurses alone,” Kelly teased in a lighthearted attempt at humor.

However, the seriousness of Greg's injuries had really shaken her when she first saw him. Greg's face was splotched all over with now-purple bruises and so were most parts of
his body that were not in a cast. Long red scratches on his arms were healing. Since it was summer, Greg had been wearing short pants when he was biking that night. So even his unbroken leg was bandaged in several places from cuts and abrasions.

Jennifer and Pete were waiting outside the doorway. “Is it as bad as it looks from here?” Pete asked quietly.

“It's scary looking,” Steve said, nodding. “But Lisa swears he's improving. And she would know.”

“She says he's purple now, instead of blue,” Kelly answered, noticing Cassie and Eric hovering nearby. “It's kind of a shock to see big strong Greg lying helpless in a hospital bed.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Jennifer said, beckoning Pete to follow her into Greg's room.

Cassie and Eric quickly walked over to Kelly and Steve. “He looks awful from out here,” Eric said, gazing through the doorway.

“Well, it is a shock to see someone you care about covered in bandages and casts on his arm and leg,” Kelly admitted. “So I'll warn you guys. It's gonna be a shock when you first look at him. So be prepared.”

Cassie's blue eyes went wide. “Can he talk?”

“Oh, yes. Not much yet. But he's starting to make jokes, which is a good sign,” Steve said with a smile.

“That sounds like Greg.” Eric nodded with a little smile.

“Yeah, he said he wants an electric wheelchair so he can race around and terrorize the nurses,” Kelly joked.

At that, both Cassie and Eric laughed out loud. That was a good sign, too.

•   •   •

Kelly
walked across the driveway toward the garden patio. Café breakfast and brunch customers still filled the tables dotted among the greenery, trees, and plants. Kelly always hated for August to end.

Finishing her client accounts earlier than she expected, Kelly headed toward the Lambspun shop. Skipping up the steps, she yanked open the wooden entry door.

Mimi looked up from the antique dry sink, where she was draping a loose-weave shawl. “Hello, Kelly. It's good to see you while it's midmorning. Often you're too busy to make it over here until later.”

“Well, my Denver client kept me on the phone for a couple of hours yesterday with a conference call,” Kelly said as she walked into the foyer. “So it's nice today to be able to finish early and come over here and relax.” She glanced around the central yarn room ahead and into the loom room, then leaned closer to Mimi. “Is Cassie here or is she out at a tennis lesson or something?”

Mimi smiled into Kelly's eyes and said in a quiet voice, “She's in the main room at the knitting table, and she's doing fine.” She gave Kelly a knowing smile.

“Oh, good. I'll sit and chat with her for a few minutes. See if she wants to help us plan a late summer picnic.”

“I'm sure she'd love it, Kelly,” Mimi added as she walked toward the front of the shop.

Kelly headed straight for Pete's Café. Now, for a tall mug of coffee. Caffeine first. Spying Jennifer standing beside the grill, Kelly got her attention. “Caffeine alert! Zombie status
can only be avoided by Eduardo's coffee,” she called out as she approached.

Jennifer laughed and reached for the mug dangling from Kelly's fingers. “Goodness, we can't have that, can we, Eduardo?”

Eduardo chuckled as he reached for the ever-present coffeepot and poured a black stream of steaming hot coffee into Kelly's mug. “Nope. We can't have zombies walking around, scaring customers.”

“Thanks, Eduardo,” Kelly said before sniffing the rich dark aroma. Then she took a big drink.

Jennifer shook her head. “I still can't understand how you can drink that scalding hot coffee like that. In winter it's one thing. But it's summer now.”

“I don't know,” Kelly said with a little shrug. “Maybe my throat grew asbestos cells inside or something.”

“Maybe you are turning into a zombie, Kelly,” Eduardo said with a grin as he turned back to the grill.

Two pancakes looked ready to flip. Kelly watched Eduardo effortlessly toss them in a spiraling motion so they both landed on their opposite sides. A perfect light brown.

“Maybe. I'd better watch to see if I develop that scaly zombie skin,” Kelly joked.

“Oh, please.” Jennifer waved her hand and made a face as she loaded her tray with the plates of pancakes on the counter. “People are eating around here. No more zombie discussions.”

“If you insist,” Kelly said as Jennifer walked toward the café tables. “Talk to you later, Eduardo.” Kelly was about to head back to the knitting shop when Eduardo spoke again.

“Hey, Kelly, tell Steve and the other guys ‘thanks' for showing up in Denver over the weekend. Jennifer told me what the guys did. I hope it scared that no-good.”

Eduardo then uttered some words in Spanish that Kelly had heard from other people over the years. Eduardo was definitely not wishing Tanya's boyfriend continuing good health. Not at all. “I think they scared the daylights out of him, Eduardo,” Kelly said with a wicked smile. “Serves him right. But Cassie took care of herself first. I'm so proud of her. She told him off and got the heck out of that apartment.”

Eduardo nodded. “Cassie's a smart girl. And she belongs here with Jennifer and Pete.”

“And us,” Kelly added with a wink.

Eduardo grinned wide. “You bet.” Then he returned to the grill, and Kelly walked back into the knitting shop.

