Valise in the Attic (2 page)

“The mayor will be there,” Peggy said.

Annie felt her face flush as her friends grinned at her, and she steeled herself for more teasing about Mayor Ian Butler. Ian had made his fondness for Annie quite clear, but Annie was keeping it strictly friends between them. She’d already married, loved, and lost her beloved Wayne. After his passing, she really wasn’t interested in romance, though she was glad Ian had become a good friend.

Of course, she had to admit her friends weren’t totally coming out of left field with their teasing. She’d gone out with Ian a few times for engagements that could only be called dates. He’d talked her into going to a karaoke restaurant, and then he serenaded her from the stage. And she’d been his date for the formal Harvest Ball as well. Still, despite what those things might look like to the romance-obsessed Hook and Needle Club, she firmly considered Ian Butler to be a good friend—a really handsome, good friend.

“Are you sure you want to leave him out there in the cold all by himself?” Alice asked, her blue eyes sparkling.

“Especially around beautiful actresses,” Gwen Palmer added, kiddingly.

“Oh?” Annie asked, hoping to change the subject. “Do you know who is going to be in the film?”

“No,” Peggy said glumly. “But I hope Brad Pitt will be the star. I would love to see him in real life. Or Matt Damon. I just loved him in those
Bourne
movies. Wally and I have seen all of them.”

“I’ve seen those too and all the
Ocean
movies. He’s in those,” Alice said, then grinned. “Though I like George Clooney better. Now there is an actor I’d love to see close up.”

“Or Orlando Bloom,” Gwen said.

“Gwendolyn Palmer! that boy is half your age!” Stella scolded, clearly scandalized.

“He is
not
half my age! Of course, my marriage is older than him,” Gwen said. Annie saw a wicked sparkle in her eye. “I just like his acting, he’s very talented. I admire talented people.”

Stella just harrumphed, which sent all the women into giggles.

2

While the rest of the Hook and Needle Club laughed, Gwen kept naming young actors who all had work she admired. Finally Stella refused to react anymore, though the older woman’s knitting needles still seemed to click disapprovingly.

“Really, Annie,” Alice said when Gwen finally settled back with her own knitting and stopped teasing Stella. “You have to promise to think about it. It won’t be nearly as much fun without you.”

“What does this audition require?” Annie asked. “Will we have to wear costumes or memorize lines?”

Peggy shook her head. “We’re just supposed to gather in the Community Center at four this afternoon. I’ve already gotten permission to take a long break at the diner.” At that, her eyes suddenly widened and she looked down at her watch. “Speaking of which, I promised to be back by now. I have to run!” She gathered her things and did just that.

Stella sighed as they watched the pretty young waitress hurry out the door, trotting past the big front window on her way to the diner. “I wish she didn’t have to work so hard,” Stella said. “I’ve tried to give them money, you know. Then she wouldn’t have to work so many hours. She and Wally wouldn’t take it.” Stella shook her head. “Too much pride.”

Annie smiled a little at that. Pride was something Stella herself had in great abundance. In fact, her pride had nearly made Annie’s life miserable when she first came back to Stony Point after Betsy died. Annie was glad she could now see Stella’s warm heart under her proud, prickly exterior.

“So, Annie,” Alice said. “Are you going to join us this afternoon? Please?”

Annie frowned, and then laughed as Alice clasped her hands dramatically and turned on her most pitiful begging look. “I guess so, but I’m going to feel completely silly,” Annie said finally. “And if I catch cold, you have to bring me some of your homemade chicken soup.”

“I will,” Alice agreed with a grin.

“Now, could we possibly spend some time on our projects?” Stella asked with a sniff. “Sometimes I do wonder if we’ve forgotten why we get together.”

“I would never forget,” Gwen said. “We do it for the gossip.”

Everyone laughed except Stella, but Annie was fairly certain she’d seen a sparkle in the older woman’s eyes before she dipped her head to stare intently at her knitting.

“I noticed your knitting when you came in,” Annie said. “That pattern is beautiful. The cables have such an unusual twist. They remind me of vines.”

Stella beamed at Annie. “I thought so too. In fact, I was going to ask Alice for a favor.”

“Me?” Alice said, surprised. “I don’t know anything about knitting.”

“But you do beautiful embroidery,” Stella said. “I was wondering if you would considering putting some silk roses on this dress when it’s done.”

Stella pointed out where she would like to see roses blooming, near the neckline and then along the patterned hem of the dress. “I know it would be a considerable amount of work, and I would definitely want to compensate you,” she said.

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Alice said. “I’m just not sure I’m good enough at silk ribbon embroidery. I still consider myself a bit of a newcomer to it. When will you be ready for me to do it?”

“Oh, probably not for another month,” Stella said. “This pattern is very involved, and it’s only one of the projects I’m working on.”