As she rounded the corner from the hallway into the shop, Kelly noticed some bright colors that caught her eye. Summer colors. Fire-engine red and bright turquoise blue, sunshine yellow and shamrock green. Pausing to touch the colorful fibers, Kelly felt the familiar texture of cotton but also something else. Something different. What was it? She burrowed two fingers farther into the yarn skein—summer corn yellow—and stroked the fibers. Maybe . . . bamboo? She checked the label. Bamboo. She'd guessed right. Amazed again at how versatile a fiber bamboo was. It could be turned into sturdy fibers for floor mats or softer fibers suitable for sweaters, even baby clothes. And it was completely natural, not synthetic.

Kelly gave the sunny skein one more stroke then continued toward the main room. She spotted Cassie at the far end
of the room, putting magazines in one of the two racks in the corner.

“Hey, Cassie. I see Mimi has you hard at work as usual,” she said as she placed her shoulder bag on the long library table.

Cassie gave her a quick smile. “This is easy, Kelly. Your batting practice early this morning was hard work. My arms are still sore.”

“That will only last a couple of days,” Kelly said as she settled into a chair. “I worked you girls pretty hard. You'll all be trying out for your high school's junior varsity softball teams soon. So I wanted to make sure you girls were finely tuned, you might say.” Kelly grinned then took a large drink of coffee.

“I hope you're right. Usually freshmen play on the freshman team. They don't make JV.” Cassie slipped the last magazine on the table into its appropriate slot on the turnstile.

“Unless they're very good,” Kelly hinted with a sly smile. “And you and the other five freshmen are really good. I predict you guys will make JV. Unless some heavy-duty talent has moved into town during the summer.”

Cassie laughed as she pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table. “Heavy-duty. That sounds like a truck.”

“Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Okay, let's switch adjectives. How about supercharged talent?”

“Supercharged. I like that.” Cassie nodded. “That was great of you to schedule a special clinic, Kelly. The other girls and I really appreciate it. If we make the JV, it will be because of all your help.”

Touched by Cassie's compliment, Kelly acknowledged the praise with a nod of her head as she raised her coffee mug. “Thank you, Cassie. But it will really be the result of all of you girls working hard this entire summer. Hard work pays off, especially in sports.”

“Megan says we have to practice four hours for every hour of lessons in tennis.”

“She's right. And that's another reason you in particular have improved so much in batting. You're out there on the tennis court as well, practicing shots. All of that builds up your muscles as well as sharpens your instincts. Tennis is a fast game. You've gotta think fast and move to the ball.”

“Boy, is it ever.” Cassie picked up a blue and green ribbon yarn knitted piece from the table. “I should finish this belt if I want to be able to wear it next week when school starts.”

Kelly pulled the white alpaca sweater from her large shoulder bag. Not quite half finished. Clearly, she needed more knitting time. “And speaking of instinct, I wanted to tell you again how proud I am . . . we all are . . . that you listened to your instinct last weekend and got the heck out of that Denver apartment and away from that creepy guy.”

Cassie made a face. “Creep is right. I swear, I can't understand why my mom stays with that guy. He's gross. And he's a total
loser
!”

Kelly pondered how to phrase her reply. Cassie had touched on a sensitive topic. “I don't know why some women stay with guys like that, Cassie. Maybe they're simply afraid of being alone. Living alone can be scary for some people. I lived alone for years before Steve and I got together. But I never really felt like I was alone. I mean . . . I had all my
friends that I saw every week. And I came over here and visited with Mimi and lots of knitters at the shop almost every day.”

“And you had Carl,” Cassie said, glancing up from her knitting needles. Her hands moved quickly through the movements. Row after row of blue and green ribbon yarn formed.

“You're right. I had Carl. Dogs are great company. Cats can be, too. But don't say that in front of Carl.”

“My friend Marsha has a great kitty. Black-and-white face, so she calls her Panda. She jumps up on your lap and starts purring right away. She's so sweet.”

Kelly slipped a knitted stitch from one needle to the other, joining the others already collected there. Row after row appeared on her needles. She'd relaxed into the “knitting mode” and enjoyed several moments of quiet at the knitting table.

“You know Lisa's friend Nancy?” Cassie spoke into the quiet. “I heard her talking to Mimi a couple of times when Lisa was over at the hospital and rehab center with Greg. She's going to have a baby, isn't she?”

Kelly blinked out of her quiet knitting mode. “Uhhhh, yeah. Yes, she is. I was sitting with Lisa here at the table when Nancy was here knitting a baby hat.”

“Is she married to that guy she talks about? I think his name is Neil.”

“Ummmm, no. No, she's not,” Kelly answered, profoundly glad that Jennifer had already had the “sex ed” discussion with Cassie.

“She really looks upset a lot of times. Sounds like she wants to get married but that guy doesn't.”

Bull's-eye
. “You hit the nail on the head, Cassie. This guy Neil sounded like a creep to me. Nancy said he acted all loving and attentive until she told him she was pregnant. Then he didn't want anything to do with her. Rejected her at an Old Town bar in front of other people even.”

Cassie screwed up her face. “Eeeuuuuu! He really was a creep.”

“Yep. You got that right.” Kelly glanced up at Cassie, who was clearly starting to discern why some people behaved the way they did. “There are a lot of creeps out there in the world, Cassie. Sad to say. But it looks like you're learning to spot them.”

Cassie shook her head. “I hope you're right. I'm trying. Some people start off acting really nice and fun. Then suddenly they kind of . . . change.” She gave a teenaged shrug.