“OK,” Alice said. “I’ll do some practice projects before then and make sure I’m capable.”

“That’s a beautiful scarf,” Kate said, lifting the edge of Annie’s crocheting. “I love that shade of pink.”

“It’s for my granddaughter,” Annie said. “She’s fallen in love with some book character who only wears pink. So I thought this fluffy pink yarn would make her a perfect scarf.”

“Does anyone even need a scarf in Texas?” Vanessa asked as she stepped into the group and sat next to her mother in Peggy’s vacated chair. Vanessa sometimes took part in different needlecrafts through the teen group the Hook and Needle Club had started.

“Only about one month a year,” Annie admitted. “But she can wear it when she visits me here too.”

“Are they coming up for Christmas?” Mary Beth asked.

Annie sighed. “Not this year, and I’m not going there either. The airfares are simply out of our league. Right now we’re hoping to make a nice long visit when the children are out of school for the summer. Something long enough to justify the cost of getting here.”

“I hate flying at Christmas,” Alice said. “The weather up here makes every flight more of a hope than a sure thing. And the crowds!” She shuddered and picked up her cross-stitch.

“So you’re not flying off for some romantic rendezvous with a certain dashing photographer?” Gwen asked.

“I’m not even flying off for a painful rendezvous with a certain crabby mother in Florida,” Alice said with a laugh. “You guys are stuck with me for Christmas.”

“We should do something together,” Annie said. “We should have a party.”

“We could have it here if you want,” Mary Beth said. “I’m stuck here for Christmas too. My sister and niece are going to Europe for Christmas. It’s magazine business for Melanie, but I do think she’s trying to unbend a little and build some bridges with Amy.”

“I have to bow out,” Gwen said. “Christmas is always crazy for us. It seems like John does a million networking things over the holidays.” She sighed. “It’s why I was hoping for a little vicarious romance. How about you, Annie? Are you and Ian doing anything?”

Annie felt her face grow warm. “Not as far as I know,” she said. “The mayor doesn’t plan his calendar around me.”

“Of course not,” Alice agreed solemnly, and the group laughed again. Just when Annie thought the heat in her cheeks was ready to ignite, Kate asked her another question about her crocheting, and the conversation shifted again.

The rest of the meeting passed quickly. As Annie folded the fluffy pink scarf carefully around the crochet hook, she marveled at how quickly meetings passed now. She’d sat through more than one coldly awkward meeting when she’d first come to live at Grey Gables. She had wondered if she’d ever fit in the small community. Now she couldn’t imagine life without the warm friendships of the Hook and Needle Club.

Before she left the snug little shop, Annie opened the cute plastic canvas shark kit, and Mary Beth got her started on the stitches she needed. The shop owner had been right. It was easy, and she had the first piece of the shark mostly done before she stuffed the little kit in her project bag and headed back out into the cold.

After the meeting, Annie gingerly crossed the street so she could stare into store windows. She still had a list of last-minute Christmas presents, mostly for the people she could never buy well for. LeeAnn’s husband, Herb, was on the list. In the past, she’d bought him a tie, socks, a sweatshirt representing his favorite college basketball team, and even a special golf glove LeeAnn had once suggested. Each gift was greeted with the same polite smile and thanks.

Annie peered into the window of the hardware store and wondered if Herb would like some kind of tool. LeeAnn told her that he was trying to be a little handier around the house.

The thought made Annie smile. Her own dear husband, Wayne, had loved the idea of being handy as well, even though he never advanced much beyond shelf-building and even those weren’t always exactly level. But he never gave up trying, and he never stopped buying tools. A quick glance at their garage in Texas would have made anyone think Wayne was a master woodworker with all the tools he had, each neatly in its own spot.

But would Herb have the same fascination with random tools?

“Now, what could the hardware store possibly have done to bring on that frown?” asked a deep voice said from behind her.

Annie turned to smile up at Ian Butler. With Wayne so fresh in her mind, Annie once again thought of the two men as if they were side by side. Both were tall, but Wayne had always kept the solid build that hinted at his football-playing days in college. Ian was slighter, but still a strong man with an easy self-confidence. Like Wayne, Ian could make her feel safe whenever he was around. He was a good friend that way; she could count on him.

She noticed the mayor had chosen to dress for warmth over formality today. The cold wind always made her earlobes ache, so she couldn’t blame anyone for piling on the layers. The thick fisherman knit sweater that peeked out from under Ian’s peacoat looked cozy warm.

“I’m just trying to decide on a present for my son-in-law,” Annie said.

“At a hardware store?” Ian said.

“I’m a desperate woman.” She told him about the weak success of all of her past gifts.

“Not even a grin for the golf glove?”

Annie shook her head.

“That is a tough case,” Ian agreed. “What kinds of things does he like?”

“Work, my daughter, the kids,” Annie said, ticking them off on her fingers. Then she paused, and finally added, “He seems fond of his car.”

“I sense you two haven’t truly bonded.”

“No, that’s not it. He’s a really lovely person and a great husband. He’s just kind of quiet and thoughtful.”

Ian was quiet for a moment, his face pensive. “Does he read? Maybe he would like a book?” Ian asked. “I spend a lot of evenings sharing a chair with Tartan while I read a good book.”

“Actually, I think he does like to read. That’s something he has in common with LeeAnn,” Annie said. “But books are so personal. I’d have no idea how to choose.” She turned to look into the hardware store window again, and then turned away. There were clearly no answers there.

She smiled up at Ian as an idea struck her. “Are you really going to be in the movie they’re filming here?”

“Not in any noticeable way,” Ian said, “but if I’m asking my constituents to consider standing out in the cold for the sake of promoting the town, I thought I should too. I’ll be some background extra shivering in the icy cold like everyone else. Then when the movie comes out, I’ll be able to say, ‘See that elbow shaking in the far corner of the screen? That’s me!’”

Annie smiled. “Glad to hear you’re not going Hollywood on us.”

“Not me. I will, of course, need my own dressing room. And I’ll have to insist they shoot only my good side,” he said with mock seriousness. “So, which do you think is my good side?” He turned to show her each profile.

Annie smiled. “I think you’re safe either way, Mr. Mayor.”

“Do the questions mean you’re going to be an extra too?” he asked.

“Well, maybe,” she said. “It’s become a minor obsession with some of the Hook and Needle Club. Still, I can’t imagine that they’ll need everyone, so maybe they’ll skip me, and I’ll get to stay home.”

“Don’t count on it. I think they need as much crowd as they can get,” Ian said. “I don’t know how eager people are going to be to stand out in the cold—even for a movie. Also, since this is last minute, I don’t know how many people have even heard about it.”

Annie laughed. “If they haven’t heard about it, it wasn’t Peggy Carson’s fault. I certainly hope they let her be an extra. She will be heartbroken if they don’t. She’s so excited about the movie that I’m sure she’s told everyone who comes to the diner.”

“And that would be just about everyone in Stony Point,” Ian agreed. “Speaking of which, would you like to grab some hot cocoa with me?”

“I’ll have to ask for a rain check,” Annie said. “Or maybe a snow check. I’m going to head for home and work on some of my Christmas projects.”

“Good for you,” Ian said. “But I’ll see you this afternoon at the casting call?”

“Unless I chicken out before then.”

“The fearless Annie Dawson?” Ian said in mock shock. “I could not imagine it. I’ll definitely see you there.”

Annie smiled fondly after Ian as he walked across the street with the same long-legged stride he’d use in the summer. He never seemed to have any trouble with the ice and snow. She didn’t know if he just had really great boots, or if he somehow defied gravity.

She turned back and gave the hardware store one last wistful glance. Tools definitely weren’t the answer for Herb’s gift. She’d have to keep working on that. She carefully walked back to her car and headed for home. As she drove, the sun peeked out from the ridged snow clouds now and then, just enough to keep her hopeful.

She pulled up in front of the tall Victorian house that she’d inherited from her grandmother. When Annie had first come to claim the house, she wasn’t sure she wanted it. Her grandmother’s illness had been worse than she’d ever shared with Annie. And Annie had been too grief stricken over Wayne’s death to pay enough attention to anyone or anything else. As a result, Grey Gables had slipped into decline, and Annie hadn’t even known.

But she’d found the perfect handyman in Peggy’s husband, Wally. He’d done wonders with the place. Now, as she looked up at the house, she saw each individual project: new paint, new gingerbread trim, repairs to the porch rail and steps. It had all seemed so overwhelming, and now those very projects helped make it feel very much like home.

The snow covering the yard had the sparkle of an icy crust over the top. Annie liked the peaceful beauty of snow, but she missed her flowers too. “Oh well,” she said softly. “Spring will be here before I know it.” Then she shook her head ruefully at her own behavior. Talking to herself. Now all she had to do was adopt about twenty more cats, and she officially could be an odd widow lady.

She stepped out of the car and gasped again as the wind off the ocean tried to freeze the breath right in her lungs. She fought the urge to run for the house, a few sprawls on the icy porch steps during the first winter in Maine had cured her of undue haste.

Finally she was inside, with the door closed tightly against winter, and a warm cat making demanding sounds at her feet. She scooped up Boots and held her close to her chilled face. Boots wriggled for a moment, then settled against her and purred.

Annie carried Boots into the kitchen and rewarded her face warming with a small bit of cat kibble.

“I can’t believe I agreed to go back out in this weather for something as silly as being in a movie,” Annie said aloud.

Boots glanced up at her from the bowl and offered a questioning meow.